as the 96 year old is having mobility problems and was advised for her by her doctors not to travel to the ceremony in london, her son and prince charles read the traditional speech to parliament instead. ah, flow again. i'm fully battle with the headlines on al jazeera gunman have canned, at least 70 people in separate attacks in easton democratic republic, republic of congo. villages where re did need to re province where the government says its combat in groups. bounding for control of gold mines can web has more from nairobi, people in these communities blame unarmed group called cadet co, which has been responsible for a series of atrocities in a to be province anything congo over the last couple of years. the group planes to represent the lendue ethnic group and often target people from the hammer ethnic

group. but this is the latest iteration of a conflict that's been going on for decades of farmland and other resources. in the philippines provincial front runner for non macos junior, has promised to bridge the divide between filipinos and unofficial tiny shows. he has a wide lead over his nearest rival. the election commission promised the audit results of $700.00 voting precincts. after allegations of election fraud shall, lank as military has been ordered to shoot any one seemed to be damaging public property. it follows a night of unrest where at least 8 people were killed after a nationwide curfew was acknowledged by many the violence on monday prompted time. it is to hinder roger pack, sad to resign. in ukraine. the mayor of merrier poll says at least 100 civilian men, remain in a steel plant besieged by russian forces. the un has been coordinating evacuations . ukrainian official had set up a weekend that all women, children, and the elderly had been rescued. at least one person has been killed and 5 others

injured during rush and shelling of ukraine 740 of odessa. the ukrainian military says, shopping center and warehouse were hit, the city was largely sped in the 1st phase of rushes invasion. a former president of honduras has appeared in court in new york to plead not guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges on orlando have mandate was extradited to the u. s . last month. he was arrested at his home in honduras in february, just weeks after his 2nd term in office ended and mothers from across mexico have been on the streets of the capitol. they are continuing a campaign to find their missing children. it's estimated. 100000 are missing some for over 50 years. many are victims of criminal gangs fighting the government for territorial control. and you're up to date with the headlines on al jazeera, i have the al jazeera news hour for you in under 30 minutes after inside story. ah,

is the range of hucks a political dentist in sri lanka, about to end president got to by roger pock says under pressure to resign after his brother melinda set down as prime minister that wasn't enough to con violent protests. so where does sri lanka go from here? this is entire story. ah hello there and welcome to the program. i'm the start to attain. now for months, protest as have been chanting go home, a tree lank as most powerful political family president got to buy

a roger pox. and his brother, prime minister, may hinder roger packer are accused of corruption and mismanaging the economy may end his resignation. on monday, failed to quell public anger. at least 7 people were killed, more than 200 injured after roger paxis importers fault with anti government, protested police and security personnel fatigue ass water cannon demonstrates is tried to storm the prime minister's residence and set fire to properties earned by the roger pucks of family and government ministers, the president has given the military and police even more power to detain people without warrens shortages of fuel, food and medicine, vote thousands out on the streets and protests that had been mostly peaceful until this week. when l fernandez has worn out from the capital, colombo tom restored more or less in most parts of the country as the curfew extended now, obviously helped by a big presence of the 3 armed forces supporting the police. we had members of the

army, the air force, the navy stopping us at different points, checking us as to where we were going. because obviously there's a curfew in sri lanka till wednesday morning. many people don't seem to be heating the curfew in terms of even you can see some of the scenes behind me. those burnt out wreckage. is there a full buses? and this was the scene right throughout many parts of colombo, close to the prime minister's official residents. which is just down the road. obviously, these were the buses that brought in many of the supporters of the prime minister that subsequently march on the protest as who are demanding the resignations of the roger pox, the brothers and their government. but when they tried to go back to their homes, to their villagers, they had their just desserts progressed as say they were giving these support as a taste of their own medicine. that they were absolutely fed up of intimidation and

strong arm tactics that the roger boxes have been employing for a long, long time. now internationally, there's been condemnation of the violence. we've heard that the commissioner of human rights michelle vaseline geneva has condemned the violence asking for a proper investigation into what sparked the violence. and these incidents for the professors themselves. the fact that the prime minister has resigned does not go far enough. that rallying cry for this campaign was go to go home. and they did specify and continued to stand by the fact they want a clean sweep. so the president, the government, they all need to go in order for the protesters to be appeased. bonaire fernandez inside story. while she lycos economic crisis has been growing since 2019, when the government started dipping into foreign reserves to pay its dead. revenues dropped in 2020 when exports fell. after the pandemic also ground, the tourism industry that to a halt and agricultural output suffered last year when the government band

