to utilize the in positive. to be honest i see is subgroups in my business coincidentally we we in how i started in twitter i am right now. i'm money's going to take care of my family to give myself and even to expand more so for me something positive and i'm liking it and i believe in dick is to come. will be put is the position at that is the breadbasket of africa off long enough ago i believe it was the us are now taking a step. below that this is al jazeera and these are the headlines dozens of people have been killed in an attack in the town of palma and more than mozambique following a 5 day siege among the victims are 7 civilians who were ambushed a fleeing a hotel hundreds of locals and foreigners have been evacuated and some of them

arrived in the port city of pan. nearly 5000 people have now fled fighting in venezuela and taken refuge in neighboring colombia venezuela's military is carrying out an operation against an armed group near the border that summer n.p.r. she has the latest from iraq in colombia on the border with venezuela the people here are getting ready for another night in the one of the 18 shelters that have been set up in the town of otto i would keep. an eye on other town and other towns along the membrane elsewhere border as more people are arriving daily fleeing the fighting that continues and venezuelan sides people here are sharing 4 stories of abuses on parts they say of in this way less security forces. gyptian state media say efforts to refer to a container ship blocking the suez canal are on pause until more tugboat power is in place it's been almost

a week now since the ever given lodged itself in that waterway and the blockage is having a devastating effect on an already oil strapped syria which has begun rationing fuel indonesian police have identified the 2 suicide bombers that blew themselves up outside a packed cathedral in the casa at least 19 people were injured the indonesian president is calling for unity. mexico has revised its kovan 1000 death toll up by nearly 60 percent on saturday the government said the number of coronavirus deaths is about 321000 not 201000 as previously reported makes his testing rate as low and its health care system has been overwhelmed the e.u. and the us have condemned me and must military join to after at least $100.00 protesters were killed by security forces on saturday and comes as 3000 people from corrent state have fled across the border to thailand many spent the night sheltered in the jungle well those are the headlines next up with the inside story

. under siege in northern mozambique nearly $200.00 people are trapped in a hotel after fighters willing to eisele take over a town their major gas project why is the government struggling to secure the area and will outside intervention be needed this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. hotel has become the latest flashpoint in

a long running conflict in northern mozambique ice a link fighters besieged the town of palma on wednesday that forced nearly 200 people to seek refuge in a resort many are foreign nationals working on a natural gas project owned by the french company total the firm had announced it was resuming operations just a few hours before the attack work has stopped again and total his sentence vessels to rescue its employees report say some civilians who try to escape have been killed. is monitoring developments from harare in neighboring zimbabwe. what we know from official sources in parma is that the attack happened on wednesday afternoon armed groups entered the town from different directions it seems the attack was coordinated they attacked a bank a business into and what sounds like an army or police post people in the town and then a neighboring village fled into the bush mozambican v.i.p.'s and some foreigners are holed up in

a hotel in parma we're told some of them have been evacuated the attack happened hours after the french companies are tell an ounce that is resuming gas operations in the area so some analysts are saying that perhaps this attack had sliming to do with that announcement another theory is that it had been quiet or it should be quiet in the area for some time so humanitarian workers were not able to bring in food and medicines for the community so there's a theory that these insurgents these armed groups are targeting those supplies the united states has said is going to send in special forces to help train the mozambican army portugal the former colonial powers it is also going to train the most and beacons of africa has been reported is also training the army as a while they are private armies in the area they many there to guard the gas installations where they've been helping evacuating some of the people who are being stranded in certain areas in parma in terms of the region leaders in southern africa inside that have had meetings on and or virtually at in person decide what

to do to help mozambique all they said is that there is a plan but they haven't said what their plan is going to the security analysts are saying that if there is going to be some kind of military intervention south africa was the biggest economy in the region people assume it has the equipment could go in with a number of other countries in the region as well the concern the humanitarian workers have is that of course any violence on the ground any boots on the ground could affect the safety of people trying to run away from the fighting some of those people are trying to make their way to pym but. capital with a gate food clothing and medicines for the men it did work because they the government of mozambique is trying to move those families many cityscape him but to other parts of the country that they believe is safe on. the inside story palma lies more than 1100 kilometers northeast of maputo in kabul delgado province and about 10 kilometers from the site of natural gas projects worth $60000000000.00

