so gunson a political analyst for the international crisis group in caracas thank you russia has pulled out of a key nuclear arms control treaty one day after the u.s. did the same russian president vladimir putin also announced moscow would begin developing new weapon systems and has ordered his ministers not to initiate any new disarmament talks with washington here's more of what president putin had to say american people you know our american partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal and we're also suspending our participation. but nationally. we will wait until our partners are mature enough to conduct an equal meaningful dialogue with us on this important topic and you know. putin was responding to the u.s. decision to pull out of the cold war era i.n.f. treaty secretary of state might compel said washington was suspending its compliance because moscow and been breaching the arms control agreement the us says its weapons like the s s c a cruise missiles with a range of more than five hundred kilometers that show russia has violated the treaty. ove

and joining me now from caracas is phil gunson a political analyst for the international crisis group phil a venezuelan air force general has just declared his support for one quiet oh is this the beginning of the end for president dura. it's hard to say one one general like regime change. this particular general barry director of strategic planning for the air force but not somebody. whether the. defection. and how likely is majority to react to this. well i you know today is that it's going to be dominated by the rival demonstrations on the street the opposition as you say what you actually get across it's huge numbers of people in the street today nothing that's going to dominate the news so unless the rest of the defections you know we may not hear a great deal more about this. and even the jury's alstad how would you support his take it. that's a different question there are many armed civilians not just the armed forces of course here we have many who are loyal to the regime and who may be deployed could be deployed on many occasions in the process to attack demonstrations for t

and see how the south koreans are going to try and spin this christopher green from the international crisis group thank you very much indeed for joining me just before i leave you standing here seven months ago as with you michael called for rick who is from the international crisis group another expert on north korea worth telling our viewers he is still a former canadian diplomat still in a chinese jail he was working as an analyst on these issues and he is being held by the chinese government still in detention just worth telling you he was doing exactly the same job with me here as christopher is today james bays and hanoi thanks very much. i know that this is al jazeera i'm laura kyle it's just a few seconds of eight that's three pm in hanoi sometimes you have to walk now those were the words of donald trump and explained why his vietnam summit with kim jong un ended abruptly but no agreement today meeting was aimed at convincing the north korean leader to give up his nuclear weapons. basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn't do that they were willing to de

come back or most ok all right we appreciate it ma'am deal but the a senior analyst at international crisis group in nigeria thank you so much for your insight. the president of mali abraham cato was recently in berlin for talks with these german counterparts the background in short is that german troops are in bali on a un peacekeeping mission that's said to be one of the most dangerous in the world in an exclusive interview with spoke about how the fight against extremists in the east was impacting the west. starting out in somalia a terrorist attacks have spread to east africa ever since the westgate shopping mall attack in nairobi in two thousand and thirteen has set its sights on the continent but not only in the eastern part of africa. it was. the food that we believe many of the terrorists that international forces are fighting in east africa fleeing to the somehow region. the current and i keep in libya allows this to happen this bothers us a great deal and we have to bear the consequences of peace in the sun hell is vital for the whole world if there are international agreements that we

there's definitely more to this story joining me now is international crisis group's alan keenan allen a behind the headline what's what's really going on here. well i think a number of things are going on i mean one serious cena is increasingly unpopular politically so i think he's looking around for issues he thinks might resonate with the public and might turn health and win back a bit of. bit of popularity and this is your report suggests is that of on the surface quite popular but he's going to have trouble i think in in part dealing with the buddhist clergy which traditionally has been quite out of opposed to the death penalty and previous attempts or previous sort of rhetorical gestures or promises by by politicians to bring it back have been blocked by what is tops issue so we'll have to see really how far this goes and is there really a drug problem in sri lanka. i think there's two drug problems yes there's definitely drug problem i mean drugs are easily available smuggling networks are very strong. and there is a need to address it no question and there is some evidence alth

