i'm joined now from new york by peter soulsby who's a senior analyst on yemen with the international crisis group thank you very much for speaking to us so ominous comments here about the prospects for this ceasefire deal surviving we know that they're already been multiple primes of violations by both sides what are we likely to see happen next. well that's a really good question and it really comes down to how do you want to respond to each other over the weekend and we have reports that the who feeds them liberally or not it's a stew food storage facility with a mortar which lets the loss of a lot of food to day there were plans to reopen the summer data road coalition is blaming the who he's prevented that from happening another ignores the these airstrikes so we're seeing a lot of attacks on one of the knots yet in that sense really get things going again in the city so what we have to hope for is that u.n. special envoy martin griffiths can convince them one not to really get back into it data and to get these redeployments of forces from in around what they read in the some moving because

is a senior consultant for southern africa at the international crisis group he says the warning from the zimbabwe government is disturbing what we're hearing out of. of course is par for the course in terms of previous experience with the government moving into the default position of allegation and threat so yes it is it is a disturbing statement and it comes on top of a range of other statements that we've seen in the last couple of weeks look at a couple of days especially from zanu p.f. yesterday accused the m.d.c. civil society groups in business of pursuing a terrorist agenda in zimbabwe so the situation is not looking good at all on that front there is. a number.

that since june well earlier i spoke to peter solsbury a senior analyst on yemen with the international crisis group he says a deal done to withdraw from her data isn't working because both sides of the conflict of interpreted it differently the deal that was made in stockholm last summer between these reserves to the internationally recognized yemen so the redeploying their forces from inside the date of july the ports the north and that they would be replaced by quote unquote local forces the government interpreted that to mean one thing which was in effect their guys would come in and who these in terms of the other way which was that they were going to take their frontline fighting forces out and replace them with police forces. loyal to them and that's been a real bone of contention and the issue is really bad they can't come soon agreement over what those local forces look like and it's all they can do but it's really difficult to see how this moves forward. well republicans and democrats have launched a fresh attempt to end u.s. support for the saudi led coalition in yemen politicians from bo

earlier, i spoke to phil gunson, a senior analyst for the international crisis group, who is in caracas. much will depend on which way the militaryjump. right now, they're notjumping at all, they're staying firmly behind nicolas maduro. although there are hints, if you read between the lines, that the military are not happy with the way things are and they may be open to some kind of negotiation and indeed, mr maduro himself, just a couple of hours ago, has said that he is open to some form of negotiation as proposed by countries like mexico and uruguay, who are taking a more neutral stance on this. which way do you think the military might move, if they move? i suppose it may not be entirely helpful to mr guaido, within the country, that he has the backing of the united states? that is a bit problematic. the us is clearly taking the main role here, and given the us history in latin america, it makes it very easy for mr maduro to say that this is merely an imperialist plot to take over venezuela and in fact, it's not really that. much of the rest of the hemisphere and most of the bigges

you're saying that they are on the back foot but here is the assessment by the international crisis group they're saying that al shabab has proven as resilient across parts of east africa as in somalia itself adapting when under pressure by relocating its operations and reorienting its recruitment you don't agree thank you i just want to read to read that for a terrorist group to remain relevant and to prove its resilience they simply need to carry out you know an attack in a year or an attack after every two years for them to to stage a comeback and this is typical of any terrorist organization al-shabaab has been active inside somalia has been active on the fringes of the kenyan borders in monday but it has never carried out a major terrorist or other it has never staged a major terrorist attack in the capital city of nairobi scene's twenty thirteen when the attire wisk it ok well they have been trying to attack kenya but most of their plans have been thwarted by security agencies meaning that the unable to penetrate the country as they used to before or right think please go ahead beca

phil gunson is a senior analyst for the international crisis group, and joins me from caracas. you see this crisis going next and how do you see it ending? much will depend on which way the military goes. right now, they are notjumping military goes. right now, they are not jumping at all military goes. right now, they are notjumping at all but staying firmly behind nicolas maduro. there are hints, if you read behind the lines, the military are not happy with the way things are and they may be open to some kind of negotiation and indeed, nicolas maduro himself, just a couple of hours ago, has said that he is open to some form of negotiation as proposed by countries like mexico and uruguay who are taking a more neutral stance on this. which way do you think the military might move if they move was to mark suppose it may not be entirely helpful that one kool—aid oh has the backing of the united states ? oh has the backing of the united states? —— juan guaido. oh has the backing of the united states? -- juan guaido. it makes it easierfor nicolas states? -- juan guaido. it makes it

