anchor: this is al jazeera. myanmar's military has imposed a near-total internet blackout across the country for a second night. there is an increasing crackdown on protesters who are angry about the military coup on february 1. reporter: sources on the ground say that those bullets fired in mandalay rubber bullets. security forces and police also use catapults. they also tell us that journalists have been particularly targeted, with

arrest made in journalists being beaten. for the first time we have seen a military presence. anchor: there has been a series of rocket attacks on the northern iraqi city. some struck the airport area where u.s. forces are stationed. the international coalition says one civilian foreign contractor was killed. several others were injured including a u.s. service member. and iranian backed she had group has claimed responsibility. at least 60 people have died and 240 others are missing in congo after a boat capsized. that happened late on sunday on the congo river. the boat was traveling from the capital. the who has approved the oxford astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. the decision will allow the lower and middle iome nations to immunize the populations against the virus. the palestinian authority says

israel has banned the entry of 2000 coronavirus vaccines into the gaza strip. does does this up for sputnik vaccine are intended for frontline medical workers. the first jabs were supposed to have been given out on tuesday. palestinian health authorities have reported more than 53,000 cases, in at least 537 deaths since the start of the pandemic. nancy pelosi is establishing an independent commission to investigate the deadly january 6 assault on capitol hill. in a letter to her democratic colleagues, alessi said the commission will be modeled on the one formed after the 9/11 attacks. those are the headlines. i will have more news for you after inside story. do stay with us. ♪

anchor: france rethinks its commitment to africa. the president considers pulling out some troops. the campaign is not going well. after eight years, is it time for a new approach? this is inside story. ♪ ♪ anchor: hello and welcome to the program. a campaign against armed groups in africa has been going on for eight years. soldiers from fans and five countries in the region are battling fighters linked to isil and al qaeda.

regional leaders are meeting in the chat capital to discuss what to do next. the french president is joining the video link. he is considering cutting troops. armed groups still hold large swaths of territory. reporter: the mood in the region is that of concern. concerned that this will expose more communities. even with the presence of 5100 french soldiers, regional armies are still struggling to deal with escalating attacks from the armed groups operating. or the other is reports chad is sending in forces, a lot of people feel it is inadequate to deal with the situation on the ground.

2020 was a violent year for both civilian and notarial personal in the region. 1000 troops, many experts believe that will not be enough. it will leave a huge vacuum in terms of military personnel and hardware. while they are battle hardened, they are fighting battles many in the region might not have the necessary intelligence and hardware to deal with the onslaught by the armed groups in the region. chatting forces -- moving forces away from hotspots. that will mean there will be less concentration or less attention to the fight. that will of course means that

the armed groups operating in that area may have a loophole to exploit in the region. anchor: france has been heavily involved in military operations. when you're ago, france agreed to send hundreds of additional troops. since then it has claimed a number of victories, but critics say they have not resulted in lasting stability. violence has escalated. more than 7000 people have been killed and nearly 2 million displaced. france is now planning to reduce troop members. -- troop numbers. anchor: but spring and our guests. the head of the program at the institute of security studies. joining us is the executive director of the west african network for peace building.

and the president of africa international media group. a warm welcome to you all. france is considering reducing its military commitment. is it likely that will be announced at this summit? >> yes indeed. ahead of the summit, french authorities have been making a number of declarations and statements about the possibility of what you are suggesting. it is not exactly clear that this will translate into a withdrawal. and easy consequence would be to recall the 600 additional troops that were sent as backup after the summit last year. this of course would go into the notion and direction of a

strategic reductase and of this intervenon. at the same time, it faces questions about whether this is the right time. at a time were national armies remain vulnerable. anchor: how much has french public opinion turned'against frances engagement? and what does the french president want to see come out of this summit? >> you know, i don't think that much of the dissatisfaction comes from french public opinion. it comes even more from molly -- from mali and the ground i would say. obviously when you have young french soldiers being killed, like what is happeng many times, you have questions in the

press like, what are we doing there? the president can live with it. but what is more powerful and could lead to change is having many groups protesting, mounting atmosphere against french troops. a couple weeks ago there was a story, that was probably a mistake, they are denying it. this kind of thing, the lack of results, nobody can say today that the sahara regions are safer than it was when the whole operation started eight years ago.

if things will change, you will see changes. we probably don't know in which direction. maybe not reducing troops. we see the history of military operations worldwide. you see troops coming, but for them to go away to withdraw, we might see some changes. because, even by french standards, they don't have the results they want to have. if you look at the website of the french minister of defense, they have three objectives. the first one is to fight against terrorist groups. this has been narrowed down to the fight against terrorist

groups in the area of the three borders. the second is to support the local troops, local armies, to upscale their confidence. the third one is to help populations. you don't state -- you don't see major improvements being made. as you see, the objectives are not really results. it is like supporting, you know, it can be lingering on forever. people are like, we see the means you put into it, and the results are so thin. something has to change. anchor: what are the governments in the region and people

expecting to see as a result of this meeting? >> i think what is expected is, what kind of legacy the french government wants to leave behind. what has become very clear -- supporting -- [indiscernible] over time, intervention and actions have been used. to make matters worse, the level of french soldiers have lost a

