"nu—”m bbc news: president trump is withdrawing the united states from the paris accord on climate change, signed by 195 nations. he called it an unfair agreement that would cost millions of americanjobs. he said he was prepared to negotiate a new agreement but if that wasn't possible it "didn't matter". there's been swift international criticism of the us withdrawal. in a joint statement with germany and italy, france warned donald trump that the paris agreement could not be renegotiated. the un secretary general called it a major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. police in the philippines say a gunman who attacked a casino in manila has committed suicide. security forces spent hours searching for the man after hundreds fled when he opened fire. the authorities initially feared a terror attack but later said it was likely to have been a bungled robbery. it is time now for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. does saddam's

lethal cocktail of failed governance, ethnic division, hunger and disease threatens millions of lives. —— south sudan. it represents a tragic failure on the part of the rulers of africa's newest country, and on the part of the united nations mission in south sudan which has brought neither peace or anything else. i ask david shearer what hope there is for the people of south sudan. david shearer, welcome to hardtalk

thank you. do you think the world is paying heed to the agonies and suffering of the people of south sudan? i think increasingly so, suffering of the people of south sudan? ithink increasingly so, but there is a competition, of italy, for airtime there is a competition, of italy, forairtime in there is a competition, of italy, for airtime in terms of disasters around the world. south sudan sometimes, despite the enormous amount of tragedy, sometimes falls off the stage. right now, there are more than half the population of south sudan in need of food aid. one third of the country is displaced, either in other countries or internally displaced. and the conflict continues on. and this is not a disaster that is borne out of drought. it is a disaster that is borne out of conflict. it is man—made. it is a man—made catastrophe. the un agency

responsible for food and agriculture has talked about famine. a word which is always used with great care. is it justified which is always used with great care. is itjustified in south sudan today? they did keppel analysis of the situation in south sudan and declared one particular area, a number of counties, in a famine zone. “— number of counties, in a famine zone. —— careful analysis. they believe 100,000 people in the area we re believe 100,000 people in the area were likely to die unless there was an enormous amount of food put into the area. that has happened to some degree and the numbers have come down from 100,000 down to about 80,000. but around the rest of south sudan, dini has risen. particular in now, with the onset of the rainy season. “— now, with the onset of the rainy season. —— that has risen. between now when they plant and when they harvest their food, there now when they plant and when they harvest theirfood, there is now when they plant and when they harvest their food, there is a very, very big and worrying gap. let's get back to the point that it is a man—made disaster. you sit there in

the capital, responsible for the un mission. there are —— you are supposed to be there protecting the people of south sudan. and you cannot, because you are only able to address the symptoms, not of south sudan's problem. and the cause is total political dysfunction. and thatis total political dysfunction. and that is beyond your ability to fix. i had to say that what we do do in south sudan, and it is more than half of our mandate to protect civilians, and we have 230,000 people either inside our bases or right alongside them, who we... who we are protecting. or not, as the case may be? because we can go through the different case studies, last year, the year before, where

people inside those camps, under your protection, have been attacked and killed. some, yes. and i am not trying to defend what happened. but overwhelmingly, 230,000 people have chosen to come inside our bases, and are alive today because we are there. so the un, through its work, has saved tens of thousands of people. there is absolutely no doubt about that. have we let on occasion, have there been instances where people have been killed? yes. but overwhelmingly, a lot of people choose to be there. i don't think thatis choose to be there. i don't think that is enough. 230,000 is the huge number. but we have around 2 million people who are displaced across south sudan, and our real role, now, is to get beyond our bases and get out into those areas and provide some degree of protection or comfort

for those people who are outside. some degree of protection or comfort for those people who are outsidem one of the biggest problem is you face the fact that the president of the country, salva kiir mayardit, and we have had him on the country, before. we had him here during a previous crisis a couple of years ago, but it is worse now. salva kiir mayardit does not really want you and your forces in mayardit does not really want you and yourforces in his mayardit does not really want you and your forces in his country. mayardit does not really want you and your forces in his countrym isa and your forces in his countrym is a copycat edition. i think for the government of south sudan, on the government of south sudan, on the one hand, they are proud, they got their independence after a0 yea rs of got their independence after a0 years of fighting. —— it is a complicated situation. the thought that the un needs to be there is a bit ofan that the un needs to be there is a bit of an anathema to them. on the other hand, they realise that we are mandated to be here and need to be there. it is a relationship we have two managed carefully. but they also recognise that if the un was not better, there would be tens of thousands of people who would not get food aid, that would not be protected, that would not be up to get water or medical supplies, et

