at the end of this year. ♪ anchor: this is al jazeera. u.s. senators have heard capitol police did not have the training or meant to prevent january's rights in congress. the house security chief said troops were not requested earlier over a fear it would look bad. simultaneous riots have broken out in prisons in ecuador's leaving at least 67 inmates dead. police are trying to regain control of the facilities which are home to 70% of the country's prison population.

around half of those killed were in one city. the government said the bounce as a result of gangs fighting for dominance. tiger woods is undergoing surgery after suffering multiple leg injuries in a car accident in los angeles. the sheriff says the crash happened at a known accident site, and that woods is lucky to be alive. the sheriff also says there is impaired but says the car wass moving fast. >> it crossed the center divider, obviously that indicates they were going at a relatively greater speed than normal. however, because it is downhill and slopes, and also curves, that area has a high frequency of accidents. this is not uncommon. no skidmark, no breaking. the first contact was with the center median and from their crust into the opposing lane of

traffic, hit the curb, hit a tree, and there were several rollovers during that process. anchor: the u.s. and the eu have condemned the arrest of a senior opposition figure in georgia. he was taken into custody on tuesday morning, triggering protests in the capital. he is accused of seeking to violently overthrow parliament. human rights groups have condemned malaysia's government for deporting more than 1000 people to myanmar. the move to fight an earlier court order granting the group a temporary state. human rights groups had appealed the deportation. those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera after inside story. i will see you in about half an hour. goodbye. ♪

anchor: italy has condemned monday's attack. three people, including the italian ambassador were killed. several rebel groups are in the area. but why our government and u.n. troops struggling to contain the violence? this is inside story. ♪ welcome to the program. it is being called a heinous and cowardly attack. italy's ambassador to the democratic republic of congo, his police card and driver will killed on an ambush. the congolese government is blaming a rebel group. rights groups have warned of worsening violence in the area.

the un's refuge agency says more than 2000 civilians were killed there last year, a record, despite the presence of government troops and peacekeepers. we will bring in our guest in a moment. reporter: we are on a mission to visit a city program, one of the many world food projects italy supports in the democratic republic of congo. the journey ended here in this national park, several kilometers from the provisional capital. the ambassador, his driver and bodyguard were killed in a crossfire between park rangers and gunmen. several other people were injured. >> we are activating all of the relevant institutions to get to the truth as soon as possible about this cowardly attack that these two servants of the state of ours have suffered from and lost their lives. reporter: beyond the shock of

what has happened, questions will be asked as to why the convoy did not have a u.n., national police, or army escort. the authorities sang they were not aware the ambassador was in town. it says it had been cleared to use that road without escorts. >> it is an almost exactly the same place where two british tourists were kidnapped in may, 2018. it is real evidence of this long-standing lapse in the region. it was also very close to where six guards were killed last month. reporter: this is the first major attack on a big u.n. organization, but the park is teeming with rebels who target game rangers, civilians, and other convoys to steal, kidnap and demand ransom. the security problem, however, goes beyond this part of the country. more than 70 double groups

control, extort villages, attacked their homes that will. many thousands of people, including you and and government soldiers have been killed and or displaced by the allied forces. thousands of soldiers are on the ground battling different armed groups but with limited success. >> we are looking at a long-standing funding issue for the congolese army in that area. a lack of security planning, as well as a strategy when it comes to trying to combat the armed groups who operate in that area. obviously the u.n. pealikeeping force has been in operation there for a good number of years has a lot to answer for with regards to the security in that area. reporter: many congolese in this area live in constant fear, hoping but not confident the forces that have struggled to defeat the rebels will one day succeed. anchor: u.n. peacekeepers have

been in the democratic republic of congo for many years. the most recent deployment has nearly 18,000 troops, their mission is to protect civilians and support efforts to bring stability. since the year 2000, more than 200 peacekeepers have been killed fighting armed groups. this includes a 2017 attack on a base that killed 15 soldiers. it was described as the worst attack on u.n. forces in recent history. ♪ let's bring in our guests. the country director of the norwegian refugee council. david, a senior research consultant. and someone from the center for research. david, let me start with you. what is the status of the peacekeeping force in drc? why have they not been able to

get these armed groups under control, especially their? >> you know the drc is one of the biggest in the world. it was around 17,000 troops that have been deployed since 1999 to help congo find peace. theeality is that [indiscernible] they continue to wreak havoc.