affair gunson is a senior analyst for the and this region of the international crisis group he joins us via skype now from caracas thanks so much for being with us so let's talk about one go i don't know first off he. is putting a lot of stock in in getting the military to side with him and getting more more military officials to defect and yet. say for the defection of one one envoy in washington and one air force general and a perhaps a few other officials the military so far sticking by madieu wrote this raises the question doesn't it of whether there's a plan b. if if if this doesn't work yeah that is indeed a very good question as far as i can tell there isn't really a plan b. unless it's to use military forces to intervene from outside in minnesota until the government which i think would be a most unfortunate development and is not something that the countries involved seem to be particularly looking for just of the circumstances might lead us to not direction if the militaristic with. sticks it out and the regime doesn't crumble the next step is to put humanitarian aid on the

to call new elections of her grandson is a senior analyst for the and this region at the international crisis groupe says might do those army is reluctant to defect because many don't trust the opposition leader. if the military stick with mother or if my daughter sticks it out and the regime doesn't crumble the next step is to put humanitarian aid on the borders one way though announced that today they're going to put humanitarian aid on the border inside colombia inside brazil and in the caribbean island which i suspect is probably put that legal. and then challenge the government basically to let it if they don't let it in will play go in with military force that's not a question that we can't answer well it's true that given the history of u.s. interventions in latin america over the last hundred years or so there's a lot of ill feeling in the region about the u.s. throwing its weight around and really this time around the the mitigating factor if you like is that so many of the regions governments are on the side of the u.s. and leave the european union has come out that are quite so strongly

region for the international crisis group and in atlanta will have president of the world affairs council of atlanta and a former u.s. ambassador to venezuela welcome to all phil gunson in caracas squiers all this pressure on nicolas maduro not going anyplace because of the reasons i think one is that the military have remained loyal it's the venezuelan military this is a regime in which the military play a very important role without their support mr magruder who is faced with opposition from eighty to ninety percent of the population couldn't survive they've remained loyal on the other hand there's also the question of whether he has any good alternatives miss the huge difficult things for him but. goes to possible it is pretty and he has a pretty good idea that or the weights if he does the power maybe jail cell long in paris why is the high command remaining loyal to him. hi thanks for having me on i think there are a number of variables to explain the military's loyalty certainly venezuelan society has been increasingly militarized starting probably from the two thousand and two coup

more on venezuela now, where we can speak to phil gunson, who is a senior analyst for the international crisis groupation working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world. to the in us this evening. we're hearing these reports of violence done on the border, at least two people reported dead. how volatile do you think the situation is there? i think it is very volatile particularly on the borders because the opposition had announced that today was the day in which they would willy—nilly get humanitarian aid across the border, which is a that the government says is merely pa rt that the government says is merely part of the plan by the united states to intervene and the cause regime change in venezuela, so they are determined to stop it. the colombians and the brazilians at the border are extreme and had a lot of violence today, not just border are extreme and had a lot of violence today, notjust reports of people killed were also reports of people killed were also reports of people killed were also reports of people killed as well by gunshot. nicolas maduro said as we

to call for new elections or fill gunson is a senior analyst for the andes region at the international crisis group he says the duros army is reluctant to defect because many don't trust the opposition leader. if the military stick with murder or if my daughter sticks it out and the regime doesn't crumble the next step is to put humanitarian aid on the borders one way though announced that today they're going to put humanity buried aid on the border inside to long brazil and in the caribbean island which i suspect is probably what really got. and then challenge the government basically to let it if they don't let it in we'll play go in with military force that's not a question that we can't answer at the moment well it's true that given the history of u.s. interventions in latin america over the last hundred years or so there's a lot of ill feeling in the region about the u.s. throwing its weight around and really this time around the the mitigating factor if you like is that so many of the regions governments are on the side of the u.s. and even the air you the european union has come out there ar

