ah, to ukrainian filmmakers join the army to fight against russian separatists in 2014 . they document their journey from civilians to soldiers. as the fighting intensifies the tools of their trade become weapons of war what will be the toll for ukraine's brave hearts? witness on al jazeera june, it is president, says african migrants pose a threat to the countries arab identity. the african union has condemned to comments, is hate speech. but how all europe found aside and seasons treated in north african countries. this is inside story. ah

hello baron, welcome to the program. i'm dick clock. so june is his president, chi said is under fire once again after he made comments about african migrants. he said there's a plot to replace. chin is his arab and islamic identity by bringing people from other countries in the region. many have strongly condemned the comments as racist and xenophobic hundreds of people protested in the capital tunas to denounce discrimination and express solidarity with migrants. opponent say the comments are a distraction from a worsening economy and growing government crackdown against critics. the african union says the president statement amounts to racialize hate speech. thousands of african migrants travel through tennessee on their way to attempt the dangerous crossing to europe. did you school the in looked at the hate speech,

the call to violence, the call to hatred against our sub saharan brothers and sisters does not represent to nicea does not represent uneasy. and it's a shame. it's true that we all have suffered, but we will not give up. we will go all the way to rebuild tin is yours reputation . a tin is yet known as a welcoming land and not a racist one. here. i told them clearly that if we have castrated their voices, there are a 1000 voices that rise to demand rites. but the you, my little to day i came to the demonstration to say no to racism and fascism. and to say that to nicea is an african country in land and that all africans are welcome. well, the president made the controversial remarks on thursday. here's some of what he had to say on the dorsey la quinta, all leaders at every level look after our brothers from sub saharan africa, who are in a legal situation. let mister maha, this is a matter of state. it must take its responsibility. there is no question of

allowing anyone in any illegal situation to stay in tunisia that is a state and the institutions i've done another year. it is, if i prefered with the objective of changing the demographic make up of twenty's yet, by the end of this year, the un high commissioner for refugees estimates nearly half a 1000000. and simon seek as will pass through north africa, morocco, algeria, to nicea, and libya are the preferred routes for human trafficking networks to get people towards europe. thousands of believe to have died and the dangerous crossing of the mediterranean sea to discourage this morocco has become the 1st country in the region to give legal status and benefits to migrants. ah, all right, let's bring in our guest. since stroudsburg, we have a mean it's new, see his search in his ear and north african specialist. and we're about to suffolk cast rai, who's chief of staff at the americo world news war. welcome to both of you to the

program, a safer if i could start with you. so, i'm just curious when the president says this is all a conspiracy, and the goal is to change the, the demographic make opportunity. whose goal is he saying that is exactly. i think you style seaman that came from the president of tunisia, heard the head of states of an african country road up the urgency or how it's urgent to tackle irregular migration as a humanitarian and not a political issue. the racist comments prompted. backlash across to were particularly africa, even in to nisha. a lot of people into media reacted to he's hey paul, he just mentioned that there were process there to condemn. he is hateful statements and people a protestant there to answer your question, north africa, it's part of africa. we have divers mixed marriages, routing, callers that make our identity. africa is our identity. it's also part of morocco's

constitution. exactly, but it's a who do you think he is referring to? who is he's saying is behind this as he puts a conspiracy? i asked, i think, i mean, he's statements were really vague, but i think what he's meant, he meant he's a target in sub saharan migrants. he start getting people who are making, you know, our identity. there are parts of our identity. i mean, what do you think you'd pulled the criminal arrangement made since the beginning of the century to alter the demographic structure of june is yet said, what's his tactic here? do you think? well, it's the same tactic as it always, you know, just like we've heard now, it's vague statements, always accusing people plotting against the state against chinese. yeah. always accusing people of conspiracy without naming anything. so really you did that. they did that with his political opponents by which the post decreasing them for

plotting against the stage without saying, what's the plot or what's the conspiracy without proofing? proving if that's true or not. they said that about shortages and food, georgia, do it for food shortages. and he said that there was a conspiracy among business business, men's and women's engineers that are plotting against the, against the states. so really he's been doing and the building conspiracy theories for the last 2 years. so this come, this does not come as a shocking statement when you know, i side project, he always just defy his act by fighting against a dog conspiracy result. naming behind it. he says there are parties, he received huge sums of money after 2011, to settle irregular migrants into new year. again. who does he mean or is it just making it up? well, he's, it is. if you, if you ask me,

i think he's making it up. but, but i think accusing all boys school parties because science project is to build a political system without political party. that's why he got rid of the parliament . that's why he got treat of the old constitution. his main project is to build an individual system based on himself. so he can not have political parties being popular intermedia and used to destroy the reputation. and that's what he's doing by accusing them of being involved in human trafficking or this or this issue. so it's really the same strategy he's been using since he's qu in 2021. so what, what do you think suffer within that? you knew about how people perceive this, and let's start with those who support president side in the 1st place. would they be some of those be surprised by what he said here?

