she is a special covid—19 envoy for the african union as well as being chair of gavi — the global alliancees and immunisations. as the world races to find a vaccine, what is she doing to ensure that lower income countries are not forgotten? dr ngozi okonjo—iweala, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, zeinab. so, in april the world health organization was warning that within 3—6 months there could be 10 million covid—19 cases on the continent. we are now roughly at around 700,000 cases, nearly 15,000 deaths, it looks like an extreme exaggeration. the experts can't get it right, can they? well, zeinab, we just don't know. according to the africa cdc in addis, the cases are accelerating in africa and about 100,000 a week now. so we have not reached our peak on the continent and we don't know the trajectory of this pandemic yet. but the fact of the matter is you may never know because testing is so sparse in africa. i mean, some countries — ghana, senegal in the west are doing pretty well because they were used to the ebola outbreak and so on. but really, you are just completely in the dark. i woul

and after that the african union african union is in. because 10 countries 10 african countries are bordering the the nile so they are primarily because egypt knows that this problem is an african problem and probably the people who will be most seriously interested in seeing a solution achieved are the africans but it's going to be difficult because egypt has not been successfully approaching africans in the past now it is desperate to do that there were some criticisms against egypt's dealing with african countries particularly kenyan when its european built a dam that reduced the amount of water going into kenya to lake turkana egypt was criticized for not having to do with the with kenya but now it needs africa to deal with this situation and there is there are lots of you no doubt still the it's going to it's going to happen indeed usually what does happen for the moment mohamed well thank you. well still ahead here on al-jazeera. protests are expected in mali calling on the president to step down while regional mediators trying to

african union where is the e.u. where is the u.s. why is everyone not speaking out about this and trying to get access to the ship. well there's many reasons but i think that the simple way to say it is everyone's been asleep or everyone's been distracted by all of the other issues that they're confronting and this is one that you can put on the back burner because it's not exploding today and it's not massively leaky today although we have at the king or from the ship let me also just add to what you said that the cleanup would not be millions if we believe and the cost of that cleanup would go to the international community to the senate government clearly and that i know the people of the issues at work that they are not hoping for any disasters in. the fall. people and also very importantly they have access to the world's best experts in this area now it's a militarized zone so it would have to provide safe passage for both navies both the military forces to get there but you can easily absolution team a place on the team the typ

african union talks hosted by science africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the u.s. and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he g.o.p. i did not sign of the final document ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway it has potential huge security implications for the entire region ethiopia accuses egypt's of repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles trafford i'll just. let's bring in algiers mom of valor who's covered this story for us extensively there's been some reaction mahmoud from egypt. that's rightfully egypt has demanded the urgent classifications from the shopian government about the starting of the filling of the dam and it's understandable that egypt should do something like this of the for tacitly the egyptian president is in front of

involved at all ethiopia's un ambassador said the dispute should be solved at a regional level african union talks hosted by science africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the us and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he g.o.p. did not sign the final document. ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway just potential huge security implications for the entire region if you accuse egypt of repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles stratford officer. don correspondent even morgan who's alive from a northern state in sudan. has there been any reaction or any confirmation from sudanese authorities to this news that ethiopia has indeed started filling the dam . yes indeed fully now we heard we we had a statement from sudan's ministry of irrigation and water

the auspices of african governments, african presidents in a quite unprecedented move from the african unionthe countries are prepared to pay to some degree for themselves. middle—income countries, for example, have been asked as part of the who consortium with gavi for access to vaccines to pre—finance their own part of their own access to this vaccine. these are countries that are normally not funded by gavi, the vaccine alliance. so african countries, i think, are prepared to do this. they are working under the the african union to both pay for their themselves and to mobilise funding. but, again, i think equity is a very important principle to apply here. and reason to worry in africa there. and viewers on bbc world news can see more of that interview with dr matshidiso moeti, the world health organization's regional director for africa, on talking business with aaron heslehurst this weekend. the times are on your screen now, with the first airing at 2330 gmt on saturday. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... a major shake—up of india's higher education system as doors open up for f

live from north carolina, and as he was income of the african union, regional body, is now reading thes. cloud piling into the uk, tempering beautiful scenes like these with a flat old layer of grey. the reason for the cloud? a warm weather front advancing from the atlantic. plenty of cloud to go around, there was some brightness across eastern scotland in the northeast of england through tuesday, but i think during the next 2a hours, that front will basically spread cloud to all areas of the uk. and with the moisture coming in, it'll get pretty misty and murky around the coast, especially in the west and across the hills. 0vernight, some rain for scotland, northern england and wales, and the southeast of england some showers for northern ireland. 0vernight lows 10—13 celsius. perhaps just some early morning brightness across eastern counties of england, but as the front continues to advance eastwards, the cloud moves in here during the day. some further rain across the northern half of the uk, there may be the odd sharper shower across into the midlands wednesday afternoon. but donnin