is a senior consultant for southern africa at the international crisis group is concerned after the president's spokesman warned the crackdown is a taste of things to come it is a disturbing statement and it comes on top of a range of other statements that we've seen in the last couple of weeks look at a couple of days especially from zanu p.f. yesterday accused of the m.d.c. civil society groups in business of pursuing a terrorist agenda in zimbabwe so the situation is not looking good at all on that front there is a number of of new stories circulating at the moment talking about splits within the party between the military and the party and so forth and there is a lot of confusion as to actually where the center is in terms of the extent to which zanu p.f. is marching in step and the government is marching in step of course is a good question some people say there are these huge splits others say a good cop bad cop approach is being pursued but that certainly is one of the big burning questions at the moment that many of us are trying to look into. the african union says it's perspiring a hi

speak to piers to go in johannesburg is a senior consultant for southern africa at the international crisis group good to have you with us is a bad way slipping back into or for terrorism. what is certainly looks that way i mean the statement that you're referring to came from george who is one of the spokes people around the president and is a ratcheting up of of the president's messaging because he was fairly careful earlier this week not to point fingers and to talk about a comma having a comma situation what we're hearing out of. of course is par for the course in terms of previous experience with the government moving into a default position of allegation and threat so yes it is it is a disturbing statement and it comes on top of a range of other statements that we've seen in the last couple of weeks look last couple of days especially from zanu p.f. yesterday accused the m.d.c. civil society groups in business of pursuing a terrorist agenda in zimbabwe so the situation is not looking good at all on that front. do you think this sort of approach is going to spawn a split within the ruling or

from caracas by skype phil gunson who's a senior analyst covering the andes region at the international crisis group then we have in washington d.c. sonia shot specialist on latin american relations with a special focus on venezuela and then from merida also venezuela by skype is paul dobson a journalist from venezuela and alice this dot com thank you all for joining us on this important discussion pulled off and if i could start with you let's let's begin with the election itself those who believe that nicolas maduro was free and fairly elected are in the minority to say the least. is that what you think is that what you say. well i think it's important to remember that the international press doesn't necessarily represent the views of the governments of the world the peoples of the world and be elections here in venice weyler were received by independent electoral experts observe this election at present as he nominates he declared that elections are free fair and transparent be this included members from the african union from the ceiling which is the council are literally experts or latin americ

she's now the international crisis group's asia group director. barnett rubin, director ofn/ the afghaniskistan program at the center on international cooperation. he too served in the oba administration's state department and was one of the originators their plan to start talks with the taliban. welcome to you both. laurel, let me souart with y. help us understand the significance of this draft framework agreement. is this the beginning of the end of the u.s. involvement in afghanisben? >> it coulthe beginning of the end of the american war in afghanistan. whether it's the beginning of the end of the war inth afghanistan k remains to be seen and depends on the details that are to follow. but, nofetheless, the results the talks of recent days are significanin severalspects. first of all, it's the clearest sign yet of the u.s. intent towi draw forces from afghanistan. secondly, this is the first time that t u.s. has been willing to be seen openly and publicly as negotiating face-to-face with the taliban and putting the question of american troop pre

you're saying that they are on the back foot but here is the assessment by the international crisis groupthey're saying that al shabab has proven as resilient across parts of east africa as in somalia itself adapting one under pressure by relocating its operations and reorienting its recruitment you don't agree thank you i just want to read to read that for a terrorist group to remain relevant and to prove its resilience they simply need to carry out you know an attack in a year or an attack after every two years for them to to stage a comeback and this is typical of any terrorist organization al shabaab has been active inside somalia has been active on the fringes of the kenyan borders in monday but it has never carried out a major terrorist or other it has never staged a major terrorist attack in the capital city of nairobi scene's twenty thirteen when the attire whisk it ok well they have been trying to attack kenya but most of their plans have been thwarted by security agencies meaning that unable to penetrate the country as they used to before or right think please go ahead because i