lot. yet, the issues continue to be sustained rather than diminish. i think what is important, and the five key countries around the sahara, let us review our actions. indeed, there is need to revisit or review the types of interventions we are making. which goes beyond just military intervention, which is not even address other things. anchor: how much is under the control of these armed groups, and why haven't military operations been able to get control of the situation? >> this is a very good question. for the past eight years, we have seen increasing number of

both national and international security forces intervening, yet this keeps going worse and worse. 2020 was actually the deadliest year since the beginning of the crisis. why is that? i think one part of the answer has to do with the nature of security itself. you have various forms of violence against security happening, and it is rather difficult to keep up and ensure the required level of coronation between and among defense forces and international partners. extremist groups have been having consomme spreading and

increasing footprints in the region. the main targets. it also includes the rights of local militias. it also includes local companies. it is really quite complex. the coordination of international and national policies is a challenge that is being addressed to some extent, but where much remains to be done. anchor: france is to get more support from its european partners when it comes to the fight against armed groups in their -- the region. do you think we are going to be

seeing this happen? >> as has been saying that for a while -- france has been saying that for a while. you have some partners there, the germans have done some training. those kind of things happening there. the whole point is that, you cannot solve the security issue with military solutions. everybody has been saying that. you hear that everyday, but the fact is that, [indiscernible] the complaint is that we think only in military terms when it comes to establishing

institutions, restoring institutions. comes to restoring sovereignty. we see that today, the area is not safer. what you hear now, threats have been mounting, they are being extended farther south. to mali, even senegal. they concentrate everything about troops, military equipment , and people criticize and say

you go through impoverished villages with huge equipment. what to they do? they give children things like toys. medicine. gadgets. it's not really something structured. anchor: earlier this month a prime minister said that the country is looking to start negotiations with peace with armed groups. last year we heard the former molly president had initiated a similar negotiation. are we going to see more countries adopt the strategy? >> it is very likely. like i said, the choice just military intervention has not been able to address the issues.

how do these problems get resolved? i think at the end of the day, there is a dilemma of illegal groups resolving problems. something has to give for the other. in our opinion, it is important to engage in this type of organization that will bring armed groups the table. also bear in mind, the state needs to issue its ability to take control. also bear in mind, the armed groups might have mutual affairs . if you also look at illicit activities going on, in includes of course, illicit money transactions. it may be time to cross that

option. anchor: there was a report released by the international crisis group earlier this month that said that the strategies led by france is foundering, the report called for eight course correction. are international backers disappointed by the results of the president's strategy? >> the whole situation is disappointing. for the past eight years, there has been considerable amounts of money, energy, and time invested into trying to strategize the region. the results are not good so far. i don't think that disappointment or questioning is

only about the french strategy, but of course the french strategy is a core component of this. what needs to be reconsidered is the whole approach. in terms of whether or not it is possible to address the situation with a mainly military focused strategy, or what level of other strategies need to be levied in. there has been a recognition for a broader governance approach, but this is not translating into results. another element perhaps that we really should consider more is the way in which different types of violence interacts. adapting a strategy with

extremist groups could perhaps help. [indiscernible] the growth of local militias is also a key element which resulted in more deaths of civilians last year. anchor: in an earlier answer you mentioned something i wanted to ask you a little bit more about. you mentioned that the french foreign minister had recently called for a development to respond to the situationsurge. what moreover that entail? many believe a strategy on its own is not enough. governance, human rights issues. what you say to all of that? >> the foreign ministry is just

reflecting the global, common sense now. eight years, terror expanding. the country needed to collapse actually. what if at stake here is, they don't want to look like they are switching too much their position, but they still open the door. just a couple of months ago, nobody wanted to acknowledge that change was necessary. but now, there was a coup in mali.

you have again, yet another military general there. which is not say anything good about the institutions there. you have a situation that has been worsening. the french, where they are now is to sort of look for a new [no audio] you have many troops working together. it is difficult to coordinate. for the sake of efficiency, they want to be a united front. but, you cannot let it go on,

thinking that the armies are not fit to lead the fight against what they call terror. we have to -- we do not need to listen to the people. the french obsession for terror, terrorism. the terrorists -- you have all kinds of people. international crime. you have people who know their families. you just say they are terrorists , just go against them without taking into account.

anchor: we are just about to run out of time. i want to look at another aspect. the conflict obviously has sparked a major humanitarian crisis. can you just tell our viewers a little bit of how dire the situation is? >> it is very challenging, especially given the fact that most of the countries are in an effort to cope with the economic action that is imposed, partially because of the complex. the greatest hit of all are the woman who continue to suffer from the brunt of the conflict. yet, if you look at the future, the level of food insecurity, the level of enhanced economics. that is why we continue to insist it is important to begin

difficult activities that ensure resilience of the community, and possibly make them more sophisticated against the insurgency and the conflict that is going on. anchor: we are running out of time. thank you so much to all of our guests. thank you for watching. to see the program again anytime by visiting our website, and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the whole team, goodbye for now. ♪

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♪♪♪ zoe daniel: alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge known as anwr, protected by the us government, but also contested for decades. here, animals roam in a pristine wilderness in one of the last places of its kind on earth, but it's under threat. [gunshot] donald trump: anwr in alaska, one of the great sites of energy in the world.