cetera. so they need us and we need to work carefully with them at the same time. salva kiir mayardit is at war with his former vice president, the other man who has lived through the other man who has lived through the liberation struggle and independence of south sudan, riek machar, one representing one particular tribal grouping, that is the dinka, and riek machar represents the other group. everything you are talking to me about is a plaster on a winter continues to fester. there is no doubt that if we want to solve the german problem, the cholera problem, of which are growing number of cases. “— of which are growing number of cases. —— south —— south —— wound that. a year ago,

riek machar and salva kiir mayardit we re riek machar and salva kiir mayardit were sitting down to discuss a peace deal. there was a lot of hope that would bring about peace. and within days of the meeting, salva kiir mayardit‘s forces were bombing riek machar‘s people and they were on the run on leaving the country. it blew up. who was responsible for that depends on who you speak to. up. who was responsible for that depends on who you speak tom up. who was responsible for that depends on who you speak to. in a senseisit depends on who you speak to. in a sense is it not your duty, as the un's top representative, the special envoy of the un to south sudan, at some point you will have to make some point you will have to make some calls and you say to your boss and to the world that this is the man who is responsible for the methods are sudan is in today. so why don't you tell me right now who you believe carries the responsibility. —— for the situation in south sudan today. responsibility. —— for the situation in south sudan todaylj responsibility. —— for the situation in south sudan today. i think right now we need to be looking forward in

terms of how we get out of this, rather than looking backwards and thinking about who did what to whom. and it depends on who you speak to. right now, it is after the conflict injuly last year, right now, it is after the conflict in july last year, when right now, it is after the conflict injuly last year, when everything, again, to do nothing. salva kiir mayardit remained the president. riek machar is currently in south africa. there was, i believe, a feeling around the region, and it was the region that brought these two together, are they peace deal. to enable salva kiir mayardit to be president and to try and resolve the conflict as it went along. right now, certainly, the government as a sedan is very strong. and the opposition is no longerjust riek machar. it is also broken into other groups. and so it has become more competent than it was before. so go backwards is not an option. it is

about going forwards. —— it has become more competent. are you talking to riek machar yourself? —— complicated. not myself. but we have had somebody down to speak five or six weeks ago. let's think deeply about your mission. the mandate has changed. in 2013, it was about ambitious plans to try and form a new state, to help build a civil society of functioning democracy. that is what the un appeared to believe could be done in south sudan. in the last couple of years, much more focused on that, as you call it, the core job of protecting civilians in a time of terrible civilians in a time of terrible civil strife. the problem is your forces do not appear to be able to do thatjob. partly because, to

quote one un official in sao sudan, admittedly anonymous, he said the truth is, nobody was to die for south sudan. in the un force. and thatis south sudan. in the un force. and that is a brutal truth, isn't it? nobody was to die. and i do want anybody to die. let's about absolutely clear. you know what i mean, though. the point is that your forces go when push comes to shove, whether it be the terrible incident injuba whether it be the terrible incident in juba last year, whether it be the terrible incident injuba last year, when your forces stood by as killings occurred. and there was another case in a different camp, and 2015, as civilians were killed, more than 30, your forces to buy. they are not prepared to put their own lives on the line to say civilians. —— south sudan. in july last year, the line to say civilians. —— south sudan. injuly last year, there was a lot of criticism about the un and the way that it responded. —— stood by. i came in after that time. i

came in after those of us. we brought in a retired general, and he led a team of people who looked very intensively at how the un responded to what happened. and we were found to what happened. and we were found to be wanting. and we set in play a whole series of measures to try and address that. when i came in, i picked that up to take those measures forward, and then brought the general back in again to say now look at us, as if we are better than when you canter a few months ago. and check to see... and i think we reported back to the security council on this, because the security council was also anxious to hear how we had got on. i think we have addressed many of the issues. but look, it is an ongoing thing. we have two be more robust. and i think we are. and we need to be more prepared. we need to have a great

degree of looking forward and trying to anticipate what is happening and be ready for that. and so i think there is a, certainly within the mission, now, we are better placed than we were last year. but with respect, if you look at the time line, after the terrible events of last year, the un decided it needed to beef up its military and police imprezas with at least a000 extra personnel. salva kiir mayardit, and you refuse to take sides, earlier on, when i invited you to ascribe responsibility to different players, salva kiir mayardit has over the months blocked and thwarted your desire to expand your military presence. “— desire to expand your military presence. —— police forces with at least. we have had difficulty getting people in. there is no doubt about that. a lot of it has been bureaucratic. you wonder how much of