absolutely. like the he's statements like we had a controversy, not only indonesia, as i said, everyone like was shocked of what he said. i think i agree with. i mean with what he said regarding his policy. he's, i mean new and in tunisia, his ruin and everything was that was built to help reform in the country to go out from the crisis in conflict that created division among tunisia and themselves and the evidence of the lease and tension between the news yet. and morocco you so how he, i mean we're, well, we called him bassinger from tunisia in a response to the canadian rather than toasting the point is that he will be there him. i think he's just like, acting from out of the blue. like to introduce policy that is acting against

them. easier developments because he does have a lot of support into that is a fact that they're all those you have been campaigning recent weeks from the authorities to spell and documented migrants from the countries. so what i'm asking is, is those sort of steadfast supporters do they still really filled done by him? absolutely not. i'm sure that there are against what he said, and i mean, whatever you go there are people that support, you know, their head of states and those that are against. but i, i, i have a strong belief that those people who are supporting him would disagree 100 percent . but what he said, we are in africa. again, it's part of our identity and i don't see any body like thinking to agree with hostile statement and hateful statement and remark, full of patrons and what's inside hatred actually among our society. i mean, would you agree with that? because to disagree with the president would give power to the opposition,

goodness spent it as it is. i think i think we need to establish how popular science we've seen to in the last elections that i have still a page of people that support him. but the majority of teaching people did not go to vote. so they are not approving this political project that i did building. so when it comes to that, i think that his fully support comes from a group of people that have been campaigning for his election in 2019, etc, etc. and that are approving his project. those specific people i think are supporting what they're doing right now. because they, he gave them as a popular tick and through to a complex problem, he made soups to hiring nigger and the scapegoats for the economical issues in geneva. so right now what you are having multiple acts of violence against, oops,

are in me grants, we've seen it yet today in the city of facts where they've tried to the people tried to physically abuse up to a higher in the family. we've seen it 2 days ago in the city of suca, where they tried to burn down houses were soups, to hired me grants, who were living. so really we are seeing active violence against me. and because people desperate people believing that those me grants are responsible for the economic issues and that's what i made them believe. so really i think that there is a group of people into the up he's strong support. that can believe anything that i tell them because he built all the political system around him and is not only he's, not only there were their political choice, he's their only choice right now. they can not,

they cannot think of anything else besides fights projects. but for the opposition and for the, the people that left valued after a multiple abuses of power after the q. this is a, this is a strong this is a strong disbelief for them. they did not expect fide to be this, this filled with hatred with, with plastic words against, against people. so. so we're the, i think you still have a strong base, but i think most of the people that believed in him are now filled with disappointment. did you think this tactic? i mean, well, work this effort to create the smoke screen around the problems that the political problems, economic problems that food supply issues and so forth. it could work, mate until when i mean and people will, will, people will realize that that economy,

coal policies are simply not working or complain of them. he cannot, we cannot get to deal with him if he cannot get for an aide that he can not build. it can, it can only cor, program that, that, that reduced inequality that creates more a move companies except when it cetera, it did not present to really any economic cool project that could help people. so really, i think it's cool work for the time. just as is old, back to work through time, the parliament, the justice, etc. it was all for a few months. and then you find a new scape goat, but what you blame next will be the next victim. that's the the, the main question. and the 2nd question really suffer, the african union has expressed shock and deep concern should they, could they do more i think yes,

i think rather than just condemned him because i mean even not like, let's talk about not only the, the a you but also that you, you and like you have been like condemned in similar acts, similar actions like repeatedly adopt the resolution to condemn this income them that but are we seeing any changes really? i don't think so. a lot of challenges are still hampering up, you know, or, or affecting migrant across the world across the continent. so i'm not really see in like any changes like helping to overcome such challenges. if you take into account the situation in a, you and the european union or to be in countries, there are a lot of defections and a lot of loopholes and a lot of issues targeting migrant. but are they sold? we only see like resolution adopted and, you know, of the, are condemned in african countries world for, for who are not doing enough to tackle the situation. but are they doing anything