with a handshake and walk away let's talk more about this with christopher green from the international crisis group why do you think it sounds as though it was the u.s. why did the u.s. decide not to try and do even even if it was a little deal not a particularly good deal why not get some incremental progress the u.s. was under pressure to improve upon the joint statement from singapore last june which was vague and it was it was a good beginning but it certainly would have been ok to repeat that again they needed something more concrete and they needed something on the nuclear issue and the north koreans appear to have put forth a maximalist position suggesting that they wanted all sanctions removed in exchange for the young done research complex that just wasn't tenable if you look at the north korean position they really were it seems and we've only got donald trump's account of it playing hardball here do you think they might regret this because i can tell you last week at the u.n. security council speaking to the russian ambassador it's clear the chinese as well they are in favor already of l

the rand corporation, i should say i am 110w rand corporation, i should say i am now the international crisis group ofa director in the asia programme there as of a few weeks ago, when i was with the rand corporation, a undertook a project to try to develop a version of what a peace agreement for afghanistan might look like. they undertook a lot of interviews and research trying to find out the details of what all sides, including the taliban, actually think about what a future state could look like, what is an islamic system that would satisfy them mean? i found islamic system that would satisfy them mean? ifound that islamic system that would satisfy them mean? i found that those details are still lacking. they say this in general terms they have not expressed a very clear and detailed vision of what this would mean not only for women in afghanistan, but for other afghans who have enjoyed a style of life and rights and opportunities that are quite different than during the taliban period. very interesting to talk to you, thank you very much. my pleasure. raising the temperature in what are alread

joining me now, robert mali, vice president of the international crisis group and former special adviserbert, good to have you with us. i know that you just returned from venezuela. what's the political situation like on the ground there now? do you see this breaking one way or the other in favor of nicolas maduro or the self-declared president juan guaido? >> it's really hard to say. there are two unknowns. one unknown is what the military is going to do. obviously the trump administration and others have been reaching out to the venezuelan military trying to entice them and encourage them to turn against president maduro, to get rid of him then be part of this transition in offering -- guaido, the self-declared president, also offered amnesty. no sign yet of a mass defection by the military and if that doesn't happen, the question will be if maduro is still if power for another week, two weeks, another month, three months, what does the u.s. do? do they decide to intervene militarily? those are the two questions, what does the venezuelan military do and president trump do? >> you broug

so senior analyst for the andes region the international crisis group he says. he is reluctant to defects because many don't trust the opposition leader. if the military stick with murder or if my daughter sticks it out and the regime doesn't crumble the next step is to put humanitarian aid on the borders one way though announced that today they're going to put humanity buried aid on the border inside colombia inside brazil and in the caribbean island which i suspect is probably what really got. and then challenge the government basically to let it if they don't let it in will go in with military force that's not a question that we can't answer at the moment well it's true that given the history of u.s. interventions in that america over the last hundred years or so there's a lot of ill feeling in the region about the u.s. throwing its weight around and that really this time around the the mitigating factor if you like is that so many of the regions governments are on the side of of the u.s. and even the air you the european union has come out that are quite so

international crisis group's have said the rescheduling has imposed great costs on the country. now is covers africa for bloomberg news. give us a bit of color. paul: the delay was very dramatic. it happened in the middle of the just hoursturday before the voting was meant to start. that cost a lot of disruption this week for businesses and the political parties who had to rethink and decide whether or not to continue its rallies this week. a lotor nigerian voters, traveled to their hometowns to vote and have to decide whether to go back this weekend or not. at the moment, things are pretty calm, campaigning has officially stopped in the government has it working to allow -- has a workday to allow more people to go back to their hometowns and people to vote tomorrow. nejra: thank you so much for joining us. still with us is christian from deutsche bank wealth management. around.or sticking i want to your broader view on emerging markets at the moment. earlier when we were talking, he said he preferred the u.s. versus europe. where do emerging markets fit into that picture for yo