what is bureaucracy or something else. so why do you call them out? say to salva kiir mayardit that this is unacceptable? and there will be consequences. is unacceptable? and there will be consequences. if you don't allow our extra military force in. we have. we've reported the security council in public. i have given various interviews where i have said we need to have his regional protection force coming. at what has happened? it is still slow. but look, we are doing what we can. —— but what has happened. we have the elements on the ground. and we are finding, as of the last few weeks, it is becoming easier and easier. i want to come back to something you said before, because i think there is an important issue, here, and that is about the robustness of the response. of about the robustness of the response. of course about the robustness of the response. of course nobody wants to die in sao sudan. we don't expect that. but right now, if we are... if

isaid a that. but right now, if we are... if i said a patrol down to a particular area, and at a checkpoint, and the checkpoints as you cannot come through, the standing instruction is do not turn around. —— south sudan. you stay there. and we had patrol steppers checkpoints overnight, one day, it two days, or longer, until they are able to get through. —— we have had patrol ‘s stay at those. a few weeks ago, the mongolian group had a checkpoint, weapons were cops, and they were told that they couldn't come through. —— patrols. they radioed back to the base, and they were told that they would turn around, but not in five minutes. they turned around in 30 minutes, and the next day they went back and got through. this is the more robust type of peacekeeping that we want to see. but i want to say... people are still dying. civilians are dying every day. just a minute. that is

highly, highly dangerous brinkmanship. we are two sides with their weapons cocked against each other. in orderfor us their weapons cocked against each other. in order for us to their weapons cocked against each other. in orderfor us to perform our mandate, i guess we could machine—gun our way through, but what would happen the next day? the next day we would be at war with the groups that are in front of us. and we would suffer casualties, and we would not be able to do the job that we have been sent out to do. so this isa we have been sent out to do. so this is a very delicate situation in terms of peacekeeping. this is peacekeeping. it is not warmaking. it is not invasion. it is peacekeeping. try to get to civilians are you try to protect and it is when the possibly can. —— in the best way that you possibly can. is it possible to talk about peacekeeping when they are players who are guilty against war crimes and crimes against humanity?” who are guilty against war crimes and crimes against humanity? i think you can but the point for us is to be able to get to the places that we

need to go and by being present, we stop a lot of the atrocities that are going on, from being carried out. we are able to monitor and record some of those atrocity perhaps for future times and some of those people may be able to be held to account. we are able for humanitarian supplies to be able to brought into an area that otherwise they would not be able to get into. i think the peacekeeping role, it is no doubt, it is a saving the lives of thousands of people dot back but just to be clear about it, the un said in december 2016, a process of debt cleansing is under way in parts of south sudan. is that your beliefs that ethnic cleansing is happening ina that ethnic cleansing is happening in a country which you, for the un, are responsible for, use it within force of 17 thousand personnel and

you are unable to stop ethnic cleansing continuing? with the comings and that are going on and the multitude of them, every part of south sudan is a bit different. there is an ethnic dimension to them. around that time that report came out, there was talk about genocide and that was the word that scared people and certainly got the attention of the international... people have talked about rwanda and have said south sudan has all the components that could push it over the edge to be the world ‘s next rwanda style genocidal catastrophe. i worked in rwanda just after the genocide and know what absolute failure looks like. my feeling is, yes, there are atrocity that are being carried out, that are racially

inspired, but we're not seeing something that is organised political campaign to eliminate one group or another. none of this is easy but it seems to me you have a pet ticket only difficult set of choices to be made, particularly in regards to your approach to salva kiir. john kerry when he was addressing the south sudan crisis, he made it crystal clear as the us secretary of state that us assistance in its total of more than $1.6 billion over the last six yea rs, $1.6 billion over the last six years, he said it was not unconditional. we are not going to continue to fill this void and provide help incessantly if the parties involved are not willing to accept responsibility and do things to deliver peace for their people. is it time to reassess aid and assistance to south sudan?”

is it time to reassess aid and assistance to south sudan? i hope not, quite frankly, because if we cut at an 80 only people the list are the people who have nothing to do with the conflict and a sickly innocent bystanders, citizens who have gone through years and years of war. maybe the aid is simply allowing the players to perpetuate the cycle of conflict and violence. from the work of ngos on the ground, some people are enriching themselves as millions of their fellow citizens are going hungry and facing starvation. i think that if we cut back on food aid, then there is going to be a direct correlation with the number of people who died. it is very simple. if we do that, thatis it is very simple. if we do that, that is a decision. will it be about a political and abbas no, i do not think so. the people fighting to not depend on food aid. overwhelmingly seagate. .. depend on food aid. overwhelmingly seagate... some may be redirected to

