the free force of future story you played on t w. this is it only news live from berlin death of an anti apartheid icon south africa's winnie mandela has died at the age of eighty one and activist and the first wife of nelson mandela for many sure as the mother of the nation but her past was also littered with controversies also coming up a landslide victory in just present of the fatah has sisi is reelected garnering

over ninety seven percent of the vote but low turnout and a lack of any credible opposition cast doubt over the validity of the ballot and china throws a punch in an increasingly bitter trade spat beijing imposes duties on three billion dollars worth of u.s. imports including pork and fruit and response to president trump's punitive tariffs . thanks for your company everyone and we start our broadcast with some breaking news out of south africa where anti apartheid campaigner winnie mandela has died at the age of eighty one after a long illness while the news was announced by her personal assistant when mendell was the ex-wife of the late president and apartheid icon nelson mandela while her legacy in south africa was mixed for decades she was. long admired as

a determined fighter against white minority rule in south africa but winnie mandela his reputation began to suffer in later years in part due to criminal convictions such as for kidnapping and assault of a teenager accused of being an informer while an anti-apartheid icon in her own right with a very complex legacy jason burke from the guardian newspaper joins us now from johannesburg it feels like jason like the end of an era well he certainly is in a sense when he was a huge respected figure controversial certainly but not very much as one of the major leaders of the struggle particularly in the one nine hundred eighty s. when many of those close to those mandela were present many of those people know modeller obviously many of those who were close to him and when he is possible and will be seen as really the some of the very last of that generation who is still

alive bishop desmond tutu very still alive that he's seriously ill and it really does feel like that generation is now almost away entirely jason tell us a little bit more about winnie mandela the anti-apartheid activist. well she was always very very engaged in social struggle she was a social worker in early life married to one doubter in fifty seven he was the senate president sixty three so there were many together for a short period after that she was as she said married to the african national congress which led to ponce struggle through those decades and in that poet she was vocal she was determined she made very significant sacrifices and she was drawn into the atmosphere of violence and brutality that characterized that period of particularly the nazi seventy nine hundred eighty s.

and she has so here's we heard in the introduction was accused of being involved in some absolutely horrific crimes as well obviously the fighting there were thick on the poles and chip was lucia and jason talk to us now as a little bit more about her fall from grace said because it was very steep can you tell us why she became such a controversial a figure in the past couple of years. in a sense you had nelson mandela who had me to prison for twenty seven years i'm so i'd come out of the president's audience hangs it by the it's in this violence brutality of the struggle in the nineteen eighties in south africa particular ninety nine has his wife who had been certainly there as his spouse or the figurehead but really she's been very involved in the plot it's of that period in some way where she was linked to

a series assassinations and then in the immediate aftermath of the fall of a two. the new democrat democracy in south africa she lived. she was accused of corruption the kind of glamorous lifestyle that was very much at all those with the ascetic vision so when my devil took the chick to community to ship so she was really out of place now to try in the millions as she also was absolutely opposed to any real reconciliation something that nelson mandela obviously supported with all his considerable powers and charisma when he was a hard line to remain in the hall and was absolutely unapologetic about the audience that she had been. jason burke reporting in from johannesburg south africa women della who has died at the age of eighty one thank you.

all right now to some other news the egyptian president i've referred to has sisi as one a second term in office egypt's election authority says as sisi got just over ninety seven percent of the votes in last week's ballot or turnout was lower at around forty one percent than in the previous presidential election critics also argue as sisi has just one opponent a token candidate to give the election the appearance of a genuine contest an opposition groups called for a boycott of the vote. while a with voters handing a second term to president add to his sisi what does this mean for the arab world's most populous nation going forward ruth michelson is a correspondent based in cairo and she will be able to provide us with some contacts was this a vote by egyptians for a sisi or for stability in the country. well in government and c.c. himself bill this vote as a vote was a vote for civility

a vote for the country a kind of vote for egyptian patriotism as a whole but of course high turnout would turn out of any kind benefit cc's will he wanted a strong mandate going into his second term in office to be able to push through further reforms perhaps even constitutional reforms we saw that there was forty why i'm just i'm forty one percent turnout which is about a four percent dip from cc's last victory in twenty forty but he got roughly the same amount of votes ninety six point nine percent in twenty fourteen and this time around ninety seven point zero eight percent of the vote so roughly the same between twenty forty and now alone of course we have no way of knowing if these figures are correct all right now let's talk a little bit about what is ahead of him now egypt's economy is in dire straits inflation is pretty bad ordinary people are in area gyptian are suffering many many