to tackle the situation? i only see was illusions and you know, target in some countries in africa, but whether the giant economies in the you are do with or shoulder and their responsibilities and that issue, i don't see any action. let's take into account the wrong. as the situation in france, i see local official repeatedly target in migrants from rock from algeria, from sub and from across the region or from across africa regions. but are they held accountable? are there any actions taken against those officials? the are true when doug statements about again, african migrants there was the local official in montpelier. i think frank, we recently said that harkins and africans are not welcomed and, and the european,

or in france are the frantic, any legal action against what he said. i don't think so. no, i think yes, there are still some some i mean a lot to do in order to tackle the situation of migraines across the world. of course, maybe you could indeed all you that it's more of a european union problem that the african problem. yeah. i mean, kara, yeah, i was, i was, i was actually questioning, why do we, why do we give responsibility to the my group countries in the north african countries to tackle that situation? i mean, we are not supposed to be the pull the, the police for the urban union. they need to handle the migration pull at the end, held accountable once they read the abuse. i don't like when the countries gets

involved in, in north african countries to, to, to, to, to, to deal with migration issues. i mean, since side inside presidential term begin intermedia we have, we have, we have, we've been working with friends to expel people, changing people from friends, people who never lived in just the who just were that were there for 20 or 30 years . and they've been, they've been expelled for, from friends after one minor one minor infraction or, or because their, their visa permit expired to catch up. before that we used to always or she was, we used to always give those people the chance to get back into get back into the into legal situation, etc, etc. now we're just dealing with the, with the friends and the migration policy. we are doing it for them and

suffers. let's get down to the nitty gritty that the migrant story if you like. so you have the migrants coming from these countries. they end up in north africa and that bit to get to the, you know, the streets pay with gold in europe is as they may think they are. and then what happens, why are they trapped? if i can, if i may only like add up to what i mean is paying for instance, just recently in 2021, france decided to slash the number of visas to moroccan in oregon and also birch, uneasy and migrant. there was no, no condemnation about this from the you itself. i mean there was no actual theme and frank claimed that it solve this issue. but did, did it do it because i, i so report as a journalist, i still writes about this continuously writing about how americans are frustrated

about like, how they are applications get denied without any specific justification from claims that i solve the issue and the counselor services were restored, fully restored, which are still claim. alright, and suffers on the other hand, morocco itself has become the 1st country in the region to give legal status and benefits to migrants. how is that working? ok, so this is part of morocco's migrate jury policy. that's a king, 106 launched in 2013. and this enabled the operating of moroccan office for silent and seedless persons and this gave migrant children access to public education as well as the integration of my going into morocco society. morocco is one of the 1st african to have such a migration policy. and that goes beyond that. we go or lives in the status of migrants. i think the number of migrants, you know,

benefited from this policy goes beyond the 50000 migraines as part of 2 campaigns that were launched under the moroccan migrate migration policy. and then when they had a granted this, do they settle a given opportunities for work? and so for how they assimilated in the community? absolutely, they get residential permit that would allow them to get access to education, health care and also have the right to apply for a job in addition to that morocco also grants 1000 scholarships. we have like 12000, i think a students of studying in morocco including students from sub saharan africa and eventually they get job opportunities either here or when they are back to their home countries. in addition to that, we all of so, or we all witness morocco's initiative and commitment towards the african

developments and the best evidence to prove that is more awkward contribution to food security in the continent. the country donated thousands of fertilizers to a several small hold their farmers across the continent. so i think the country is doing a great job, of course, does still some challenges that morocco should take into account, including communication. but i think we're doing so far. so good, right, and i mean, that differs massively from how migrant received and soon as you tell us a little bit about that, what's life of migrants in the families who enter the country? yeah, just to react to what i said about about the, the french polity. when it comes to these, it was a part of an international negotiation between france and the grid prince wanted to

expel the citizens from migrant citizens in france that were not legal anymore. and for the last 10 years, my roku algeria engineers always refused to me just accepted 2 years ago. and that's what made the french mean to go into a method that you need. yeah. good students of the, my group when it comes to, when it comes to migration policies, because we accept that's french, expelled people that are living there that build their families that have families there, etc, etc. so really well, all, all migration policy is, is bad. only thing, it's not think in human, human italian way, it's picked in terms of politics. how can we benefit from it? and now the situation is absolutely horrifying from my grants. i've been saying that the, we're going to need to be either black, either an opponent of di isn't. god forbid you're both. and really,