from caracas by skype phil gunson who's a senior analyst covering the andes region at the international crisis group then we have in washington d.c. sonia shot specialist on latin american relations with a special focus on venezuela and then from merida also venezuela by skype is paul dobson a journalist from venezuela and the alice's dot com thank you all for joining us this important discussion pulled off and if i can start with you let's let's begin with the election itself those who believe that nicolas maduro was free and fairly elected are in the minority to say the least. is that what you think is that what you say. well i think it's important to remember that the international press doesn't necessarily represent the views of the governments of the world the peoples of the world and be elections here in venice weyler were overseen by independent electoral experts observe this election at present as he nominates he declared that elections are free fair and transparent be this included members from the african union from the ceiling which is the council are literally experts or latin america an

you're saying that they are on the back foot but here is the assessment by the international crisis group they're saying that al shabab has proven as resilient across parts of east africa as in somalia itself adapting when under pressure by relocating its operations and reorienting its recruitment you don't agree thank you i just want to read to read that for a terrorist group to remain relevant and to prove its resilience they simply need to carry out you know an attack in a year or an attack after every two years for them to to stage a comeback and this is typical of any terrorist organization al-shabaab has been active inside somalia has been active on the fringes of the kenyan borders in monday but it has never carried out a major terrorist or other it has never staged a major terrorist attack in the capital city of nairobi scene's twenty thirteen when the attack a whiskey ok well they have been trying to attack kenya but most of their plans have been thwarted by security agencies meaning that the unable to penetrate the country as they used to before or right think please go ahead be

from caracas by skype phil gunson who's a senior analyst covering the andes region at the international crisis groupthen we have in washington d.c. sonia shot specialist on latin american relations with a special focus on venezuela and then from merida also venezuela by skype is paul dobson a journalist from venezuela and the alice's dot com thank you all for joining us on this important discussion pulled off and if i can start with the list let's begin with the election itself those who believe that nicolas maduro was free and fairly elected are in the minority to say the least. is that what you think is that what you say. well i think it's important to remember that the international press doesn't necessarily represent the views of the governments of the world the peoples of the world and be elections here in venice wait no we're overseen by independent electoral experts observe this election at present as he nominates he declared that elections are free fair and transparent be this included members from the african union from the ceiling which is the council are literally experts or latin america

on this let's speak to piers pigou he's a senior consultant for southern africa at the international crisis groupwho joins us live from johannesburg appears this figure of fifty three million dollars which the government says it's setting aside for compensation is nowhere near what white farmers are asking for but in a country where much of the population is in dire poverty why is the government even talking about this figure at all. it's not entirely clear which part of the broader set of compensation claims this fifty three million is marked for it would seem that it may be a priority payment to investors who took the zimbabwean government to the international center for the settlement of disputes on investment which is a world bank body rulings were made against the zimbabwean government and to the tune of we think over forty million dollars for the government to. underscore its verbal commitments to compensation issues and to really access international financial institutions it needs to make good on the rulings that were made by the center some years back but as your piece show yes sorry now

but he has had a long and impressive career in senior leadership positions with the international crisis group, usaid, and the world healthworl. his interest in latin america and u.s. leadership was fostered when he first worked as a fellow and then a staff member on capitol hill. began andy his career he was a peace corps volunteer. mark, over to you. mark: i want to thank kimberly for that kind introduction. i should mention that when she served in bulgaria, i visited her country as peace corps director. her program was exceptional. that was partly because her director was a remarkable woman. she believed that women's empowerment was fundamental to development and to democracy. it inspired countless others throughout her life. i should note that looking around the audience, we have another former director of the peace corps, erin lambs. -- erin williams. aaron williams. that is what the peace corps has done. it has given a start to many of us who wanted to do something and contribute to u.s. foreign -- in and a fundamentally a fundamentally different way. couldas a way we contribute to the d

she was a china analyst for an international crisis group rationalizing on china's foreign policy and she did that work from beijing so she is particularly well-equipped to talk about the chinese perspective. she has been looking at it in some detail for a long time. then we will turn to dan kleinman. he is a senior fellow in age- specific security program at the center for near american security. before joining their he worked in the office of undersecretary six policy. stand and abigail grace who was recently on nsc staff just came out a couple of months ago with a paper entitled power play addressing china's belt and road initiative strategies. these are freshly developed perspective on what the us policy response should be and so i think it is appropriate and fitting and very useful to have him finish up our panel discussion. then we will turn it over to the audience and take some questions and hope to have a good conversation here on the topic. with that let me turn it to jeff to get it started. >> thank you walter. thank you to heritage for hosting this event, thank you to the p