hardships what has he promised to do to turn the economy around for his people. well we've seen that c.c. and that some. economic reforms following. egypt's acceptance of the twelve billion dollar loan from the international monetary fund the twenty sixth and this led to the cutting of subsidies. to a subsidy there are. banks widespread contemplation that he's going to cut subsidies including natural gas and when we see a new budget. that there's no clear confirmation of that yet and see she is also frequently lent on the mega projects that egypt has been acted over the past couple of years and you capital city a second series cannot have a saying that these are going to bring prosperity to the country but that hasn't necessarily been the case just yet and there are

a lot of people who are what's the whole society who say they're not seeing the benefits any of these reforms just feeling the pinch. michael some reporting off from cairo thank you thank you reports are coming in from syria that rebel fighters have agreed to leave their last stronghold in eastern or top the persian forces say they've reached a deal with the largest rebel group army of islam to pull out of their territory but some members of the group deny their surrender is imminent fighters from another smaller rebel group however are leaving hundreds of people have been killed in fighting in is in a hotel in the recent weeks. the road to eastern ghouta passers by ruined buildings and abandoned lifeless villages. on the roadside corpses rebels that nobody has stopped to bury displaying victory signs assad soldiers approach the center of eastern go to the offensive has lasted more than

a month with russian warplanes carrying out crucial air strikes. and. the rebel terrorist finally over the syrian army has been able to free eastern gota we thank our president. and the oversight of the for the last rebels are leaving the area the conditions of their withdrawal were negotiated late into the evening many are now trying to get to the city of idlib in the north won a fair last remaining strongholds one hundred and their children were taking prisoner by the rebels for four weeks and held as hostages. oh i see that in the end my son was ready to kill my daughter and me so they couldn't violate our semi more. but only a couple. they beat them with rifle butts and stomped on them with their heavy boots. i hoff can i live in the then they grabbed my daughter and screamed that she

was now married to one of the revolutionaries if she refused they would cut off her head and give it to me. said they were monsters so you know. more and more refugees are making their way through the card or out of eastern gota more than four hundred thousand people were caught in the crossfire essentially held hostage by rival groups with a common goal overthrowing the assad regime. many are now in the custody of the syrian army apparently the lesser of two evils. eastern ghouta now just a collection of ruins a region without people after the recapture of the region moscow and damascus bursting with self-confidence and washington after announcing it would freeze millions of dollars in reconstruction aid is on the back foot what's left out the dead the homeless and many displaced eight years after the civil war began with

a few isolated protests against the assad regime the president has almost finished bringing the country back under his iron grip. aren't talking about some of the other stories making news around the world. russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov has said that russia is not responsible for any escalation the hour over the poisoning of a former spy in the u.k. he is accused britain and the u.s. of playing children's games russia has denied responsibility for last month's attack on expiry sergei script all and his daughter yulia. ethiopia's parliament has sworn in abbay ahmed as the country's new prime minister ahmed is the first ethnic oromo to be given the post by the ruling coalition is expected to implement democratic reforms aimed at defusing tensions with ethnic aromas following years of anti-government protests by the marginalised group. militants of the book oh

harami extremist group have killed at least eighteen people after they attacked a military base and two villages near the nigerian city of my do guru dozens of people wounded an official said the militants fired mortars at troops on the base and suicide bombers detonated explosives in the villages. china has slapped tariffs on a whole range of u.s. imports in an escalating spot with washington over trade beijing will now levy charges of up to twenty five percent on certain u.s. imports including pork and why well the move comes after the trumpet ministration impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from china. these american avocados are destined for the chinese market but they might not sell so well anymore now that china has imposed tariffs on fruit meat while steel pipes and scores of other imports from the usa the rates of fifteen percent of one hundred and twenty items and twenty five percent on eight others. the chinese government

says the people support its move because some in china regret the ensuing rise in prices. it's definitely going to have an impact many fruits that kids love only grow in foreign countries we don't have them in china that is a direct impact. the right to impose tariffs because i've seen the news about the us crapping trade deals with us it's right to fight back. the new tariffs or china's initial response to the u.s. move to slap tariffs on steel and alimony m imports the u.s. is also threatening to impose further terrace on sixty billion dollars worth of other chinese imports a year over what it terms the theft of intellectual property china by contrast is raising tariffs on about three billion dollars worth of u.s. imports. beijing says it will never submit if the u.s. launches a trade war and says that tariff increases are in line with world trade organization

rules to protect its interests still the scale of china's new tariffs is modest the move looks more like a warning shot than a major counterattack the u.s. is china's largest single market a full blown trade war is the last thing china would want. all right that does it for us and rolling on behalf of all of us here thank you so much for spending this part of the day with us news continues at the top of the hour. we make up of what we watch as afaik there under. the surface. they want to shape the continent's future. part of it and join our youngsters as they share their stories their dreams their challenges the seventy seven percent platform for africa majority.