group in syria and iraq. venezuela's president nicolas maduro says that he supports dialogue in the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis comes ahead of a meeting in europe why by and uniformed international group the dame's to resolve the situation. of britain's prime minister to resign may's in brussels to urge e.u. leaders to accept changes to the regs that agreement the main sticking point is on how to keep open the border between the republic of ireland and all the time. one of the largest aid convoys since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan more than one hundred trucks brought food and medical supplies to thousands of syrians stranded in the rock band camp aid workers will also provide an emergency vaccination campaign to ten thousand children that the cap is home to more than forty thousand people who lost received aid in november such of malik is the u.n.h.c.r. representative to syria and damascus and says the people in the camp need a more permanent solution. it is an extremely remote area right at the border with jordan and syria is in the middle of a desert for the last two years this population has been stranded there it's actu

and was developing into two different strategies for how to end the political crisis the newly formed international contact group on venezuela consisting of european and latin american nations is calling for dialogue that's being backed by venezuela's embattled president nicolas maduro at a meeting in europe wise capital want to do says it will be sending a technical mission to venezuela and repeat as it's called a free and fair elections. the group aims to forge a common international approach to support a peaceful political democratic and been a swell and own research into the crisis excluding the use of force through free transparent and credible presidential elections in accordance with them in a swell and constitution in order for the country to overcome the current crisis it is crucial to restore full democracy in all its that mentions including the rule of low separation of powers and respect for the constitutional mandate of the country's institutions notably the democratically elected national assembly a different strategies advocated by the united states which is backing self declared president and opp

humanitarian crisis are doing or is hinting that he's ready to take part in any process that would lead to national agreements it comes ahead of a meeting in europe why by a newly formed international group that aims to solve the crisis it involves eight european countries and several last american nations. i rather thought the support of the full stage plan of the montevideo is mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean i believe is proposing. ready to participate in the process of sovereign and. look for a national agenda of agreements and understanding. meanwhile the un is warning against using humanitarian aid as a political weapon in venezuela the u.s. says the trucks carrying supplies have arrived in neighboring colombia and are ready to cross the border they were sent there after a request by venezuela's self declared interim president but the opposition says the military has blocked a bridge where the aid is meant to pass. the reports now from the colombia venezuela border. the promised a doesn't even reach the venezuelan border but the government of nicolas maduro is already taking steps to stop it entering the country fences huge shippi

of hundreds facing charges that carry the death penalty what osp rights groups if the international community is ignoring the crisis. and results are treating it all to nigeria's election but some say there was no democracy in the. oh. i think you agree with this one please look around you will not. do anything. today and we have the story of africa's biggest film festival and the movies competing for the continent's equivalent to the oscars. i'm christine one bill welcome to the program i'm glad you're cheating day and we begin in cameroon where the human rights situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate the needs are off the opposition maurice come to is facing trial on charges which carry the death penalty now since country lost the election in october the opposition has held protests come to was arrested at one of those demonstrations last month he and more than one hundred others have. charged with hostility to the homeland and insurrection those charges have been brought by a military court and that has rights groups concerned now cameras eighty five year old president paul bia was reelected for a seventh

of hundreds facing charges that carry the death penalty what osp rights groups if the international community is ignoring the crisis. and results are taking and also nigeria's election but some say there was no democracy.

group in syria and iran venezuela's president nicolas maduro says he supports dialogue in the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis comes ahead of a meeting in your reply by a newly formed international group that claims aims rather to resolve a situation. i'd rather find the sum total of the monty reveals mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe he is proposing. participate in the process of sovereign post to look for national agenda off agreements peace and understanding. britain's prime minister theresa may is in brussels urging e.u. leaders to accept changes to their agreement the main sticking point is how to keep open the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland rescue teams in turkey how for thirteen survivors from the rubble of a building that collapsed in istanbul the apartment lot came down on wednesday evening at least three people are confirmed dead and it's believed that others are still trapped we'll keep you posted on that. one of the largest say convoys since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan more than one hundred trucks brought food and medi