[indiscernible] when the political consensus is not the order of the day. where elections have not been free and fair most of the time. where we have leaders who have been elected recently, the possibility to deliver the public good. to understand a few of the challenges the peace mission is confronted with. now we are talking about that you and withdrawing from the drc. there is a need to talk about the capacity of the drc. anchor: earlier this month the un's refugee agency sounded the

alarm about what is going on in eastern drc. they said last year more than 2000 civilians were killed. in a statement they also said, atrocities committed by armed groups have become part of a systematic pattern to disrupt lives, instill fear and create havoc. just how dire is the situation there right now? >> i have been speaking this morning to displace people, some of them who have seen atrocities. it is difficult to imagine the level of violence, the trauma, to see someone in your family being killed. escaping. some people went back to the village to try and find subject to eat and their father never came back. these are the kinds of stories i have heard several times this morning. people are trying to make due

to recover, but it is extremely challenging. [indiscernible] it is true in the north, south as well. it is extremely challenging. these are massive issues. lives are totally disrupted. schools don't work anymore. you are losing someone from your household, and you just have to continue to find the energy to continue living. the support you get from militant actors is limited, let's face it. so we all would like to do more, and the congolese definitely have to rely on their own to continue. . living as much as they can safety is a major issue. anchor: there are a lot of

questions that have been raised about why the italian ambassadors convoy would be allowed to travel on that road where was ambushed without a security escort. the attack happened on a road that had previously been cleared for travel. from your point of view, was this a lapse in security planning? >> it's hard to tell, the investigation is still ongoing. what is clear is that the ambassador and his team followed the proper protocol from the u.n.. they went through the proper clearance. the concerning situation is when you see the pictures circulating. no protective gear, no bulletproof vehicle and so on. to move from that place and be

ambushed, questions have to be asked. comedy groups are operating in the area? how is that impacting the region? are there congolese soldiers around the area? [indiscernible] i am also waiting for that, to find out what happened. i do believe from the information we had that the convoy followed proper protocol. anchor: eastern congo is home to many armed groups. i want to take a step back and look at the bigger picture here, when we talk about the armed groups in the region. who are the? what are they fighting for? >> we have more than 150 armed

groups active in the drc. some of them are local. a results of the two major wars that congo faced in 1997. when they stormed into the drc to take down the long-standing dictator. since then we have witnessed a proliferation of armed groups. among them there is some qatar's asian@@ -- categorization. you have a more democratic force, an armed group that has been there for over three decades. a radical group that used terror to impose, to send a message they want to send.

imposing jihad on the drc. initially the aim was to return back to uganda, but as soon as they established in the drc, they have been violating human rights. the difficulty for the drc is military divorces defeat them. since october 2019, the national army has started to do this to. [indiscernible] if they leave the camps in the area, they moved to the east or down. they come and create another

area of instability. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] in terms of access to land, access to power. [indiscernible] there has been a problem created for years. in the latest news, we know that it's happening from the support of the army itself, but also from neighboring countries.