fighters captured a key port close to that site in the town of much simpler deprived in august last year a few months later i celing fighters beheaded more than 50 people in a nearby village the armed group in mozambique has been intensifying raids across villages in kabul delgado since 2017 the violence has killed more than 1500 people and displaced over 600000. all right let's bring in our guests in maputo zenaida machado is senior researcher at human rights watch in pretoria jasmine opperman is senior researcher at the armed conflict location and event data project also in the put o. fernando lima is a journalist and political commentator welcome to the program so neda let me start with you today tell us a bit about how big is the armed group how strong are they and how much territory are they now in control of. all right all of those 3 questions are questions that

we might be unable to answer in this conversation. but what we can tell you is that for the past 3 years this group has gone it's gone inside and it's gone in its ability to to to to stage attacks serious attacks it started by doing a game of cat and rat with security forces go into village attacking civilians and destroying property and then running away want security forces arrived there moved into being a serious any need security force and even time getting posts and while we have seen late latest empowerment shows that the group is now ready to even stage the type of general that we have seen in other countries. which means arriving in village making sure that foreigners are in fear but also putting us in a situation where we don't know where the law comes the people who are religion at the from power. from them what's the latest information we have about the sea do

we know for example how many people remain trapped inside still. well as you probably heard. information coming out of palma it's not really much available so there is there are ongoing reports some of the information needs to be recalled for. cross cross-checked still. said today and this morning there have been very successful operations to rescue people specially people affiliated with. companies says they have more institutional ties and then they are also more organized support for these people in relation to citizens living there plus thousands of refugees from the district of

non-god and other localities around the situation is is very bad it is known that the people got. trapped in the bush some others are not reaching us when she when she is we are the total camp is located and people feel safer going to that adult camp it is to make it at this point there are about 20000 people that reach reach key tuna key 2 days village next to the tall camp and these are. local citizens fleeing from palma it's not also clear what is the operational system ration in litter terms in paloma but according to the last reports there were still ongoing fight in palma

between. jeju seems. sergeants and the mozambican army jasmine what does an attack of this scale say about the level of coordination among the fighters behind it and does this come at all as a surprise considering how much the situation has worsened in the past few years i think it lives for someone that has been following me said jones in great detail highly for straight to us and i'll tell you whine for the last 2 years we've warned that they are some influences with in the insurgency have plenty of people with deep level experience and good around wolfie fighting that is being transmitted back into combat. we've worn that was a walk up my ass occupation for a long period gameday in that i do you know opportunity not only for training

metaphor crew recruitment the attack itself should never have taken place this is that a tragedy of coma because they were there was every warning provided and i tweeted that specifically. and the question has to be raised why no action was taken but sadly as we've seen the loss to the us and we the mozambique and government security forces are simply not in a position for various reasons and i'm not going to go to all they've not but they simply cannot stand up. oh count if we now talk about paloma yet and never defensive operation yet and another crisis management trying to get as many people am a bit as possible and now with

a tank when the rain surges and please i want to confirm that the previous began as city keep in mind facts a problem. we would king we'll have. a good hot information as they come in you look at your sources you tried to demonstrate reliability but according to the report said mant insurgents also still have running an appearance they nearly broke team. extras the insurgents extra arms and ammunition that you hold as you we we stand with the inception see and that is the concern and i am afraid that the u.s. there's a nation has over this simplified this insurgency. specific agenda to suit militarization to suit their war darragh anything anyone thinks and then 2 months strength is going to make a difference i've got some bad news the big it is you need it a dime is not an l.