crisis. scenting that is ready to take part in any process that will lead to national agreements comes ahead of the meeting in europe wide by a newly formed international group that aims to resolve the crisis. i ratify the support of the full state of the multi videos mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe you are proposing. participate in the process of sovereign post you look for national agenda off agreements peace and understanding. britain's prime minister and brussels to urge a later strict set of changes to their barracks at agreement the main sticking point is how to keep open the border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. rescue teams and turkey have all thirteen survivors from the rubble of a building that collapsed in istanbul the apartment block came down on wednesday evening at least three people are confirmed dead and its way of others are still trapped. one of the largest say convoys since the start of syria's war has reached a remote refugee camp on the border with jordan more than one hundred trucks brought food and medical supplies to thousands of syria's syrians

humanitarian crisis but it was head saying that he is ready to take part in any process that would lead to national agreements comes ahead of a meeting in europe wide by a newly formed international group that aims to solve the crisis it involves eight european countries and several latin american nations iraq. i rather thought the support to the full stage of the multi fuels mechanism integrated by the government of mexico fourteen countries of the caribbean and i believe you are proposing reality to participate in the process of sovereign host you from dialogue to look for national agenda up agreements peace and understanding . meanwhile the un is warning against using humanitarian aid as a pawn and venezuela and the u.s. says trucks carrying supplies have arrived in neighboring colombia and are ready to cross over they were sent there after a request by venezuela self declared interim president of the opposition says the military has blocked a bridge along the border where the aid is meant to pass. the any reports on the colombia venezuela border. the promised a doesn't even reach the venezuelan border but the government of nicolas maduro is already taking steps to stop it entering

announced the creation of an international contact group to include european and latin american countries. the aim — to help chart a peaceful end to venezuela‘s political crisis i said, it is enabling venezuelans to express themselves, freely and democratically, through the holding of new elections. on thursday, the government of venezuelan president nicolas maduro announced that three air force generals have been arrested, accused of plotting an uprising against his government. translation: according to information obtained by our intelligence bodies, there was an arrival from colombia of a group of hired killers, hired by the venezuelan ultra rights to commit selective assassinations against politicians and military leaders. workers from the state oil company held an anti—imperialist march after the us slapped sanctions on the firm on monday in an attempt to cut off a vital source of funding propping up nicolas maduro‘s government. millions of people remain in poverty. many have left the country looking for a brighterfuture. the united nations said it is willing to step up humanitarian aid, but requires consent from the government led by nicolas maduro and,

announced the creation of an international contact group to include european and latin american countries. the aim — to help chart a peaceful end to venezuela's political crisisto do it within 90 days. the purpose of the international contact group is clear. as i said, it is enabling venezuelans to express themselves, freely and democratically, through the holding of new elections. on thursday, the government of venezuelan president nicolas maduro announced that three air force generals have been arrested, accused of plotting an uprising against his government. translation: according to information obtained by our intelligence bodies, there was an arrival from colombia of a group of hired killers, hired by the venezuelan ultra rights to commit selective assassinations against politicians and military leaders. workers from the state oil company held an anti—imperialist march after the us slapped sanctions on the firm on monday in an attempt to cut off a vital source of funding propping up nicolas maduro's government. millions of people remain in poverty. many have left the country looking for a brighterfuture. the united nations said it is willing to step up h

group of gathered in colombia with opposition leaders and u.s. officials to discuss the venezuelan crisis the group of fourteen predominantly latin american countries is sending an appeal to the international criminal court demanding it consider the humanitarian situation right now venezuela kellam opens the latest. well mike pence was speaking to the lima group in bogota colombia about the crisis in venezuela now when he addressed the grouping he gave his full support on behalf of the united states to juan guede o. who proclaimed himself to be the interim president of venezuela furthermore he said that new sanctions against venezuela were in the works for individuals in the venezuelan government already been named by the u.s. treasury mike pence who offered amnesty to any folks in the military venezuela who would switch sides and come over to his side and he then offered additional funding to countries in the region that would go along with washington in its efforts to remove the duros today also it's my privilege to announce that the united states will provide an additional thirty six million dollars to support our partners in the region as you come to the aid of the venezuelan people fl

