>> angela merkel has lent her support to the german pharmaceutical company that developed a covid-19 vaccine along with pfizer after proposal to suspend intellectual property rights. ion text says easing restrictions would boost vaccine stocks around the world -- won't boost vaccine stocks around the world anytime soon. the current speaker for parliament is in the hospital with shrapnel wounds from a blast in the capital mali.

at least 35 people including one security officer have been killed in region -- rio de janeiro. the neighborhood believed to be patrolled by the neighbors largest drug gang. an independent journalist energy -- new zealand says police operations have been increasingly deadly in recent months. >> these police operations in which 5, 10, 15 people died are actually very common here. mostly what happens is that police officers or police in general will say they were all drug traffickers. it's rare that photos will be published or who actually passed away. the only difference in this situation happened today was that there were 25 people. >> qatar's foreign minister says no one is above the law, following the death of the finance minister.

the news agency says it is due to suspected misuse of public money and abuse of power. egypt and turkey say they have held in-depth talks in cairo on bilateral issues including the conflict in libya. it's a first high-level public discussion in the region in months. french and british naval ships have left waters near the island of jersey after dispute over fishing rights escalated rapidly. in addition, a new licensing laws have been proposed. fishman say those regulation prevent them from operating. those are the headlines from al jazeera.

next is inside story. ♪ >> the democratic republic of congo faces two problems is under military control. hundreds were killed and ms. -- millions displaced. will it be enough to stop the violence? this is "inside story." hello, and welcome to the program. for years, armed groups have instilled fear in the democratic republic of congo. the government has struggled to maintain order into provinces. the president has instructed the army to take charge of two regions for a month. he's declared what is called a

state of siege for the first time. soldiers will take over local government functions and will have the right to conduct searches, seize weapons, and ban public meetings. catherine is monitoring developments from the capital. >> it's the first time it's being used since the post-civil war constitution was first passed in 2001. the president during his address to the nation on sunday gave the military and police force immense powers in these two provinces. they will now be running administrative duties and already two generals have been appointed as governors. they will have the power to arrest, go forcefully into people's homes without a warrant and arrest those suspected of collaborating and supporting armed groups, of the of members of parliament and other

officials has been lifted. this means they can also be arrested on suspicion of supporting armed groups. so people are quite worried about this development, saying that perhaps the military could abuse some of these powers. others we've talked to are saying that the military has been in this region for many years. these regions are the most militarized regions in the drc. tens of thousands of soldiers are currently there, including a peacekeeping mission fighting rebels with little success. other congolese we've spoken to say that perhaps this is -- the president seems eager to solve a problem that his predecessors failed to. there are more than a hundred armed groups against the drc, they been cured -- carrying out a series of killings over the years. thousands of civilians have been

killed and many more displaced. there are refugees in neighboring countries like uganda. civilians saying they are fed up , but in the other side, they say there needs to be checks and balances to make sure the forces, the military and police do not abuse their power. more than >> -- more than 300 people have been killed in the east of the republic of congo since the start of the year. the adf was formed in neighboring uganda. it's estimated last year the armed group killed 850 people. the violence has displaced more than 1.6 movement people here and more than 2.2 million in a northern province. unicef says almost 3 million people in those areas have been helped, but an appeal for

emergency funding has not raised $80 million, less than 1/5 of what was asked for. let's bring in our guest, democratic republic of congo country director. a researcher at the center for research and in cape town, a senior project leader at the institute for justice and reconciliation. welcome to the program. one of the things i don't really understand about this new move, and will come to the state of siege in just a moment. who are the adf, and what are they fighting for? >> the adf is a ugandan rebel group, they've been around since the late 1990's.

they have claims around governor in sin uganda. they believe they are prosecuted. -- persecuted. their speaking of a perspective -- i wouldn't give it much power, but beyond adf, there are multiple rebel groups in the region. beyond the you have others there -- beyond the adf, there are others there. on june 21, 2017, before he was president, he was against the position. he himself saying the state of siege was unnecessary. >> do you think a state of siege

is actually necessary? >> i think that certainly we are seeing a huge impact on the violence in eastern drc. the numbers of people seeing violence from their homes are significant, over a million people have fled their homes in the last 18 months. that means those people are without their homes, their livelihoods, without access to the things they need. clearly the status quo has a very negative impact on the civilian population in the country. last year alone, 3000 civilians were killed and far more than that were injured. the situation in eastern drc is creating a huge humanitarian crisis in the country. >> but a state of siege, is that

the best way of dealing with it? >> i think that's probably a very political question. there are potential consequences from a humanitarian point of view, depending on how it is implemented. we could see further displacement, people are fleeing , and it may become more difficult to provide help to those who are already in need because of violence. >> it was a very political question, deliberately political question. is this politics? >> we need to put that in the framework.

this is martial law. we have to look at what other processes we've done. it's a political problem. a former u.n. commander said we can't put political pressure on congo's problem. innocence, congo has been reinvented twice by its neighbors. we may talk about rebel groups. if you do not have -- we continue to talk about revolutions in drc and stability. the proper way to address it, it brings challenges. you will have involvement from

the military. >> patrick is in cape town for us. is this a political move by the president to declare a state of siege, to show that he is actually doing something? patrick: yes, my view is that the president of drc actually is working on one of his promises during the electoral campaign. one of the ideas was to make sure that drc is secured. this is the promise that he made. i think he is trying really to do something about that promise. but in reality, we knew look at how things stand -- when you look at how things stand, the problem of violence in that part of drc is not only about security issues. it's more of a problem related to structural violence.