fertilizes and ordered farmers to go in genic. by march, the situation was dia, sri lanka couldn't pay for imports of food medicine fuel. people faced power cuts lost out to 13 hours a day. the government tried to contain discontent by shutting down social media and declaring a state of emergency. but protests grew and in early april, sri lanka, the entire cabinet resigned. ah, well, let's now bring in our guests joining us from colombo as harsh to silver. he's a member of sri lanka, parliament in the main opposition party. we also have gone a shot with no raja, he's a senior research associate at the overseas development institute. he joins us from london. and also joining us from the sri lankan capital is giovanni from 2nd. she's a senior research, an attorney at law with a sense of a policy alternatives, a very warm welcome to each of you. thank you for your time on our program. i want to ask because we've been seeing these protests continue now for weeks months and

they've been mostly peaceful. bonnie, i know you've been out on the streets. what do you think has triggered this level of violence that we've seen? so thank you for having me and it's a timely discussion, considering what's happening in sri lanka, the progress as you said, has been rod peaceful in the last 2 months, we commenced for protests in the suburbs of colombo. in early march, i need spread across sri lanka with the large protest in the center of columbia, and it has been peaceful all these time. what happened yesterday was when the protesters were outside the official residents of the prime minister, there were going to associated with the government who went and attacked the peaceful protesters and continue to travel to the other site, which was the largest site. and that's rare or so someone and happens so really

piece will protest by citizens for 2 months. and the while ends really needs to be directly attributed to the prime minister and the government. because so far we did not see any wildlands coming from the producers to yesterday. well, i understand there was some sort of meeting with the pro government protesters ahead of the violence that some ministers were also present calling for action, and some thought. now we've obviously seen homes and offices torched. does that mean the government side is backing down or, or hashtag do you think will seem further confrontations? well, i actually hope not because it has completely gotten out of control and days, nor government days, nor prime minister days, no cabinet. and i don't know whether the police are able to act or we haven't seen the president. he has sold up somewhere. and so things are very, very dicey,

right now, a sore to get the country back to some sense of normalcy. or we need to urgently have a government in place. so, so that the law enforcement officers can control these mobs. because otherwise they could go berserk. well, this is all obviously taking place within the context of this very di, economic crisis that we've been talking about. i see a form the finance minister warned that some have gotten by russian parks has policies, especially those sweeping tax cuts that we have previously come in on this or would send to the country bankrupt. but it seems like the level of profound angle that we're seeing or is beyond that, there's this sense of betrayal. connection, where do you think that's coming from? so essentially, the crisis in so function of both the pandemic which less deep scarring on the sri lankan economy grows, slipped to minus 3.6 percent in 2020 and policy missteps by the government and the

policy missteps doing good indeed. but that's got a $29.00 d, which last revenue about 2 percent gdp but also printing money which led to a hyperinflation, which we face today. inflation on the year, on the basis to april is about 30 percent. and inflation is running at practically 50 percent. and then you've had this rapid switch from chemical fertilizers to organize lasers, which without preventing farmers, we radically affected agriculture. so this combination of external events and parties, you missed it, leaving us where we are. the only other point i want to add to this is that a communication by the government was very poor, and people were not prepared for this diana situation. we weren't written, we were told that there were these non conventional policy that being done, which would save the country, but this is true to be talking wrong,

were given that the resignation we saw of the prime minister who and acted a lot of these policies. it seems to have done very little to appease the protest as many and now asking if this is actually going to be the end of the roger pucks i era. now, just to remind our viewers, the roger boxes have been one of sri lanka most powerful political families. since the 1930s may hinder roger puck. so 1st became president in 2005, and he's soon appointed. his younger brother got to buy as defense secretary and they saw the family members in senior political positions. 4 years later, my hinder gained praise, ending the civil war against the tunnel tigers. but he was also accused of violation. human rights and crushing, defend, gotten by himself and won the presidency and 2019. he then appointed his brother, the hinder prime minister, year later, 2 other roger pack, the family members were also appointed ministers. many others also hold senior positions and believed that brothers controlled up to 70 percent of feline because budget one point and the family denies this and has repeatedly rejected allegations