is sight and sadly time is what we need zinaida didn't the government of mozambique declare just surmount a week ago that pomo was relatively safe what happened how did this happen. it's not just about the fact that homos relatives say but they said are the assaults on the fact that many people who are running away from added a surrounding power that are being attacked attempts to seek refuge in the home or so paolo's for not only of soldiers. people of expertise but also let to just from other places so one will ask how is it possible for the town that was heavily guarded. like just minutes playing does everybody and you could be tagged at any moment for this is 53 that explain in this conversation how was it

was the buffalo accordion group to enter discount fire indiscriminately killing people and a number that at this stage we cannot verify or many people die. making people flee to the who put their foot footstool for help and then that i did questions around that not just the fact that the government is failing to protect people but also is failing in dain televisions to too stupid to be able to distinguish between the insurgents air and people generally think is that seeking help the other question that we keep asking but not just from palmer from. in place in the past 3 years yes when those attacks happen what is that i mean what are the soldiers why are they never dead around to protect people immediately their only appeal once people have already diable devotee ran away to seek refuge in the bush people shouldn't be let down to go to the bushes and seek help for themselves let alone be forced to walk

for kilometers on their own to reach safety for example in f 1200000000000000000000000000000001 where the moment a question chad the place where people are going to so that a lot of questions that the government needs to answer is not just about anything as a press conference in which they are going to tell as are many people that it's also about explaining what exactly happened what they did and what measures they're taking for a situation like common not to be repeated ever again fernando i want to ask you about the root causes of this conflict how much of this is driven by social grievances i mean there have been promises of wealth but poverty and unemployment are still rampant there correct. yes i agree with we did we did for you but it gives us not just a problem of come tell god this is a problem of the whole country in which there's a little number of people that don't have access to opportunities don't have.

access to 2 jobs and this creates grievances of course then on the top on the top of it you have 11 gaz projects and you ask a kind of religious just if he cation dad gets also too old to start to does did this infighting because there are serious doubts if this is really a religious confrontation or days a cover for does grievous social grievances and then does are kind of being presented as a religious or religious crusade or debt i.z.'s just take the opportunity. to fight income delgado and claim that this is a portion of the isis site in this particular area of

of africa but i think the main problem is in fact poverty and inquire in quality and unfortunately for the government they are not been able to pass a message in order to explain people that they are dared to risk reversed a situation and of course this kind of. do not understanding what the situation is and i would say a bad management of expectations related to or let me guess because it creates does idea that are out there mozambicans living in a 1000 that are benefits. from oil and gas in fact there is no island yes to that at this point yet jasmyn earlier in the show's a native spoke about how much this group al-shabaab had grown and these past few years how easy has it been for the group to recruit members initially and of let's

look at the last yet to answer your question otherwise it's going to be a long discussion but i do and if one looks at number one if one looks at me and and if one looks getting the period of the occupation of was aboard a pariah it is clear that when there wasn't deception initially death the fighters are forced into the insurgency days also a group that is free who willingly joining the is said you know insurgency over the group. and when i think that's an important point because it does show that there isn't voice. of this contained against government that is finding finding creative ability among specific 3 groups of people it seems like to be talking about you know more young generation 225235 you respect that but

the east definitely a a growth taking place and if you had to ask me to if there might be a strength and i look at the 900 cells active based on incidents and based on movements i would say if we're going to say and it's i it's always dangerous to play with numbers but i would say we're going to say these 2500 seconds begone sceptic. zinaida you mentioned earlier how dangerous it is for civilians in the area now human rights watch of course has documented atrocities committed against civilians not just by armed groups but also by security forces so i want to ask you more specifically what are the types of abuses being committed against civilians there. one of the abuses is actually related media's and inability to distinguish the gunman from this group called out from the

residents and the locals of the village that are being attacked and then that results for example enough to betray the tensions ill treatment of people that are detained each results in touch or for example when they are forcing people who might be nonsense to confess to a crime they use metal does that are illegal that people are clear human rights violations. and them do it is also the element of. summary executions that we have as human rights watch exposed in the past when for example when people do not confess to the crimes they expected to confess for example they are submitted to subjected to torture that them bizarre killings but also the fact that is problematic that the governments to date in 3 years of conflict has not been able to present the public