supports dialogue and political and humanitarian crisis comes ahead of a meeting in europe by newly formed international group that's working to resolve the situation. as president is accusing democrats presidential just a day after the house intelligence committee voted to provide special counsel proper bowler with confidential testimonies looking into alleged russian meddling in the two thousand and sixteen presidential election. britain's prime minister theresa may has once again been told that the brics a deal negotiated between her government and the e.u. will not be renegotiated. urged. changes to the agreement. this president is predicting victory over eisel as early as next week truck price coalition forces for retaking land occupied by the armed groups in syria and iraq but the u.s. military is warning that thousands of fighters remain in syria i cannot report some washington d.c. . smiles all round as members of the coalition gather for a group photograph much as happened since they last met most importantly president trump surprise decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria this led to the resigna

of hundreds facing charges that carry the death penalty what osp rights groups if the international community is ignoring the crisis. and results are tripping enough to nigeria's election but some say there was no democracy.

to venezuela, where, in efforts to get the country's spiralling political crisis under control, an international contact groupcountries. the eu foreign policy chief addressed the delegates. let's listen. translation: our shared concern over the situation in venezuela has brought us together here today and we might have different points of view or ratings on what has caused the crisis but we share the same objective. contribute toa share the same objective. contribute to a political, peaceful and democratic solution. this is not only the most desirable result but the only possible result if we want to avoid more suffering and the chaotic and dangerous process. juan guaido, this man here, who's declared himself as the interim president, says he's trying to get humanitarian aid into the country. but nicolas maduro, his rival and president, who has the support of the army, says he isn't going to let that happen and here's a signal of that. i want to show you a picture of a bridge. this is a bridge on the country's western border with colombia where the military have created a barricade using a tanker truck, cargo

group of gather didn't colombia with the opposition. and u.s. officials to discuss the venezuelan crisis the group of fourteen predominantly latin american countries is sending an appeal to the international criminal court now to money and consider the humanitarian situation in venezuela kaleb open more i'm outside of it now opposition activists who oppose material and supporters of have been clashing near the border we understand at this point four people are dead hundreds have been injured and when an aid truck did catch on fire in the aftermath of that we saw a kind of a diplomatic war of words with different parties blaming each other for the incident let's take a listen. we denounce my refusal to let humanitarian assistance reach venezuela what kind of a sick tyrant stops food from getting to hungry people the images of burning trucks filled with a sickening. secret the ripple specialist in full fire go permissions believes he fools the world with a truck burnt in colombia by his own agents now u.s. media and western media seem to be echoing and repeating that it was madeira who is responsible for this aid truck catching on fire they blame it squarely on maduro and say look these tru

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 the united 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 through the mechanisms of the venezuelan constitution however at the same time as federica market he was announcing this she also said that we could expect further sanctions from e.u. member states on venezuela those sanctions of course they would target the government they have sanctions targeted sanctions in place already that would be news unanimously recently and sure 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

notably the russian doping crisis many athletes are unhappy that the international olympic committee lifted russia's ban after evidence of state sponsored doping was revealed a new group is demanding more robust anti-doping system and more safeguards to protect athletes from abuse and bullying were a show lembit champion cyclist counts kenner is part of the athlete uprising and he joins us now live from london khalil why have you personally gotten involved with this movement i guess from the this is point of view we kind of galvanized the community over the whole scandal we got the x. of sir chris hoy in cuffs and granger lizzy yarnold sent a letter to water to say please stick to the original build up of compliance to make to bring back russia back into the fold but we didn't get it was all we wanted so what we thought would be best was to continue the movement the mobilization that we create is so overwhelming if you liked what was quite a disappointing result and why do you think this movement in particular can. have a tangible change. i think it's going to be something is quite unique in olympic and paralympic sport we haven't seen anything like this this before i