military... but overwhelmingly... in every conflict i have worked in a round of the world, the military a lwa ys round of the world, the military always eat first. let's face it, thatis always eat first. let's face it, that is happening but the overwhelming seagate that goes into south sudan goes to those people who need it. if you turned the tap off, thenit need it. if you turned the tap off, then it will change the behaviour of then it will change the behaviour of the leaders of south sudan? i do think so. i think we will be in exactly the same situation only with a lot of people dead. no one disputes the fact that today south sudan is a failing state. it is the world ‘s youngest station but it is failing badly. there is an idea abroad that the early and best way of saving the people south sudan is to put the country into some form of

un trusteeship stock at the un died in south sudan, you've seen the failing of the government, is that the best solution may be to look what happened in kosovo and east timor, and put these country in some form of trusteeship. there is quite a bit of trusteeship. there is quite a bit of talk about an never seen somebody go beyond the idea through the implications of what that would mean on the ground. first of all, the un is not talking about that and i certainly am not. i was in iraq were effectively, there was a trusteeship when the us went in, it was hugely problematic. i was in kosovo, a small country and it was problematic that but it was more containable. south sudan is an immense country with a very proud people who believe they thought a a0 year plus civil war in order to gain their independence, only now to have it taken away

independence, only now to have it ta ken away and independence, only now to have it taken away and given to the un. i think that would... millions are at risk... absolutely but more millions would be at risk by going down the road where we have not thought about the repercussions of what that would mean. i think just the repercussions of what that would mean. i thinkjust the basics, the salsa down people ‘s liberation army is 2000 strong. he was going to be on the ground to be able to protect people and enable that to come together? there are lots of implications around these... together? there are lots of implications around these. . m together? there are lots of implications around these... it is just doing the best you can in a terrible situation. look, it is about doing the best you possibly can. i also worked in liberia and sierra leone where they have turned a corner and moved into another direction. i have optimism that an agreement will be found and we will be able to move forward. many countries, as they have started off

in conflict, admittedly this is one of the worst. it is the most difficult and most challenging country i have worked in in my career country i have worked in in my career and i do not think people really understand where south sudan started from. yes, they got their independence or a 200 kilometre of tarmac road, 200 kilometres in a country the size of france. that is what they inherited when they got the independence. the capital, juba, toa the independence. the capital, juba, to a half weeks in a dry season to go through a journey to the next big town. the logistics are overwhelming in south sudan. i do not think people quite grasp the enormity of theissues people quite grasp the enormity of the issues facing both us, the government, the opposition, everybody. that is the challenge that you continue to face and we

thank you for being on hardtalk. thank you. good morning. it feels as though it has been a week of extremes — extreme heat, thunderstorms, even some rain. now, as we move towards the weekend, things aren't quite as extreme but nevertheless it will be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers. but certainly it will feel noticeably fresher out there. good news if it has been too hot and humid. the reason being, this bass clef swirld of cloud that arrived during thursday — it's a weatherfront and once it moves through it is going to introduce

slightly fresher air from the west. it brought a change on thursday. in the north—west only 15 degrees. in the south—east we saw highs of 26. it stays pretty humid into the south—east corner. but that weather front will start to push further inland through the day today. it will weakene as it moves out of scotland, down through the peaks and pennines, towards the south coast. a band of cloud here. behind it somewhat brighter conditions. in actual fact, it will probably be a better day for scotland and northern ireland, particuallrly in comparison to yesterday. temperatures are a little higher. sunny spells across northern england. not a bad day through the peaks, in the midlands and into wales. largely dry. ahead of that front, we could see 27 for a time and that could spark off a dramatic thundery downpours. once that front clears, we will start to feel the benefit

with fresher air moving in. it means that overnight, friday into saturday morning, we will probably see those temperatures 9—15. a little bit more comfortable for sleeping. not a bad start to saturday. generally speaking, relatively quiet but we have these weather fronts pushing it from the atlantic, enhancing the potential for more showers out enhancing the potential for more showers out to the north and west. starting off largely fine and dry, showers across scotland and one to across coastal fringes but in the sunshine it will still feel pleasant enough. sunday, a similar story but the potential for perhaps more organised showers to the south—west. sunny spells, scattered showers and feeling just that little bit fresher. as we go into monday, gartner ‘s and grow as take note, as we go into monday,

gardners and growers take note, a potential to siebel have you organise rain and that may come as welcome news. a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: storm clouds gather as president trump withdraws the united states from the paris accord on climate change. so we're getting out. but we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair. from within the us and around the world, widespread condemnation. climate experts warn of deadly consequences for the environment. oh my god you guys! i can hear gunshots! oh my god! police in the philippines say a gunman who attacked a crowded casino in manila has killed himself.