and some bread to our people. -- and sell bread to our people. ♪ >> the headlines on al jazeera. the u.s. house of representatives back to threefold increase on pandemic relief checks to $2000. it will need a two thirds majority and says senate to pass. the house overturned trumps veto of the annual defense spending bill. >> congress voted for the spending measure, to find the military through october 1 of 2021. the president objected to the legislation for a number of reasons and voted -- vetoed it.

now, republicans and democrats are joining together, to push back trumps veto. that means assuming the senate does the same thing as early as tuesday, this funding bill will become law. >> president-elect joe biden hit out over the lack of information his transition team is getting from the trump administration. biden warranty is being subtracted -- still being obstructed on national security issues and that national agencies have been severely damaged by truck policies. a saudi court sentence a prominent women's rights activists to five years in international condemnation. after being arrested with a dozen other activists. in molly, truths were -- mali,

troops part of france's operation fighting armed groups have been hit. sunday voting was largely smooth and turn out strong despite 14% of polling stations unable to operate after being attacked by armed rebels. the president is hoping to win a second term but is accused his predecessor of planning a coup. the government of bangladesh started relocating a sackur group of refugees. they are being moved to an island -- a second group of refugees. rohingya are being moved to an island in the bay of the golf -- bambang gaal prone to flooding -- in the bay of bengal, prone to flooding. ♪

>> 54 countries in africa. how many are democratic? there have been a number of elections this year, also protests, violence and leaders changing the law to stay in power. so, how do you find democracy in africa? this is inside story. ♪ >> hello and welcome to the program. at least 16 african nations held elections this year. but there have been as many debates as to whether democracy is disappearing across the continent. a number of leaders continue to hold an iron grip on power, and he accused of repressing opposition and amending laws to extend their rule. sunday, people of central african republic turned out in

large numbers for a vote seen as a crucial test in a country that suffered years of instability. there were reports of armed groups shooting in the air to intimidate voters in one central town. the united nations said the process was largely peaceful. the president is seeking a second term. but he has been accused of vote-rigging. >> i am here to vote for peace. i have had problems -- i have heard about problems and other part of the country but had to do my bit. >> i was born in this country but feel marginalized as a muslim. what is the point of voting again? >> the same day, 7.5 million people cast ballots in niger, in an election that could lead to the country's first peaceful transition of power between two democratically elected president. the president is stepping down after reaching 25 year term limit -- after reaching the limit of 25 year terms. -- two five year terms.

the country blinded by poverty. >> we pray for the president u.s. the most mercy, who will not betray the country and the trust of the people. that is our wish. it is also our wish a lame help the presidents -- the peasants and poor and breeders happy. >> a second term in a vote overshadowed by postelection violence. five people have been killed. the former president main opposition candidate accused the incumbent of trying to break the election. ivory coast presidentushed to change the constitution and run for third term despite an opposition boycott, the election was marred by intimidation, violence and electoral malpractice. observers reported 23% of polling stations did not open due to threats or attacks. in guinea, the decision to also

run for a third term sparked protests met at a crock buy security forces. he won with 60% of the vote but the opponents said the election was rake and he violated the constitution by running again. dustin said people have since been killed in antigovernment demonstrations. in ethiopia's norm or it -- northern region of tigray, the people's liberation front held elecons defying a federal ban. the prime minister announced a military offensive after accusing tigray of attacking and seizing a military base in the regional capital, charge they denied. recent violence forced thousands of ethiopians to escape into neighboring sudan. ♪ let's bring our guests. in pretoria, honorary visiting professor at the university of south africa. agnes is managing partner at 53 firm gbs africa where she focuses on -- gbs africa, where

she focuses. and she joins us from london. also, the director of the faculty of academic affairs and research at the kofi annan international peacekeeping training center who specializes in west africa states and thus the hall region -- sahal region. from your bencic point, what is the state of democracyn the continent dust from your bandage, what is the state of democracy -- from your advantage, what is your perspective? >> some countries are showing stability, regular elections. some are beginning to have internal civil strife. at at times the kind of tension that is threatening the very progress that has been made since the early 1990's. you are seeing violence in other instances. and what we think is beginning to happen and be exposed is the fact that overconcentration on

elections, instead of looking at the fundamental deep structural issues, is not a sustainable way of maintaining democracy. because you are beginning to see the underlying deep structural, whether socioeconomic issues or the struggle for resources which sometimes is weaponized through regional identities. also the struggling economies generally. all those and corruption of course. all those, even if you had a good democracy, it you begin to have legitimate crisis if you cannot deliver on fundamental issues and create equal opportunity and economic development for all those part of that democracy. >> earlier this year, freedom house said the region that

showed the fastest decline in political rights and civil liberties in 2019 was west africa. which had lumping a driver of democratic gains. what are the regions -- the reasons democratic progress has backslid their? -- there? >> garbled for reasons. -- there are multiple reasons. i do agree with the previous speaker. two strong political parties that over time have started to meddle in the way institutions function, the judiciary, the media, even the legislature. we are also seeing more autocratic forms of regimes, in which a lack of patience for inclusive politics, exclusive