while the european union has agreed to lead an international contact group with south american nations to help resolve venezuelans political crisis e.u. foreign policy and chief agree to margaret he says there is full unity in the block over seeking free and democratic elections in venezuela as soon as possible the group which will include the germany britain france bolivia and ecuador will be disbanded after ninety days if no progress is made that was more green he said e.u. foreign ministers males are consider imposing further sanctions on president majority government. should not only countries in america but also d w correspondent barbara vessel joins us from bucharest where e.u. foreign ministers are meeting. what will this contact group seek to achieve. this contract to a group is supposed to be a channel of communication for the european countries to sort of talk to democratic forces within venezuela because they have no direct access so they're trying to use some neighboring countries and countries in the region to sort of set up some some kind of cut channel of communication to foster and support democratic forces so the

corruption is contributing to a crisis of democracy across the world that's the verdict of the latest corruption perception index published by the nonprofit group transparency internationalthe annual report ranks countries according to perceptions of public sector corruption largely by the business community the top and bottom of the list might not be surprising but there is a bit of movement in between. despite its dreary weather denmark regularly features in the top five on the world happiness index and maybe that's partly because the danes feel they can trust their public officials in recent years denmark and new zealand have consistently top transparency international's list and twenty eighteen was no different denmark once again landed the top spot on the corruption perceptions index scoring eighty eight points one and a head of new zealand in second place on eighty seven finland singapore sweden and switzerland all tied for third norway the netherlands canada luxembourg germany and britain make up the rest of the top ten at the other end of the scale reclusive north korea and war torn yemen tided a lowly fourteen points were trailed by a war zone south sudan and sy

crisis. the council, based in canada, wants to create a new international action group to work outside the constraintsa new report, including a plan to use the frozen assets of dictators, to finance changes that could help the 68 million displaced people in the world. joining us is senior executive of the world refugee council, fen hampson, who is in new york after meeting with the un. i know you have been meeting with the un. i suppose the question has to be that if the un, with all its member states, its money and its power, can't sort out this crisis, what hope the council or a new action group? i think it's fair to say that as we identify in our report, there are many things that individual states can do to help with this crisis, either working individually or in concert with each other. we have seen this kind of progress before, when the states, nonstate actors, mobilise around a state of issues or proposals. as you just mentioned, one of the proposals is to seize the billions, we are talking literally billions, of frozen assets of dictators. nicolas maduro is a good case in point, who are respon

a global crisis of democracy due to a collective failure to control corruption that's the conclusion the latest corruption perceptions index from transparency international the lobby group fighting graft and corruption annually ranks countries by how corrupt their citizens think their own country's public sector is not that this ranking goes by the perception of corruption not by documented evidence well looking at the asia pacific region the results are quite sobering countries that have made little progress the region's most uncorrupt country was new zealand which came in second place globally singapore and australia followed closely behind the hong kong and japan came in fourth and fifth spot on the other side north korea comes in last new guinea and cambodia fell about afghanistan were among the region's most corrupt states asia pacific is on par with the americas in its lack of progress in the fight against corruption and as well the western europe and the e.u. concerns he says one reason for asia falling behind is a weakening of democratic institutions and rights this is how his country scored let's broaden our view a bit. despite its dreary weather denmark regula

international community. how should we all think and respond to this crisis. and just to flag the international community, the lehman group, the u.s., the german the friend. not recognizing him as president. we are moving quick and that is why these type of discussions are critical to have. on the face of such certainty we have two of the top most important minds when it comes to venezuelan policy and we are honored that both of them. most of you know william brown filled, he was a u.s. ambassador to chile, colombia and venezuela. he was a director of law enforcement for the state of department. running it for more than 80 countries. his responsibilities run from drug forests in mexico, crisis management center america to law enforcement in the south see. he is also a senior advisor at csis. noncompensated csis. [laughter] we are honored to have you here. and last but not least fernando, he is a bright policymaker here in washington, he is a senior associate, he previously served as a senior advisor, general mcmaster for south american. he joined the u.s. government as presidential management fellow usa. he worked on pres