according to the african union in the past 3 months the continent has lost almost $55000000000.00 in potential tourism and travel revenue. as the virus continues to spread that figure will rise in countries with especially precarious economies many no longer know where their next meal will come from. necessity is the mother of invention and that's true even during a pandemic when lock down stop us from doing the things we enjoy most officials at taipei international airport came up with an idea to help those who miss flying a flight to nowhere organizers say 10000 people took part in the draw and 30 lucky winners were chosen they could take a friend and where given the chance to check in walk past duty free shops and board a plane which remains grounded of course it even included a water spraying ceremony and spent the whole nobody lost any latin church. and that's your business update you randy w. from me and the team in berlin as always thanks for keeping us company. meanspirited dinosauria. pretty cool music. classical clothes kewl. sara willis joins in with gusto. cuts 20 more of

that meeting was chaired by the president of sououth africa and the chair of the african union commissionxcellency. the sense of that meaning was clclear, we haveve to discuss is related to electoral property, discuss issues related to access to vacaccine, vavariabs for continent of 1.3.3 billion peop. exexactly i that communique, we touch on the d declaration which spspeaks to this intntellectual property you just mentioned. i think you're always reminded whenat happened in 1996 the hiv drugs were available and it took us about seven years, up to 2002, before it became accessible to the continent of africa. i think that situation if it plays ouout now,w, we can see a future of the continent will be completely undeveloped. for an, we are calling globalal solidarity to m make se just speaking about t access too vaccine in developing world and in africa is just not a nice way to say n not just a free word to say, but it is a reality. we are developing our own , vaccine strategy where access and development for the continent. amy: nkengasong dr. nkengasong, i would ask you about covid transm

host: regarding the dam project, there are negotiations under the agents of the african union.rime minister a abiy ahmedd country was start filling the dam reservoir regardless of negotiations. is this going to happen, or are you hoping g to wrap up t the negotiations before this takes place? zadig: as s i said, we don't wat to comment on this. this i is an ongoing one.. thth investigation and negotiations are ongoing so o we don't want to make a statement on this. host: you are in charge of democratization. there were supposed to be elections in august, postponed because of the covid pandemic. unrest.ave seen this is there a date set for those elections? can you guarantee they will take place say this year? zadig: we cannot guarantee, because, you know, we are the ruling partyty. we have 8 million members. been for a cocovid we believe wewe would h have won ts election. even if that is not the case, if we happen to lose the election, it will be historic for ethioioa , as we will have beenen the fit to allow us to go through a competitive open and fair election to lose. in b bo

ambassador said the dispute should be solved at a regional level african union talks hosted by science africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the us and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he g.o.p. did not sign of the final document ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway it just potential huge security implications for the entire region ethiopia accuses egypt of repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles trafford. or let's bring in our correspondent in sudan he morgan who joins us from northern states have any confirmation or reaction from so denny's officials to this news that ethiopia has indeed started filling the ground renaissance down. one for we are all now on the dam in egypt to see their reactions now that it's official and that is yo

that he went to the us then the un security council they were involved it's now come back to the african union looking really for a local solution to this problem what seems to be going on. that's right so it's very significant that it made this full circle coming back to the countries that are primarily concerned those 10 countries by the then i'll be in south africa is not one of them but it is concern but it is because it is chairing the african union for the for the moment so it is it is of very crucial importance for african countries to try to resolve this problem and to show that they could do what the u.n. and the u.s. could not do egypt is pushing behind this because that any negotiations about that that the job done is not pushed by who has no interest in any good negotiations they say they have their waters they have the they are constructing it they have time on their side and it is for others like this is like between the lives is for others to push for negotiations so egypt is behind this egypt resorting to african countries is very interesting because there was some criticism le

can help -- african union can help us. when e in 1964 and then july to november 21st, 1964, he is away and going be in tanzania in ghana in nigeria, in cairo, in maybe cpa in -- mecca, and he tries to make linkages at universities, at different african political kingdoms. he is in the middle east and he is going to be both islamic faith leader and also this secular political leader. one thing we don't give malcolm credit for -- malcolm's notion of not just going to the u.n. and charge the united states withviolation of human rights the civil rights should be a human rights movement is a huge, huge intervention. it's a massive intervention that -- again we're still dealing with this idea of black humanity and malcolm takes it as a given and he is not so much as trying to convince people but trying to gather forces in a coalition that is big enough to make the recognition of black dignity something that infiltrate our public policy and political culture. that's the problem we have here, policy and also our political culture.