there has been institutional failure. violence that developed in that particular area, and also there is a lot of incentive to continue operating. the decision will not yield much result, which means that there is much work to do in terms of enacting some deep reforms so there can be some sustainable solutions. >> our guest has said already thatinhis is an internal drc problem, there are regional players that need to be brought into this if there is to be a long-term solution.

do you feel the same way, or do you think the drc can handle this internally? >> at this particular time, i think the drc is not in a position to handle the program itself. they have a need for help from neighboring countries and also the international community. unfortunately they have not had results. it cannot be solved by the president and the congolese alone. as my colleague said already, from the adf, there are in the

south, some groups that include -- all those groups are present and they are not congolese. so if there is a solution, it needs to be sustainable. it will include the neighboring countries and the international community helping the congolese people and the congolese leadership to find a sustainable solution. it needs to be reviewed, and if they need more power to operate in that area, they should be given that power to show tangible results. >> the united nations

peacekeeping force has been there for two decades and still wear are in this position where there is a state of siege. is there any way the united nations or any international organization can help the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding? or is it politics first, then humanitarian? >> i think it is undoubtedly a chronic crisis going on there for 20 years. i think the manna terror in response is very much affecting the results of the conflict but it doesn't address the conflict. it is unlikely to be solved within 30 days. >> what do you need in order to be able to provide a humanitarian solution?

what are your needs right now? >> obviously finance is one of the huge challenges in a context like congo which has been ongoing for so many years. currently, we are already performance into the year and the humanitarian response plan is funded at only 80%. we are seeing between one and two alerts a week of new displacements. there were two sites i visited this morning that have more than 600 families arriving last month and almost no assistance arriving. all of these humanitarian efforts are stretched very thin. at the same time were seeing the needs increasing currently.

27 million people across congo which is an unimaginable number, are at risk of being food insecure this year. the needs are enormous. >> patrick in cape town, how much of that is being blamed on -- >> -- how much is being blamed onhe congolese government failures rather than the insurgency and the groups that are operating? >> there is a disconnection between the central government and what is going on in the eastern part of the drc. for example, when i'm working in the run the -- burundi, when

they're looking for products in the markets, there is a disconnection. i don't think the government knows exactly what is going on in eastern congo. one of the first problems to be solved, how can the congolese government reduced this disconnection and establish working channels to be able to support the population in the east of the drc. that is the first question. the second one is, because of the long time of war in that particular area, the population has been in a situation where they're not able to look for

shelter for a very long time. that's why they're not farming the land, they're not contributing, they're not going forward. it's a problem connected to the fact that there area has been in insecurity for a very long time. so the question is how the government is going to implement some new policies which will help to improve security and in collaboration with the international community and the regional countries, and how also are they going to fixate and be encouraged to do the daily work which will allow them to meet their needs. like growing food, growg business normally, so that they have what they need.

those are things that can be done at the present, but it's a very long process and the issue of security is paramount. so that people feel there is at least a sense of security where they live and where they go to work. >> you heard everything patrick has had to say in cape town. it strikes me that a state of siege, state of emergency is the first step to promoting security. the united nations peacekeeping force after 20 years hasn't been able to do that. we have a massive humanitarian crisis. surely it's time to use the money unesco is spending for humanitarian needs, get that done first, disband the you and peacekeeping force, get a state

of siege in and provide security. security needs to come first, surely. >> the congolese government has -- the african union also has a role to play. the u enforces, have never been in operation that has been successful. starting in 2012, when you have african nations coming together, tanzania sending troops, these forces are under the umbrella of the united nations. right now we see the congolese

government has a military agreement with the rebel forces. all these military solutions are wearing the people in the east. there have been massacres for decades in that region. it's essential while were talking about governors and drc, the president of congo, while were discussing if his government can actually live. in 2018, the people did not vote. the reason the government did not allow them to vote is because they say there was no security in the cities. these people for decades have suffered tremendously. they have a particular worry.

their number one where is will this state of siege, as a military power, when you have human rights abusers, they are in the military. they are former rebels of yesterday. now they are the ones ruling. what will be the checks and balances for that? the voice of the congolese is not heard. we come up with more and more issues happening. it's been a problem for the congolese since 1968. when they try to be involved in their affairs they impose leaders. >> i want to bring in the other guests. if there is a state of siege and there are human rights abuses by the congolese army, that's going to create a bigger humanitarian crisis. are you worried about that?

>> i think we are all concerned about what could be involved in a major siege. i haven't seen any intel but certainly there's a situation where access may be difficult and where populations are left feeling more insecure than they currently do. >> in cape town, patrick, do you still believe this state of siege is the only way forward in the current situation, if there are no regional solutions or political solutions? patrick: actually, i don't think the decision by the president of drc can solve any problems. as i say, the problem is much

deeper, because it is a structural problem. it will not really bring any -- also we need to understand that that area, those provinces have been under siege for a very long time. so what the president is doing is not really new. he has just made it official, but in geral, those provinces have been under siege for a very long time. i totally agree that there is a need to conserve the population on the ground so that local solutions are understood. because those people living on a daily basis see the violence.

their view should be taken into account. the central government is not reflecting on that solution. >> i want to thank all of our guests, and thank you for watching. you can see this program and all our previous programs anytime at al jazeera.com. for rther discussion, go to our facebook page and you can join the conversation on twitter. for me and the whole team here, goodbye.

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