[indiscernible] there are two factions. fighting against the population, alongside the local armed groups, we have the fdl or. [indiscernible] since then -- anchor: i am sorry to interrupt. we are starting to run out of time. when we talk about abuses and atrocities being committed against civilian populations, what specific examples are there? >> what you can read and report and what people say and some part of the east, there is a lot

of knife and machetes being used. people attacking with sometimes light ammunitions. when you use ammunition you get notice. it seems the fighting is more with knives, and then they start shooting so that people get distracted, and they conflate. -- ken fleet. there is a lot of rape. children are being recorded in armed groups. also you hear of kidnappings, people getting forced. the last u.n. report for human rights reports on violations from july to december 2020. about 500 people have been

disappearing, no traces of them. that is about the same number of kidnappings, civilians being killed. plus, houses are burned down, village is ransacked. it is the whole range of brutal violence and attacks on villages. anchor: how much is political instability in the country playing into the pilots we are seeing? >> [indiscernible] i am very clear about what we have a conflict. uganda, rebels in the east.

there have been numerous reports . the latest u.n. group of experts reported in december, the report clearly stated that in the region where the italian ambassador was killed, we have random searches -- random soldiers operating. the congolese government has not disclosed that. we have the death of a diplomat. when we leave the discussion, we will never address the fundamental issue, until the culture of impunity is addressed in the drc. that can be stopped, simply by

following what the human rights office did. 10 years ago they published a report. this report documented incidents of mass human rights violations in the drc. it said it was happening in the congo, war crimes, crimes against humanity. it called for the creation of an international tribunal for drc. we had to u.n. experts killed in 2017. the foreign policy magazine says there was a cover-up by the congolese government. the debts are continuing. the congolese are saying we need an international tribunal for congo so they can be held accountable. anchor: where do things stand when it comes to the congolese

security forces, their capacities, and do believe that the government is going to start rethinking its strategy? >> i think the challenges are very clear. [indiscernible] what was missing is the political will to act. [indiscernible] there have been some good actions, but the core enterprise [indiscernible] creating the possibility of an environment where children can feel safe, where people can move from one part of the country to another.

there is a need. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] is the admission out all -- international community [indiscernible] that was in a very strong signal to those who continue to use violence to force whatever they want. in fact, political violence [indiscernible] [indiscernible]

the reports remain important in terms of policy and capacity. [indiscernible] anchor: with the situation as dangerous as it is, how are humanitarian organizations and actors able to carry out their work? >> it is difficult. since september of last year, 20 workers have been kidnapped. they have been up ducted and released, but it is a big figure. we suffered two ambushes last year with no casualties. it is a mix of armed groups and criminal activities, heather -- related to armed groups. it is extremely difficult. some areas are out of reach because of security. if we can't guarantee the

security for our team, obviously that is my number one priority, and my number two priority is to assist as many of these people as i can. but i do not want to jeopardize the safety of my team. it is extremely difficult. we are building networks, we are working on our passive security with community acceptance. but this is always risky. anchor: there are observers who say that peacekeeping operations are simply failing. what is your response to that? >> the peacekeeping forces have a strong mandate now to address some of the issues. i think one of the speakers did say that there was a lack of political will on the local, regional and international level. specifically the united nations, and members of the security council.

[indiscernible] it makes it hard for the contention of the united nations peacekeeng force, the largest in the world, to address the situation. we have a serious problem. yesterday [indiscernible] someone died. it could have been prevented. we should not be where we are today discussing the deaths of people carrying out the situation. [indiscernible] he was on a mission around the world food program projects. the program said the 22 million congolese are on the break of starvation. that is one out of every four congolese. going to work on this project he lost his life.

[indiscernible] i strongly believe congo does not need any charity. what congo needs is justice. the question of justice can be addressed by the creation of a tribunal that will send a strong signal. anchor: we have run out of time so we are going to have to leave the conversation there. thank you so much to our guests. and thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website, al jazeera.com. and for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter, our handlers @ajinsidestory. for me and the whole team, bye for now.

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brandon: my experience is so different than a mainland chinese, it wouldn't be authentic for me to try to cook food for mainland china because that's not me, and that's not my audience. my audience is san francisco, and these cross-cultural exchanges are the basi for how food evolves. i feel like what we're seeing in this next wave of this generation of american cooks is this newfound confidence in