the african union says the continent had confirmed more than 570,000 cases by sunday with south africa making up about 46%. >>> people across a wide area of japan are bracing for even more damaging rain over the comoming days. the meteorological agency is calling on people in both eastern and western japan to be on alert for landslides and flooding. the weather system is set to batter areas of the kyushu region in the southwest already struggling with the aftermath of earlier downpours. rescue teams continue to search for survivors. more than 70 people in the disaster area have died. and at least 13 more are missing. but the mission has yielded some results including this reunion between a woman and her missing husband and pet. local rafting guides are delivering relief supplies to some of the hardest hit communities. when rain swept through kumamoto prefecture, people were stranded. some areas are still hard to access because floodwaters damaged roads and bridges. >> translator: let me know if you need anything. >> translator: thank you very much. >> translator: i just want them to re

has the backing of the african union some 50 plus states they want to this problem to be resolved 10 countries are concerned. that the nile basin they know that any conflagration in the conflict between each o.p.'s sudan and egypt will backfire and you know will spread across the region south africa itself is a very is removed from this spot but they know that it is in the interest of the continent to resolve this problem so egypt is going back to the africans even though africans have some criticism to words egyptian position for instance let's go back to a few years ago when it's your peer began building constructing a dam on the or more river that according to the human rights organization human rights watch and other sources created a lot of damage in lake turkana if. some of the gulf is in that lake shrunk by 1.7 kilometers and the water level dropped by 1.5 kilometer affecting the livelihood of. hundreds of thousands of people and that lake at the time the criticism leveled against egypt is that it did not stand with kenya when it when it faced with trying to convince it not

previous talks mediated by the african union and u.s. came to nothing.after a virtual summit, we are told tocqueville resume. the adjutantresident says they will focus on developing a nding legal agreement on the rules for filling and eratin if your psa today, the first year target for filling the dam has been reached. these are radar satellite images showing the change over the last few weeks. a comparative water level when the rainy season swells the nile river. it is not quite clear if the dam was filled because ethiopia has done something to speed up the process or it is due to rainfall. media, we conducted the filling of the dam without causing harm to anyone. i'm joined now by two of our specialists om bbc monitoring. goodsee you both. a big, complicated issue, not unlike the dam itself. we will start with beverly.in the dam ifi up in some way, we think. what is the significance o th? >> as you said, its of great national and economic importance to ethiopiapi and eth is demonstrating that it is of great importance to its citizens. when we see the s

african union a huge achievement for us so all enable people to have. affordable safe decent and. same time sustainable accommodation. the display home is one step closer to fulfilling that dream the good trying ones will undergo further tests as the 2 scientists work to optimize their earth concrete ready ready. so off to create sounds like a good idea for the environment now let's take a look at another example for the change for the better to the zanzibar in the indian ocean. as a result of climate change and the depletion of not sure resources. and good sondra like so many islands along this african coastline but the community of forests penned by enzio is helping people i adapt by planting trees changing their farming methods and keeping the the results i impressive we went through the time the island of the coast of pemba island to see for ourselves. nowadays it's difficult to make your way through the dense woodland in cocoa. 10 years ago this land used to be barren activist. and his n.g.i. have brought it back to life. the organization encourages local communities to plant

you divide up in the to access and who should be there parity for that and if it actually the african union. it has become hyper local in saying there needs to be consideration of this now and so on the one hand we've got people saying we don't want to take a backseat in the global north and on the other hand in the global south we're saying we want their backs and we demand that we get our fair share so this is these are really really important that we've got to be talking absolutely and distribution in a key part of this argument is that mohamed we've got the u.k. buying 190000000 doses a different vaccine it's hedging its bets it's certainly part of the global north as trying to buy up as many samples or doses as it can. solution but i think probably the reason for them to buy different vaccine from different manufacturer are really because none of the vaccine is 'd yet at the stage where i would want him caught on and the vaccine and the government have contracted those are based on different technologies so just to ensure that whatever the technology. available in terms of approval and

