♪ >> curfew and state of emergency in st. paul and minnesota after another police shooting results in the death of a young black man. meanwhile, at the trial of the police accused of killing george floyd, he cried as he remembered his late brother whose debt sparked riots and an ongoing debate in the u.s. on police and racism. iran valves request on iael -- vows revenge on israel after an attack. israel has not issued a comment,

but state media is reporting it was a secret service hit. priests and nuns still missing in haiti. they were kidnapped on sunday. two of the hostages are french. thank you very much for being with us. the state of emergency has been declared in st. paul and minneapolis after another police shooting of a young black man. there were protests in minneapolis after the fatal incident. the man in his 20's was killed by a female police officer after she apparently mistook her taser for her gun on sunday. the man drove away wounded before crashing his vehicle and dying. meanwhile, at the trial of a former u.s. police officer accused of killing george floyd, mr. floyd's brother cried on the witness stand as he recalled his late sibling. u.s. president joe biden has spoken that the latest issue will be investigated and has called for people to be calm. president biden: we have to wait

and see what the investigati shows, the entire investigation. we all watched, the same as i did, the film which is the bodycam, which is fairly graphic. the question is, was it an accident or intentional? that remains to be determined by a full-blown investigation. but in the meantime, i want to make it clear again there is absolutely no justification, none for looting. no justification for violence. mark: we are watching for all developments on both of those stories from the u.s. curfew and state of emergency in minneapolis and st. paul after this latest incident resulting in a young black man dying after being shot by a police officer. iran and israel are on a collision course after an incident. what was first reported as a strike on the electric citigroup referred to as an attack, facilities were apparently the

target. iran is blaming israel and vowing revenge. >> this is the nuclear facility. the site, the enrichment plant is located in the desert. on sunday, and blacked out. iranian authorities have described it as an act of nuclear terrorism, vowing for retaliation. >> the zionist regime with this action tried to take revenge on the people of iran for their patience and wisdom when it comes to the lifting of sanctions. iran's response will be revenge on the zionist regime at the right time and right place. >> since the incident, israel's media has consistently reported a "devastating cyberattack."

officials for their part as a matter of policy have not confirmed or denied the attack. prime minister benjamin netanyahu took to the tribune to reaffirm his position on iran. >> my policy as prime minister of israel is clear. i will never allow iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating israel. israel will continue to defend itself against iran's aggression and terrorism. >> if ever confirmed, this certainly would not be the first time tel aviv has tried to sabotage tehran's nuclear development. there has been a targeted killing campaign of iranian nuclear scientists. >> they have been engaging in a shadow war for many years. in order to prevent iran from advancing its nuclear program.

you don't have to give them sanctions. you can just attack their scientts. you can just attack their facilities. >> the incident comes a day after iran launched centrifuges to enrich uranium, which is a key component of nuclear weapons on what it calls a national nuclear day. the event was marked by this music tribute. it also coincides with a resumption of negotiations between tehran and the international community aimed at reviving the accord which netanyahu has said israel would not be bound by. mark: i man this monday evening -- iran this sunday evening has suspended cooperation with the european union over sanctions. the revolutionary guard cracked on civilian protest. there is no link between this decision and the incident.

the world health organization is warning the covid pandemic is increasing exponentially. the coronavirus has already killed more than 2.9 million people and affected nearly 136 million across the world. there is growing alarm over the situation now and south asia. india has become the second most infected country worldwide. maria is an ep genealogist -- an epidemiologist. >> there is a 9% increase in transmission last week. seventh consecutive week where we have seen an increase in transmission. and a 5% increase in deaths. this is not the direction we need to be going and we really need to be serious about this. its vaccines but not vaccines only. it is vaccines and what can you be doing every day? what can you do to keep yourself safe and your loved ones safe? mark: to bring you the latest on covid in france, a new record of patients in icu permitted5 --

icu, 5,916. 385 deaths over the same period. the death toll is now at -- that is a cumulative total of 5.7 million. that is a snapshot of france. france stepping up the vaccination program. from this monday, people over 55 can get a jab regardless over pre-existing conditions and the like. we have more on how the government hopes this will begin to reverse the alarming covid infection rates in france. >> at 55 with no underlying conditions, he got his first covid jab. >> i saw this morning there was

an opening for later today. >> this past weekend, this vaccination center in northern france had some extra astrazeneca vaccine so they jumped the gun. in offering an offering vaccinee 55 and older. >> we have astrazeneca and people so we decided to open up the threshold. >> a lowered age limit and applies to everyone in france. the french health ministry says all of those over 55 with a high risk or not are eligible for the astrazeneca vaccine. when doses become available next monday, the johnson & johnson one. as for the other vaccines, eligibility is also opening up. for those over 60, they can sign up to get their jabs starting friday. another big announcement by the health ministry, the time between and occupations. starting april 16, they won't space out the pfizer and moderna vaccine spaghetti now instead of