they're always there is they always, there always have been to the internet of course, the reason everywhere. but now since the sides communication, it has become difficult for them to go to the doctor. i mean, the medicine university had to put out the statement to, to, to tell the doctors you are supposed to treat everyone equally. and there is even difficult to get them to private, private transportation, because we've seen pictures yet to day of private, private transport thing. they will not welcome any and yet as we can negroes to, we are african and they, they just, they just seem to forget that he suffer migrants across the country to just had one comment to we up to, i mean, what i mean said i think like the statement you said,

you mentioned about like morocco, algeria, and i mean, i'll talk about morocco specifically since it's part of my, my, my expertise, this what you said as part of tenicia and i'm sorry, what's what france says. it's the version of the french government claiming that morocco refuse she to get back the migraines, who are residing in front irregularly bucks a morocco, like, has been the renewal and its commitment towards bringing them back, migrants who are like, residing in france, a girl irregularly. but of course, this will take a lot of process, a lot of security back check and a lot of things. and it's not just as easy as that and not like as easy as it seems . and of course, i mean from didn't justify it's decision. they just like how i mean, how it's,

how was visa related to not more often, not being able to, to treat or bring back. it's a regular migrants in france. i don't feel like there is a connection between this because those who are, you know, applying for visa are applying legally through legal. i'm going jumping them because we're just running out of time. i mean, i just want to come to you on the this, this idea that the micro cross constants facing so much hostility that many calling to it's kind of no borders policy that nobody know african should be regarded as a foreigner. anywhere on the continent is other possibility. is that a good idea? i'd love that. so i agree with that. i think that borders are just human, construct political trucks and that i know boys are both the will mean that we will have a mixed country where the risk of going to phobia will be it will be

lower ends would be would be would be impossible, really so i think that's, that's the thing that we could, we could, we could get something from europe on that end and try to build an african country without borders without the need for permits or we suffered. can it work like a large part of your absolutely, absolutely. i definitely agree with that. i would see i would love to see some initiatives that would allow africans to move freely. and again i'll, we need to tackle this humanitarian issue and not a political issue. and mean, finally to you, we've seen all too clearly the tragedy of migration, even today, this shit rec vessel in italy, doesn't that ultimately? where is the solution? is a solution where they end up all or where they're trying to get to where they're coming from. i think we could learn that finger to from morocco. i think we could,

we could welcome people. that's our, that's our, that's our, your intermedia. and that are searching for a better life. and because offer them this much for life, we have we have been trying to attract migration to private universities and to, and to live in 24 years now. there was always the really to, to bring african subsided in african people to, to private university. and i think that we could, we could benefit from that we can benefit really from giving work permits and jobs true to the people that are here. and i think that the hope that they are the hopes of a better life. they're expecting from europe. we could offer them new. yep. a challenging, ongoing problem. we run out of time. appreciate your thoughts, your perspective. thanks very much indeed. thanks. so i guess,

i mean it's niecy and stuff. a customer thanks very much indeed. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting a website out there, a dot com. and for further discussion, just go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash a j inside story. and you can also join the conversation on twitter or handle is that a insight store for me to clock in the entire team here by from the me ah lou. ready the catastrophic series of earth makes into kiya and syria has taken

thousands of people's lives and left many more harmless. a major mobilization of humanitarian support is underway ah, teams on the ground will bring you continuous updates to t n. syria makes on al jazeera one year after russia's invasion of ukraine. what are the lessons learned? what i've learned is that in europe, we are a small continent, but we don't really know each other's history. how worried are you that if putin succeeds in ukraine will be an invasion of your country as stony as prime minister talks to well jesus, ah, which is here with you?

oh, on the account you the caused one year off, the rush are invaded. ukraine all sanctions against moscow worth it. baker's as far as senegal feel the pinch of the fire ukraine holiday hoping, plus erin via the seal, the biggest aviation deal in the industry. history. counter nickel on al jazeera. ah. hello, i'm fully betsy boy. doha with a look at the headlines on al jazeera is ready forces have deployed hundreds of additional soldiers to the occupied west bank in response to an escalation of violence. latest pictures show the area damage cause to palestinian homes and businesses. settlers protected by israel force is also set fire to dozens of vehicles.