took on the subject of chinese influence in africa he portrayed china as the future leader of the african union. where then is a boat is not always horses men are always it's like you've got everything that you can get under the old you know unfortunate you know what lives are what they basically got to go to join is up to you we otoh much we thought it was to that which is now all. come into my view i mean our feel like this is the word that has been used to call of us as you know postulating or chains that is a new chains you know but so are his criticisms haven't spared african governments either he's been especially searing about their response to the corona crisis one thing that this court good thing has done in africa is that is completely exposed the deficiencies that exist in africa when it comes to health care where you have countries like south sudan the top of for a vice president and the 4 ventilators in the whole of the country when those are issues you have their priorities on. his latest work is entitled say their names about african-americans who have been killed by police viole

not clear whether kate's a can appease the protesters but the united nations european union and african union are all calling for talks and have condemned the use of lethal force by security forces. so to quote al-jazeera. hostile ahead here on al-jazeera up in the air castles legal bid to remove an air blockade now hinges on a ruling by the international court of justice. and wartime measures are being brought in to tackle china's west floods in decades. how the rain is persistent still over the yangtze and that same system goes back through japan kills back sometimes back into the korean prince of the south korea in the immediate future so when stages the yangtze gets more of the heavy rain japan gets a few showers the northern shores on shore breeze means us where you're most proud of otherwise it's rather a day help for fuel. but that rain is building once again and it's like it's going through catching season q should then maybe it will stay offshore to the reaches take here later on thursday and it's helped a bit further north and will hon but still over the yangtze forecast for kardash

that effective ceasefire and move swiftly to dancing the political process united nations the african union the league of arab states together and other key regional actors and organizations and the european union will continue to work closely together to support the people of libya as they seek to consolidate their economic security and political future. the u.s. president has welcomed his mexican counterpart to the white house making this the 1st face to face meeting between the leaders and their spawn away lopez obrador has been criticized for holding talks with donald trump who remains unsurprisingly divisive figure in mexico over his immigration policies and the border wall the leftist leader defended the trip as trade related some democrats say trump wants to use the occasion to drum up support among hispanic voters before the november election. our white house correspondent kimberly halkett joins us live well it's an unlikely alliance elvis a lot of sings have been said either way tell us a little bit more about what the meeting was about and how it seemed to have gone. yeah i know s

and you are security council resolutions as well every so never have been in the arab states abu african union according to according to a painting stability of the bands are not just constituting the presidency council for more than a pandemic government. but are the ones to have approved by the house of representatives as well as mr savva ministers combat being better as a unifying barrier and get into an equitable distribution of iraq the real root and that's not the issue of to preserve fundamental tenets of a political solution and river and his statement that your plan have a plan which will remove the military base of somebody that knew him best and that's a better path the better system. out i don't think we need unconditional ceasefire libya insisting that all parties refrain from military activity thereby providing the opportunity for those options and the political process are not your commitment he is the. solution this agreement that succession lesseps with a unique opportunity for him with russia rights instead of yet this would be an important step towards the back of the politi

be involved at all ethiopia's un on bassa said the dispute should be solved at a regional level african union talks hosted by science africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the us and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he did not sign of the final document ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway it has potential huge security implications for the entire region ethiopia accuses egypt have repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles profit i'll just. still ahead on al-jazeera fears that egypt's plans to deploy troops abroad could escalate and conflict in neighboring libya. and livelihoods on the line in indian and most of kashmir why locals say they're no longer getting their fair share of mineral resources. hello widespread showers again rather than the

involved at all ethiopia's un ambassador said the dispute should be solved at a regional level african union talks hosted by science africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the us and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he v.o.p. did not sign of the final document ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway you just potential huge security implications for the entire region ethiopia accuses egypt of repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles trafford. airstrikes in northern yemen have killed at least 24 civilians including children as according to who 3 medical sources a saudi air r.t. coalition aircraft reportedly hit several homes in the husband district while a wedding was taking place. the u.s. says it will impose travel bans on employees of chinese te

there are several different models that are still going to this is a problem from the african union member countries in the world. did live from us clearly did. the question is will people participate in friday's protests some people have said they are going to participate because they're tired of the state of the economy they tired of rising inflation and they simply can't make ends meet others say they're worried about how security forces will react if they come in and decide to stop the protests from going ahead and others are concerned about the growing the virus pandemic as the cases of the virus keep rising in the country a statue in a south korean botanic garden is creating a diplomatic incident because it appears to show the japanese prime minister bowing to a comfort woman a comfort women where the korean women. forced by the japanese to work in wartime brothels whether the women were properly compensated or apologized to has long been a wedge between the country's japan's chief cabinet secretary says if the bowing figure is meant to be shinzo of the it would be an unforgiving for