four weeks, it will be six weeks, a hotly divided choice made by the u.k. in december. it alls more peoe to be vaccinated quickly. >> when we sce out the time period between the two doses, we are going to irease the long-term immune response. we can betwe the doses see a dip in immunity, but we then catch that up afterwards. >> testing is also moving ahead. easier take home and do tests will soon be available in pharmacies. mark: in england, where the vaccination program has been very successful, 48% receiving at least one dose so far. this was a situation. people literally going to the pub. pubs opening for the first time in months. hairdressers and shops also back open. england of course in particular these measures apply to.

england back open as the latest part of relaxing covid restrictions. back to the pub in london basically. let's bring you the situation in haiti, where five priests and two nuns are still being held by their kidnappers. the are two french citizens among the hostages taken on saturday. >> at the end of march, thousands of haitians took to the streets to voice their discontent about political instability and a rise in gang violence. >> [speaking non-english language] >> it surged across the caribbean nation. so much so that the government declared a month-long state of emergency in gang controlled areas. the security situation has been deteriorating against the backop of a deep political

crisis. the president insists his mandate ends in february 2022 while opponents say it ended in february 2021. the disagreement stems from the fact that he was elected in a vote that was invalidated due to fraud and reelected one year later. >> [speaking non-english language] >> the antigovernment protests have recently been gaining the support of police officers. after many were killed in operations that targeted gang members. some have also been imprisoned over accusations of participating in a coup d'etat. mark: let's get some analysis of the situation in haiti. a guest joins us who is a specialist on haiti. former director of the auf

mission in haiti. can i start by asking about the fears for the safety of those who have been kidnapped, the priests and the nuns being held in haiti? what is your sense about what is going on there? >> it is not the first time people from the church have been kidnapped in haiti. like it was said in the news moments before, last week a priest from the church has been kidnapped live on tv when he was directing service. but what is different is now these are strangers. although a month ago there were six people from the dominican republic that were also taken as hostage, any news about that and the internet or anywhere else, so the thing is that now they have two pple from france that

have been victims of the kiappers, and it makes sense to try to figure out how to find a solution to the situation. mark: clearly the situation is desperate. there is another layer of desperation. how bad are things in haiti right now for ordinary people? >> i think that this is really like living in hell. because one cannot dear go to make some shopping at stores because you know people are waiting for you may to kidnap you just for nothing. not only the people are in danger in haiti, but also -- not only the wealthy people are in danger in haiti, but also the common people. qópeople who are selling fruits and vegetables on the street,

sidewalks also being kidnapped. this is rare insecure situation we are facing now in haiti. mark: and the resolution of that situation, does it come from within? ken external influences somehow bring thingso a better conclusion? >> the thing is that 2015, 2017, there was the minister mission. a mission that was in haiti. and at helped calming the situation. since they are gone, the situation has been worsening and worsening every day. that means haiti is just the way it was before the u.s. mission. so that means maybe we have to step back and put haiti once again under occupation.

this is something we would not like to face as patriots, as nationalists in haiti. so that means we are really going to have to sit down between haitians and face the mark: our specialist as we have been heaving on hader. former director of a mission in haiti. thank you for your time and sharing your analysis of the situation with as. we will of course continue to watch for all developments on that story and all developments for you worldwide. stay with us. more to come. ♪ >> hello and welcome to the "france 24" interview. our guest today is the envoy to the united nations of myanmar crph. it the committee representing the parliament elected last

november, a parliament that has not been able to sit because of the february 1 military coup. the doctor is the pa -- the member of the party that won. someone has been arrested. the doctor was able to flee the country and has been charged with treason. he is with us from an undisclosed location. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> on the ground, the situation seems to worsen by the day. we have crossed a new threshold with 600 deaths. what is happening in myanmar as we speak? dr. sasa: i have been on the phone all day long since the first of february. it is a military coup.