of nepotism. i see either that there are a number of other roger pack, those who have been in ministerial or other senior positions who's now been removed . basil roger part of the finance minister accused of corruption, shamal roger pucks, administer of irrigation, his son to finra. we lead that whole battle as a band or so gone, may hinder son num, all also at one point minister have used in sports. he said the family is now going through a bad patch. hossa, is it more than that more than a bad punch? who has salmon? that's putting it mildly, a situation in the treasury and the bank is nothing to you know, be happy about. we are in serious trouble. we need some sort of bridge financing to make sure that we have sufficient

or fewer l, b gas or, and without the coffers, sufficiently feel to purchase these items. we have long power cards and we have long lines of fuel and so on. so the situation is pretty bad. we need to really be able to quickly put a plan, a in action to be able to deal with the situation. so it's more than a bad patch. it's a pretty diverse situation. we're looking at the leadership specifically. i wonder, is there more state care for the roger pack says than simply staying in power? i know, given there have been allegations of human rights abuses, war crimes from the time of tiger crackdown. could the brothers then be concerned about some kind of accountability for that bonnie:

i want to point out here and the hinders already been refusing. prob, still hasn't been a proper investigation. do you think that's what bleeding into this? i think there's a combination, but definitely there are serious allegations against but t playing do each was in the family and this is bored on corruption issues as well as what's happened in the past. viewing the war as well as for stores is very serious allegations, which has now gone to the un, and there are also cases in other jurisdiction. so there is a fear that if the news, however, that these cases came, come back to haunt them. know we're also seeing what we saw yesterday in terms of the while and, and coming back to the protest as fees. we need to recognize that the while and started from the president's race. deborah prime minister's residence and is footage to show that there were not just a prime minister in his son,

but there are the ministers. so there needs to be an independent investigation, webber, particularly, and to rejoice in the family as well as the former cabinet. and i said, farmer, because we don't now have a government are responsible for incitement and organizing. some of these widens. so there are serious allegations against many, not just the raj, a box or family, but those around them as well. and the question is, can there be accountability or for all of them these in a context where there was serious cases that were brought against them in 2015 onwards and those cases being proceeds. so lots of questions with the accountability can happen in the present set out, but there are lots of allegations and i fear that they're holding on to power because they're preventing those cases from moving forward. that there is also, by my understanding and ethnic dimension here that i think is potentially quite telling. so the roger packs as it always banks, on their support from the finale,

is buddhist community, majority 75 percent of the population. but we've also seen them join these protests in very huge numbers, a connection. do you think that that's pushing towards political change here? so in a context of course, context, society like oz wondered, hope that when the roger boxes come to the civil conflict in 2009, that would be an attempt to heal the wounds as you have in south africa in ireland and in other places which has been configured. sadly that has not proved to be the case. and if anything, there was an element of triumphalism and what is very interesting with the current project, at least as i observe it, is that your head, multi ethnic protest coming around. and i think this is an interesting and unforeseen development in our society and hopefully a positive step. and we certainly need, if we are going to prosper and grow,

we will need to heal the wounds of a long conflict and the ethnic divisions that we had because no country can really develop and grow very fast if they are ethnically divided and have these perpetual balance of instability as we have seen. so we have to rethink a lot of what we have done in the past and introduce of proper policy measures and provide proper rule of law if we want to move forward. i was trying to gauge public opinion around all assess, and i was looking at some surveys. i see gallon put confidence in the government record lows heading down with at the end of last year. another poll, the approval rating for the government was 10 percent back in january and house and how much the pores at you're sitting in your position. i'm curious, how much support does the government have? do you think and, and what are the demographics here that make up the bulk of that support ongoing? well, i don't think the government has any support any longer. i mean, yesterday was

a absolutely turning point because the gum and it was all for everyone to see our goons, and thanks to a residence of the prime minister and let them loose on the protesters. and what they didn't expect was the reaction of the general public. you know, they caught the bugs and threw them into lakes and burnt buses. and unfortunately, several people also lost their lives. so if there was any confidence left in these people that just dissipated yesterday. so now we are, like i said at the beginning in a very precarious situation where that confidence need to be rebuilt. and the only way that confidence can be rebuilt in my view is to have a new government. hopefully the president would resign because the cry

for his resignation has gotten even louder post yesterday because otherwise we are going to go into some crisis. i mean, of course you're in a huge crisis and president a crisis and it could even worse and, and i shudder to think what might happen if there is no political solution in the next 2448 hours. the funny. how realistic to think that is to think that the president might resign, especially now that he has these and i don't see power the needles are now given officers the power to detain in question without arrest ones. well, i'm glad you raised the deposit of the executive president sees enormous, and this was consolidated under the president under the 20th amendment. so this president for weeks have been hearing the cause of one assumes. he heard the cause of the protesters calling for his various ignition a survey, read the door, so showed that 87 percent warranted the president to resign. now that's