not clear whether kate's a can appease the protesters but the united nations european union and african union are all calling for talks and have condemned the use of lethal force by security forces. so to quote al-jazeera. there's been an outcry from environmentalists over the sacking of an official at brazil's space agency just days after new data showed an increase in deforestation maybe of in your sled at the observation institute which monitors the amazon rain forest and is not clear if a dismissal is linked to the release of data showing record levels of destruction. but again this is al jazeera and these are the headlines china says the u.s. is a trouble maker undermining peace and stability in the south china sea region that's after secretary of state mike compares said beijing's claims to the area are completely unlawful china claims almost the entire area but that's disputed by several other southeast asian countries from asian katrina you has more on that briefing from china's foreign ministry he then went on to say that china had no intention of conducting a maritime expansion that

there are several diplomats that are still going to do this in public from the african union member countries in the world. they've never from us committed and pretended to be ruthless is mr nicholas is. the question now is will people participate in friday's protest some people have said they are going to participate because they're tired of the state of the economy they're tired of rising inflation and they simply can't make ends meet either say they're white about how security forces will react if they come in and decide to stop the protest from going ahead and others are concerned about the coronavirus pandemic as the cases of the virus keep rising in the country. as u.n. representative says the gulf nation will continue to support the peace process in afghanistan on us despite rising violence which threatens to derail the u.s. backed efforts for talks the afghan government and the taliban are preparing to engage in a dialogue again once again possibly next month i would like to reaffirm guitars that last a commitment to support the afghanistan including continued support for an afghani l

there's a question about african american union recruits. the same as white soldiers were receiving? harold: not at first. lincoln designed a system to pay them less. and, again, to require them to buy their own uniforms, unlike white soldiers. because he was ever fearful in those days about moving too quickly. he was fearful there would be mass abandonment, by the white military, if african-americans were introduced into the service. even as douglass implored him to scale,that unfair pay lincoln told him it would take a little time until prejudices were overcome. until eventually they did get the same pay. by the way, there were a number room ever that details of the movie glory, a number of soldiers as much as they need their salary, as much as they needed to send it home to support their families as white people did, they did not take their salary. they kept their salary as a protest. nervy thingpretty to do and a tough thing to do. valerie: right. [laughter] back to douglas again. in the 1876 statute dedication, lincoln wasd emphatically

it's not clear where they can appease the protesters but the united nations european union and african union are all calling for talks and have condemned the use of lethal force by security forces. so al-jazeera. co-starring prime minister ahmed are gone coley ballyhoo passed away suddenly less than a week ago mourners gathered at the presidential palace. scheduled for friday he was a popular figure in ivory coast and was widely seen as president. successor while he was actually present. to lead the ruling party for the elections due in october. 7 soldiers from azerbaijan into from armenia have been killed us fighting escalates at the border it's the 3rd day of violence for azerbaijani troops were killed and 5 armenian forces were injured 2 former soviet republics have been locked in conflict over and. an enclave inside azerbaijan controlled by ethnic armenians both the u.s. and russia have condemned the violence and call for restraint now a former british socialite and long time friend of convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein will face a judge in new york on tuesday elaine maxwell has been

so african-americans are eligible to serve in the union forces officially bearing arms. when congress legislates expanding on the emancipation proclamation to open the services to african-americans. not true that new york state contributed more soldiers and suffered more casualties than any other state during the civil war north or south? >> yes. 10% of the casualties or so came from new york state. new york for a time escaped destruction that the south was visited upon because of initiating the war. but the new york draft riots certainly reminded people that the war could come backyards in northern cities. and new york's draft riots i always add was certainly the worst as he sat at the beginning, the worst civil disturbance save for the civil war itself. there were draft riots in connecticut, there were draft riots in the midwest. no one wanted to be drafted especially with that rich man's exemption. mostjust got out of hand violently and most tremendously. >> and it was reported by the press. >> if you are going to do a right, don't do it where all the artists and photo

involved at all ethiopia's un ambassador said the dispute should be solved at a regional level african union talks hosted by south africa failed to forge agreement earlier that months in february the us and the world bank mediated what it hoped would be a road map on how to proceed with final technical and legal issues which concerned egypt in particular but he g.o.p. did not sign of the final document ethiopia always said that it would have preferred agreement before it begins to fill the reservoir but if that wasn't possible it would go ahead anyway it just potential huge security implications for the entire region ethiopia accuses egypt of repeatedly dragging its feet over the issue of filling the reservoir something it says egypt knew would be inevitable one day charles strafford al-jazeera. strikes on yemen's northern province have killed at least $25.00 civilians including children and that's according to a who the rebel controlled ministry it says a saudi u.a.e. coalition aircraft hit several homes in the al has in district while a family celebration was taking place at least 7 other