well the european union has agreed to lead an international contact group with south american nations to help resolve than its weight loss political crisis the e.u. foreign policy chief frederica mcgrady says there is a for unity in the e.u. over seeking free and democratic elections in venezuela as soon as possible and now the group which will include germany britain france bolivia and ecuador will be disbanded after ninety days if no progress is made if need says that e.u. foreign ministers may also consider imposing further sanctions on president nicolas maduro government so. we're joined now by our correspondent barbara vasovagal she is in bucharest this evening where is the u. foreign ministers are meeting good evening to you barbara what will this contact group that we're hearing about what's it seeking to achieve. this contact group is seeking to achieve community opening of communication channels to democratic forces within venezuela because the european union really doesn't have any sort of people on the ground it doesn't have a lot of traditional sort of connections and the latin american countries a few more are going to join

crisis. and a is chairman of ubs member of the group of 30, an international body that looks to deepen understandingcs and issues. today on "leaders with lacqua," we meet axel weber

crisis. now he is chairman of ubs and a member of the group of 30, an international body that looks to deepennderstanding of global economics and financial issues. today on "leaders with lacqua," we meet axel weber. axel weber, thank you for joining us. you have a great global view of the main challenges facing financial institutions. what are they? how will this and astray be transformed in 10 years from now? be transformed in 10 years from now? axel: the industry is in the middle of a transformation. after the financial crisis, the reregulation of the industry, and many, including ubs, have changed their business model. we were among the first. now over the next 10 years, different trends will shape the industry. technology is one. the business model will be challenged by disruption. the question in the future will be, can incumbents like ubs rise to the challenge and transform themselves, rather than be disrupted? we have seen disruption in many industries. technology is the key driver for that. banks will continue to face those challenges. i think we will rise to the challenge, adopt what

european union is setting up what they call an international contact group on venezuela this isn't going to be any kind of official mediation in the crisis there but it is essentially going to be a talking shop including in the states as well as latin american partners who are going to come together to try and continue the dialogue and make sure that venezuela can sort out the problems it faces well through the mechanisms of the venezuelan constitution however at the same time as federica mockery and he was announcing also you said that we could expect further sanctions from e.u. member states in venezuela those sanctions of course they would target the government we have sanctions targeted sanctions in place already that would be new unanimously recently and should there are elements of sanctions might be considered by the ministers in the coming days if we would not see positive developments any sanction that's not. that's not. implemented by the security council is illegal so all the sanctions that the u.s. simplemente against the business will and people are illegal according to international law the european parliament also passed a

crisis. now he is chairman of ubs and a member of the group of 30, an international body that looks to deepen of global economics and financial issues. today on "leaders with lacqua," we meet axel weber. axel weber, thank you for

economic crisis and mounting international pressure his critics say that he's ruled it illegitimate because the elections last year were filled with irregularities and fraud human rights groups are also questioning the government's methods of clinging to power human rights watch released a report documented cases of at least thirty two people with ties to the military who have been detained and tortured. brother is a surgeon who has been imprisoned for seven months he was in a relationship with a retired navy captain and was accused of treason. my brother was beaten so many times his hands that he uses to heal people were broken he still has no feeling in some of his fingers he has done nothing wrong his only mistake was to date a navy captain who the government says was in a plot. says was in a surgery in colombia when the government said he was buying equipment for the opposition on wednesday. lashed out at both the u.s. and then a group of other latin american countries who say he's really action was flawed and his new time in office is illegitimate. a coup ordered by washington and the lima group is under. away against the legitimate and constitutional government over wh

demonstrations rights groups including amnesty international say more than forty people have been killed while participating in the protests which were sparked by an economic crisis the official death toll stands at twenty six joining us to discuss this in cartoon we're hoping to be joined by al-jazeera reporter hey morgan she'll be hopefully joining us via phone she's been covering this story for al-jazeera also in khartoum dr ahmed he's a spokesman for the alliance the sudanese revolution doctors madani. activists participated in the protests we also invited robin obeyed he's a senior member with the ruling national congress party we all seen back onto the show but he dropped out just a few minutes ago he said that he wasn't working appropriately and he didn't want to join us on the phone so. what is it like being in sudan right now how are the protests impacting everyday life. now it's becoming a way of clients in. its talk to one month ago on the economic crisis it was pretty good that this is done but now that people are demanding for the government and the ruling party i stand down. are marching peacefully but how about the government are you being nice or