a huge number if you really think about it as significant ocean, including he's on base. and regardless, he's held on to power and now i don't see him leaving that easily. and that is the unfortunate situation that him holding on to this office. he's all powerful office . he's having a huge detriment to this country. i need citizens. so i fear that unless there's more pressure broadfoot to meet the president resign, we're going to see much, much more dia times. that said, i just want to say this, the president resigning doesn't mean we are lifting a vacuum. the constitution provides for our prime minister to be appointed in a precedent to be appointed by parliament. so there are specific measures provided in the constitution that can be taken very quickly as soon as the president resigns

of the seats the most critical. urgent need right now. well, let me ask then if the roger pack says are removed, connection given the dia, state of the economy, you are an economist. the challenges are obviously likely to continue. we could see austerity measures, and these could be very painful for many people in tre lanka who already suffering even with these economic realities than do you think we could see discontent continue. so i think that she longer can eventually come out of this di situation. if we put in place the right policy, then we have political will and one has seen this elsewhere in the developing world where countries have come out of such serious situation. so i have a little bit of optimism for sri lanka, but we need to do at least 3 things to try to get this back on track. the 1st is we need to restructure the foreign debt, which is held by, by a private credit. that's the majority of the debt and also the bilateral criticism

that includes china and india as well as japan. and that's quite a tricky sort of conversations that have to be held. the 2nd thing is we've got to agree on and implement fully, and i'm a program on macroeconomic stability and management. and that is going to be quite a complex discussion because there are to be some money that will have to come. that is a short bit of money under rapid financial facility from $400000000.00 and then days something called an enhanced program from the m f, which is about $3000000000.00 a $1000000000.00 a year, which will have to come and we'll have to short substantial progress and instruction and that's the tricky bit. and the 3rd thing which government has to do whatever comes into power is to put in place of program of structural reforms to deregulate the economy, to green it. and to ensure inclusiveness. and the program is essentially, but if you're governments in history,

i've actually reformed the economy when there are 3 board in that reform. the 1st we've got to cut red tape, which is struggling business. and that's critical to the 2nd. if you've got to encourage women's participation in economic activity limits, participation rates are low and this is the problem in an aging society. can i find i, i, i do want to bring in harsh of that because what it sounds like you're saying is that wholesale economic changes, sorry, but then high. so let me ask you, does wholesale economic change require wholesale, political change as you say? yes, yes. and i think i agree with her ganesh and said, but you know, we need to be able to get these refunds done, but you need to have the political really to do it. and like he said, nobody really had previously to do it. and i think this is the best time to get all this stuff to refill on stuff. however, we need to ensure that people are who same somehow. so i will have to add before to

point to history, and that is a very strong social dixon system. so we need to be able to, to protest the people want to be the worst shit with these reforms. so those are the things that we are thinking about right now. because if you take government in the next few days, that is the 1st thing we would need to do one of the i m f is fully on board with that plan and we hope that we will succeed divani. i want to ask you something that hasha alluded to a little bit earlier in our conversation and taking a step back from all of this. i've seen speculation on past the various different people and sri lanka that this is part of the conversation that could shape a country. do you think that the protests that we've seen, the process that we're in now, is this part of nation building? definitely, i believe we have this unique opportunity and i think that's

a very important thing to remember. you know, while the we've seen the islands of the last 24 islands, the last few weeks showed that citizens have come out peacefully united. there's been some issues, but i mean recognizing that there's a lot to do, but people can be united in building this country. and there's also recognition that there needs to be structural reforms, broadening that changes the structure of these countries. so one of the key reforms that people are now coming behind, he's the voice in the executive presidency. now youth, things like that. the devolution are par reconciliation. economic just is all of that can come together. we have this unique opportunity to really push this country forward and bringing stability any economy growth. but you know, these are long term plans. i think immediately what we need is to have

a government that gives people the confidence that this is possible. and that's the problem right now. well, it is a very tricky situation for sri lanka. thank you so much for joining us to discuss what's happening on the ground. now we'll be watching it very closely here on out as era. thank you to all of our guests, hasha da silva, gunnison wig know roger and bonnie fonseca, and thank you to for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website that's al jazeera dot com. and for further discussion to go to our facebook page, that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. and to remember, you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle is at ha and fight story . for me, an associate a in the whole team here. and uh huh. bye for now. i aah.

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