policies in which young people primarily. and i think at the point of time we can come to demographics, feel as though they are not part of the debate. the fanciful dressing around establishing institutions in which redeems are not interested -- regimes are not interested in independence, resources and function of institutions. so, over time, the optimism and hope of the 1990's about the resurgence of democratic institutions and democratic processes. plus assert democratic dividend. -- plus a certain democratic dividend. they are beginning to go away replaced by anger, demonstrations and dissidents between an increasingly aristocratic elite political class who do not understand the language in the use. it is this disconnect we should

understand and come to grips with. otherwise i think the next decade will be very difficult for the continent. >> agnes, i want to shift from big picture and look more at one specific case study. the election in tanzania in late october was marred by allegations of arrests of candidates, arrests of protesters, restrictions on representatives of political parties having access to polling stations. critics of the president accrue -- accuse him of stifling dissent in his first five years in office. election experts say democracy is experiencing really dire consequences there now. how bad is it in tanzania? >> we talk about democracy in africa, and sometimes i wonder, does it really work for the continent? does the western-style form of democracy work for our continent?

thank you for the question on tanzania. yes, tanzania, one model economy i would say, in our part of east africa. peaceful election over the years. evidence in country surrounding tanzania. yet last year, we saw a move, people are countries that had peaceful elections, peaceful transition from one government to the other. that is suddenly changing. echoing what everyone else is saying. the fundamental question is, are election really the solutions for the challenges the continent faces? every speaker has spoken about the challenges of income inequality. poverty. rising youth on employment. when we hold these elections.

what our politicians tell us every time they go out as they are going to provide this very important need africans need. health care, education, infrastructure. but day in and day out, we are seeing a backcourt movement from the 1990's, where we saw democratic processes taking place in the continent. i think doha, we are getting tired and the time has come for us to start questioning what works for us. is it working in a sector where we strive -- i am working in a sector where we support investment in the region. investors were clear not putting their money where political's ability was not visible. now you see in tanzania, investors are putting money and they do not really care about democratic processes about peaceful elections. they care about returns. so you know, i think for us in

africa, we need to go back to the drawing board and see what works for us. how can we promote development, and political stability. the fundamental question, is there an african rule, democracy, or process, informed by our values? without copying and pasting what has worked in europe, and thinking that is going to work for us? >> are there heads of states in africa positioning themselves as defenders of democratic governance and democratic norms now? at a time when democracy is backsliding in a lot of countries, are there leaders on the stage saying, no, we have to defend the democracies we have fought so hard for? >> well, you do not have the same cohort of leaders you saw in the 1960's, where he had strong leadership and vision about the continent or their

countries. what you are having now, it is mainly the five-year term managerial presidents who do not have a vision beyond their stay in office. because they have professionalized politics. most of the time you do not have people or leaders to a clarion call. of course, most of them do speak the language that is expected to be spoken, to say we are defending democracy, we want free and fair elections, but their actions and pronouncements pray often are at variance. -- very often are at variance. it is often about the politics of patronage and survival. rather than vision for the country's delayed. >> let me ask you about elections and niger held sunday.

there you saw, unlike other west african leaders, he saw the president do not try to change the constitution and stay in power. he stepped aside at the end of his second term. how significant is that? >> on the surface and in the interim, it looks significant. but in the real test of that, is whether the incoming government is able to transcend beyond the narrow confines of the managerial character of presidential politics that has been the bane of niger and other african countries, that is number one. number two relates to the extent to which this incoming government is capable of transforming the narrative and discourses around those who are threatening with the force of arms the survivor and dust survival and stability of niger.

hanging in the background will still be the military, a strong intrusive, decisive force, that politicians when it fits their agendas have called upon to commend that they work for them. when my daughter talks about managerial presidencies, i think that is truly very generous of him. these are just chaotic presidents driven by pecuniary self-interest not understanding the broader shifting dynamics of these countries they have been bequeathed with and it is that disconnect. the rhetorical sources around democracies without depleting -- the structure in these processes. that is leading to this dismay, anger, frustration. and they are buying into the narratives of extremism and

violence. this is west africa why challenge. and of course the decision not to continue, is encouraging, from the president. but we need to come around whoever's taking the power and saying things have changed. it cannot and must not be politics as usual. otherwise we would see the military coming back as an -- in mali. >> this year, crackdowns in various countries when it is time for elections, when there is campaigning. how much were crackdowns on dissent on the rise in these elections in 2020? >> a lot of them, we saw the fact that western governments were brokers on national issues, pandemics, brexit, trump, politics. what happens to a lot of african