economic crisis and mounting international pressure his critics say that he is really it illegitimate because the elections last year were filled with irregularities and fraud human rights groups are also questioning the government's methods of clinging to power was human rights watch released a report documented cases of at least thirty two people with ties to the military who have been detained and tortured. brother is a surgeon who has been imprisoned for seven months he was in a relationship with a retired navy captain and was accused of treason. a mortal my brother was beaten so many times his hands that he uses to heal people were broken he still has no feeling in some of his fingers he has done nothing wrong his only mistake was to date a navy captain who the government says was in a plot. i was in a surgery in colombia when the government said he was buying equipment for the opposition on wednesday. lashed out at both the u.s. and then a group of other latin american countries who say he's really action was flawed and he's new time in office is illegitimate. a coup ordered by washington and the lima group is underway against the legitimate and constitutional government

group transparency international. african countries again find themselves. close to the. climate change. foreign investors triple the money their poured into start ups cross the continent last year. this is business africa. a global crisis of democracy due to a collective failure to control corruption that's the damning conclusion of the latest corruption perceptions index from transparency international corruption the watchdog annually ranks countries according to how international business executives evaluate corruption in the country in question this ranking goes by the perception of corruption not by documented evidence of it for africa there were few improvements this year sub-saharan africa is the lowest scoring region on the. last place for the seventh year in a row followed by south sudan despite african leaders declaring twenty eighteen the african year of corruption top performers in the region includes the shells followed by botswana and cape verde both countries scores were raised by having functioning democratic governance systems both ivory coast and senegal improve significantly.

international community? how shall we all think and respond to this crisis? and just to flag the international community response includes the lima group which include the most important latin american countries. a very strong declaration not recognizing maduro as president. we have a lot of things moving quick and that's why this type of discussion is just critical to have. so in the first -- on the face of such uncertainty we have two of the topmost important minds when it comes to venezuelan policy. he's a legendary am bas tor. he was a u.s. ambassador to chil. his responsibilities range from police training and the safety in afghanistan and iraq, massive anti drug efforts in colombia and mexico. police development in the palestine west bank. to the south china sea, he's also a senior advisor and i'm going to say it before he says it. he's a noncompensated advisor, but we're really honored to have him. so thank you for being here. and last but not least, fernando, he's a bright policy maker here in washington. he's a senior associate. of the cohen group. he previously served as senior advisor to the general mcmaster and as acting se

economic crisis and mounting international pressure his critics say that he's ruled it illegitimate because the elections last year were filled with irregularities and fraud human rights groups are also questioning the government's methods of clinging to power human rights watch released a report documented cases of at least thirty two people with ties to the military who have been detained and tortured. brother is a surgeon who has been imprisoned for seven months he was in a relationship with a retired navy captain and was accused of treason lower get a mortal my brother was beaten so many times his hands that he uses to heal people were broken he still has no feeling in some of his fingers he has done nothing wrong his only mistake was to date a navy captain who the government says was in a plot. says was in a surgery in colombia when the government said he was buying equipment for the opposition on wednesday my there were lashed out at both the u.s. and then a group of other latin american countries who say he's really action was flawed and he's new time in office is illegitimate. a coup ordered by washington and the lima group is underway against a legitimate and consti

demonstrations rights groups including amnesty international say more than forty people have been killed while participating in the protests which were sparked by an economic crisis death toll stands at twenty six joining us to discuss this in cartoon we're hoping to be joined by al-jazeera reporter hey morgan she'll be hopefully joining us via phone she's been covering this story for al-jazeera also in khartoum dr ahmed he's a spokesman for the alliance the sudanese revolution doctors madani isom. and activists who participated in the protests we also invited robin obeyed he's a senior member with the ruling national congress party we'll see him back onto the show but he dropped out just a few minutes ago he said that he wasn't working appropriately and he didn't want to join us on the phone so. what is it like being in sudan right now how are the protests impacting everyday life. i have a process now it's becoming a way of clients. it's talk to one month ago on the economic crisis it was pretty good that this is done but now that people are demanding for the government and the ruling party activists down. there are marching peacefully but how about the governme