it is military operations the people of myanmar. what is going on is the military armed forces of the country of myanmar are now declaring war on the people of myanmar, and they are determined to kill as many as possible and arrest as many as possible and to detain as many as possible. and the international community has less say. otherwise, if there is no international action against the military operation against the people of myanmar, i am afraid it will be the greatest civil war that we have never seen before. it is not far. it is very close. >> you are mentioning the word civil war. this has been by and large a

peaceful protest movement. we have seen, however, in recent days people saying you want to defend yourselves -- in recent days people saying they want to defend themselves. are you saying now the protest movement in the face of repression from the military could become violent because that is the only thing they are left with basically? dr. sasa: my people, the people of myanmar, are peaceful people. our peaceful movement is stronger than their terrorism. but our people are left with no choice. these military operations by the country armed forces are going from door to door, from house to house, from street to street, from village to village, city to

city, town to town, and killing unarmed civilians. how do we react when the miliry armed forces should be protecting us, civilians, from any attacker are now attacking unarmed civilians? the situation is do die. it is very dear. this is why we have been calling on the international community to come together as international coalitions, to come together as targeted sections, coordinated sections, canonically and diplomatically, and cut off the military access to international finance and cut off the military generals' cess to international weapons markets.

the more weapons they get, they will get more weapons and bullets and killed more people and more money going into the hands of military generals. more people are going to die. we remain peaceful. we committed to nonviolence. that is why you will see that the oslo professors have nominated a peaceful movement. that means our people are committed to being peaceful, but military operations engaged the people of myanmar's will. otherwise, there will be genocide. the world has to stop another genocide from taking place on the face of the earth again. >> the problem with the international community, or at

least the united nations security council, is that you have countries, russia and china, unwilling to have more forceful action. we have seen sanctions from countries here and there but russia and china do not agree. no action can be expected from the international community, right? dr. sasa: the only option is not the united nations credit councils. of course, china and russia, they are still supporting the military generals. it is unacceptable. it is bad for china. it is bad for russians. it is bad for the international community. it is bad for india. it is bad for asia. this chaos created by the military generals, this is not -- nobody benefits from the

military chaos and killing. russia will not benefit from this killing, this act of terrorism. no world interests of the military generals. they should come together. otherwise, they risk thfuture where they will witness the weapon that they gave has been used to kill and commit crime against humanity, atrocity, and ethnic cleansing and genocide. that will be the time when this country will be blamed. history will judge them harshly if they don't stop supporting the military generals. of course, we will be asking again the united nations council to call on a vote. if my country votes in favor of resolution, it must go to the u.n. general assembly. the u.n. general assembly has the responsibility to protect

the people of myanmar in this dire situation. otherwise, it will become chaos. it is not an interest of china and russia and asia. this will flood thousands and millions of refugees and be catastrophic. and the death of the people. it is coming head in the weeks and months, so how many dead bodies are the united nations or international community requiring for them to take strong action against this military regime? >> i want to get to what happened this wednesday in london. the myanmar military authorities essentially seized control of the military embassy in london, leaving the ambassador locked out of the embassy. the british forgn office

condemned those actions, those bullying actions. however, it said it could do nothing because it had not been formally notified by the regime. do you agree the british authorities can do nothing about that, or do you think they are being too weak in their reaction to this very serious and rar incident in london? dr. sasa: our ambassador is a legitimate ambassador of myanmar to britain. he was appointed as ambassador of myanmar on the fifth of march, 2014, by a legitimate government of myanmar. as is our foreign minister and president. that has to be respected. it was accepted by her majesty queen elizabeth's government. that is international norms and regulations. we are a signatory of the 1961

vietnam agreement. that means all the international community must respect our norms of the international community. this military regime, no one should accept them. they are killers. they are terrorizing the people of myanmar. no one should accept the military generals or anything that has to do with international diplomacy. so therefore, they should reject the military appointment attached to the british ambassador in london. it was a real military coup that took place in london at the myanmar embassy. so this should be condemned by the whole world. our legitimate ambassador is --. >> so is it a mistake by the

government? do you condemn it? dr. sasa: we have made statements veryarly and loud and un-acceptable that this military coup will be accepted as a legitimate ambassador of myanmar to britain. we would never accept that as our ambassador to britain. thateans we are elected by the people of myanmar for the people of myanmary democratic and free and fair elections. our voice matters. the people of myanmar's voice matters. present the voice and the world of the people of myanmar. therefore, no otherountry has the right to choose our ambassador. they are severe seven. they are chosen, appointed by democratically elect leaders. that mea that these military regimes should not be

legitimized by the intnational community. that includes britain. of course, no counnky in the world should accept the military actions agast the people of myanmar. not only inside myanmar, but also embassy to embassy. it is not the military embassy. it is the embassy of the people of myanmar. it is the embassy of myanmar. it does not belong to military generals. and belongs to a country called myanmar. has to be respected by all the international community because we are a country and a people called myanmar and the peop of myanmar. the embassy in london belongs to the people of myanmar, to the country of myanmar. >> dr. sasa, i want to thank you for your time, and i want to thank you for watching this interview here on "france 24." ♪

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