leaders, they took advantage. they thought, the west is no logo telling us what to do or if they were, africans were not listening. so they took advantage of that. and because africans, clearly led by the [indiscernible] realizing we had nobody to look up to, went to the street and started demanding, demanding accountability from their leaders. we south sudan. -- we saw sudan, toward the end of the year, nigeria. other places where we saw young people, women, going out and demanding accountability from their government. what a lot of these politicians have done is a crock, particularly on access to internet, cracking down on anybody who spoke against them. or who had different views. we see have seen a lot of that in various countries. but i think the hope press is the fact that young africans are really realizing that if

anything is going to happen, if you're going to see the change, if you're going to see the kind of development and opportunities for everyone, i think it will come from africa itself. a not really, as we in the past have depended on big donors. but, yes, taking advantage of internet, obviously issues. using terrorism he spoke against the government. we have seen activists being held on terrorism issues, or they are threat to security, really using various excuse if to try to crackdown on anybody who is against their views and their bad politics. but you know, there is hope, the fact that young people are rising from [indiscernible] to the rest and saying, what enough is enough. at for us, how can we manage that? how can we move this activism we are seeing among african young people?

and move that toward leadership and democracy? >> by and large, how would you say citizens of many african countries view elections these days? do they view it as a tool to build effective democratic institutions, or a tool for those already in power to just stay in power? >> there is a serious legitimacy crisis in our political class, and the political system at large. that is why you find smaller groups of people are participating and the youth are very much dislocated from that process. per cut -- precisely because demographic dividends my colleagues have been talking about have not been forthcoming, particularly for the youth, because when you talk of most of these economic colleges, social challenges, political challenges, challenges of employment, they mainly target youth.

even when you talk of violent crime, corruption, or even diseases, they mainly have reached the youth. so there is a crisis. there is a need to reimagine an african state. by building a capacity of leadership. the capacity of the state. as well as the capacity of citizens, who, to a degree, must look at options of self-reliance, rather than dependence of the state. >> for the countries that have held elections in 2020, how difficult has been for the opposition in those countries to participate? >> let me focus on a couple of them. guinea, malley, ghana, côte d'ivoire, burkina faso, and niger. before i start about the difficulties they have faced, let me respond to agnes'great

point about the crackdown. look, the crackdowns in these countries have been consistent, massive. but if you take any -- guinea and the cote d'ivoire, for example, although constitutions were meddled with and changed, and these presidents who ought not have run for the election eventually one, they have not been able -- won, they have not been able to destroy and been the spirit of optimism and resistance we are seeing among the youth. and resolve. when [indiscernible] take place. in africa, national celebrations of victory over the [indiscernible] in these two cases, the inaugurations were help than the presidential palaces, these gerontocrats frightened of the

masses and saying we are frightened of you and we cannot allow you to steal our votes. closely related to this growing demand by the populace, primarily the youth, and captured by opposition parties, has been the threats, to changing laws about where it exists, party funding, access to media, use of military or uniformed forces. destruction of businesses, cutting off internet, you know. all kinds of [indiscernible] having used against the opposition. the end result is although we are holding elections, and i like the points made by my colleagues, that probably we need to look at elections as the [indiscernible] two deepening democracy. so we have election the observers who come in with a template that sells, we have

stats that says, we have seen one opposition leader talking on the radio or television, there's an opposition newspaper and therefore, the playing field is fairly level -that is not true. we see opposition parties having to struggle for their survival, just to get a voice. nevertheless, the little space that they have, to send a message out, those messages have resonated across the continent and in all of these countries. so, although incumbent parties are consistently warning, we have seen opposition parties and boating parties beginning to send a clear message that says, we will not accept politics as usual, in which a tiny elite horribly corrupt, running a family and friends type of government, continued to loot their resources.

that must be used for the benefit of the generality of the populations. so, i for see a change coming. and that change, for me, is crucial, and opposition politics more crucial. because the op -- the alternative is more violent social spread. >> sorry to interrupt, we are starting to run out of time. i want to get agnes into give a last point. i sigh you nodding along. i want to see if you want to add anything and from your perspective if you felt there were any bright spots, reasons for hope? >> you are right, i think elections in my view are unnecessary, expensive, and we spent a lot of money holding elections in which the outcome, most people have disputed. so why should we have elections. instead, why shouldn't we focus

and renew the challenges faces. challenges of infrastructure, the health care system disrupted by the pandemic. why do continue to do this election year after year? in between death and destruction. we need to find a solution. there have been bright spots. that is not speak of the african continent. a few countries have shown it can work. there are 55 countries in the continent, and, clearly, we are, in 2020, we see poverty, year after year. we think democracy will resolve these challenges. yet it has not. so, going forward, what works for the continent? >> i am sorry, we have read out of time. thank you so much to all of our guests.

and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for the whole team here, goodbye for now. ♪

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♪ emhealth emergency brought's noon by[dogs barking]us--a emma: the south is confronting a crisis of its own, a ruthless new mafia. dr. giuseppe avitabile: this kind of nigerian mafia is peculiar in this place. emma: sex, drugs, and people smuggling. emma: are you still scared of them? joy ezekiel: no, why would i be scared of them? emma: the nigerians have arrived. has the italian mafia met its match? [speaking foreign language]