with the numbers of people who have been detained and faced a court of justice what we have heard from the government of the just over and over not as about how many people they have killed well this is not the competition of who kills most the government or the insurgents and government must be ruled by not by its own constitutions and by international laws in other words it has to be able to list better human rights including of those who are detained so that those are some of the abuse that we have seen on the side of the government but that is why that is what people are worrying that we have seen also opening in pumice since wednesday is the absence in the moment of danger and a moment of panic and moment of drama for example when we spoke to people on wednesday they were telling us that. well the presence of the of the group that got many of the group across. and firing at them indiscriminately nobody was able to

tell us that if there were soldiers explaining people what to do if there was all just the trying to protect the people on the streets in front of the absence of soldiers to help population was very clear and that is an embarrassing for the government like mozambique that has been fighting this group for the past 3 years by now they should never learnt how to help their population and how to leave dental safety in a moment of the engine fernando as a d.c. nations had resolved to deal with the security threat posed by the situation in mozambique but has there been any visible movement when it comes to implementation of those plans. well this is a quite interesting question because in fact what we have or what we have learned from the past discussions is that side that is trying to do to move forward the dole issue of the security situation and come delgado and

mozambique providing. the kind of dubious answers related to related to debt meaning mozambique never came up publicly explaining what is their position regarding subject support and we see specially so to africa having a more aggressive stance in order to debug to discuss and debate what kind of rural subject can play in in mozambique so it's not clear. does the does it did desist but situations like palma it will be we do forcing. mozambique and it was a beacon government to define one kind of support they want either by sadegh bio to be an union by the americans because up to now it seems it seems to me

that the only things that the mozambican government is ready to do to get is a military training was logistical support no other kind of support and of course a situation like palma it will be introduce odder type of discussion at the table namely out to all most of the can answer to disc on of challenges and of course jasmine already emphasized the nature of this conflict and the shortcomings of the mozambique an army to address these issues he has and i saw you nodding this i want to get your response but i also. i want to ask you more specifically if this conflict continues to get out of hand to spiral out of control what are the ramifications for the region. that going to take actions is already at play i think we cannot ignore what i think the ball might incident as sham and i might just if i may use 10 seconds what is interesting about

the ball mindset and ease and that is the czech did turkey d.-o. of god who is rain expat expense gets talkative everyone goes crazy what about the 60000 people that had to freak and find a home some way like creaky or to safety quite quickly be it was somewhat a priority move it out be it you do be wary about it and i think it's a sad case but but that we cannot neglect in terms of kabul gotten but let's get back to your question. the expansion of the guard pretty self who will not happen overnight so that they all are held by a lines of support can not be and should not be ignored but i think the proper we are sitting where is the longer they say agency continues.

their rescue to their region increases the issue of weapons the issue of sympathy the issue of id peacefully and the issue of. movement of of all illegal goods i'm talking about an area waiting simply no governance we days nobility anything but the major issue is that for every $26000000000.00 in basement for their region is desperately needed. it from an economic perspective it can benefit anything it is not going to proceed the whole region nomic perspective will feel that jasmine i'm so sorry to interrupt you but we have run out of time we're going to have to leave the conversation there but thanks so much to all of our guests for

joining us thanks as a nato much ato jasmine opperman and fernando lima and thank you too for watching you can see this and all of our previous programs again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from him i'm a gentleman the whole team here by finale. mexico's

coded 1000 death toll is one of the world's highest with one in 5 of its inhabitants living in the capital with the deadly upsurge inevitable off a 1000000 visitors every day there's really no way that they can purchase of food goods without full of all has the governments on orthodox strategy lead to unnecessary suffering frontline mexico the fight against cabbage 19 on al-jazeera.

hello there i'm mr hall with the headlines for you here on al-jazeera dozens of people including 7 civilians have been killed in an attack in the town of palma in northern mozambique their convoy was ambushed as they tried to escape their hotel which had by then been under siege for days hundreds of locals and foreigners have since been evacuated some of them arrived in the port city of pemba well dr alex vines is the managing director of the risk ethics and resilience for chatham house

says africa program he says mozambique's problems.