at the nobel award ceremony there in oslo he's an ethiopian analyst at the international crisis group from addison advice thank you very much william davidson for being with us our prime minister is dealing with a lot of challenges right now internally in ethiopia does she in your view deserve this nobel peace prize especially so early in his premiership. well i mean i don't think it's for me to assess that i think we've heard i think we've heard pretty clear justifications for the decision to give the nobel peace prize that was the decision of the committee you know what i would say about that is what comes through loud and clear is that we both had very impressive bold leadership from the but that's mainly been dismantling the old order in ethiopia and overcoming some of the repression there and then making reaching out to president desirous of restoring diplomatic relations that what everyone recognizes is that this is unfinished business and the really are considerable challenges both domestically and also some of those domestic challenges also play into the fact that this peace p

forum he is the deputy director for the horn of africa senior analyst for the sudan it international crisis group thanks for your time jonas just as this news is coming through what's your take on it the fact that he has been found guilty yes but it seems a pretty mild sentencing. yes it is mild i think all this has required a lot of political soft pedaling from the transitional government the evocative nature of this this trial is has meant that particularly the civilian government led by his need to be very candid needed to be very careful about how it's manage this there's still a lot of n.c.p. support within sudan and and at the same time you know the military retains a lot of supporters then c.p.s. has had to. bust in many of its. supporters from the countryside into khartoum for for this to in a bit of a show of force to show that they're not indeed a spent force and in sudan but yes i think the financial crimes version of this of the sheers trial here is is is perhaps a way to front load some of the some of the less controversial charges that that bashir faces but does does it give them a

september could change well let's speak now to graeme smith who's a senior consultant at the international crisis group and also a former political affairs officer for the u.n. assistance mission in afghanistan he joins us now from london graham how legitimate do most afghans view this election as being in aside from party loyalties i'm talking about the poll itself i see something like $100000.00 ballots were registered outside voting hours but the commission continues to insist it's independent. i just spent a month travelling across afghanistan and i have to say that none of my old friends people have known more than a dozen years none of them voted and very few of them were asking me about the results of the election afghanistan is a country of 38000000 people half of them are qualified to vote because they're majority age and the reported tally of votes was fewer than 2000000 so you're talking about a really poor turnout. even so president gandhi's victory in preliminary results is razor thin only $11000.00 or so votes and so you're probably looking at a real vicious argument coming up in the tora

forum he's the deputy director for the horn of africa and a senior analyst for sudan at the international crisis group thank you for joining us again joining us so starting with that guilty verdict a 10 year sentence then reduced to 2 in a rehabilitation facility will this satisfy all bush's critics. and no i think the 2 years is a quite a slap in the face for a lot of the civil society groups who have both nationally and internationally who are for try to bring bashir to book for a lot of his crimes but i think it's key to remember that the government the transitional government led by of the law books has tried to essentially soft shoe this this this trial because it has such relevance to the political stability within the country which is find the balance between civilians and a civilian and military transitional government you know going that with the financial crimes 1st has allowed them to to to just front load and make sure that they don't create any of the more destabilizing ructions that would come from front loading some of the trials and. regarding the sheers activities in darfur and south

his journeys hona now senior analyst for sudan at the international crisis group he says it's likely the verdict will leave many people still feeling angry i think the 2 years is a quite a slap in the face for a lot of the civil society groups who have both nationally and internationally who were for try to bring bashir to book for a lot of his crimes but i think it's key to remember that the government the transitional government led by a book has tried to essentially soft shoe this this this trial because it has such relevance to the political stability within the country which is finally balance between civilians and civilian and military transitional government and you know going with the financial crimes 1st has allowed them to to to just front load that and make sure that they don't create any of the more destabilizing ructions that would come from front loading some of the trials and. regarding the sheers activities in darfur and south for the fun of blue nile as well as the even more recent and more visceral charges that are related to his his june the june massacre of protes

let's bring in heiko women he is the project director for iraq syria lebanon and the international crisis group is joining us from beirut thanks very much for taking the time to speak with us on the al-jazeera news hour the new prime minister . has reportedly spoken to german media and he said that he will form a government within the next 6 weeks how challenging are the next 6 weeks going to be for him. well it is a real challenge because he has only a very small the majority of the parliament behind him he has his choice and the way it happened has potentially alienated. a big one of the communities in the country the sunni community to the former prime minister who you saw that makes a very challenging job. a job that's very challenging already much more challenging still what is the former caretaker prime minister saad of how do you be banking on when he does not come and name anyone as we saw from the other blocs 24 hours ago that nominated has done a job. well i mean i mean this has been going back and forth for 4 weeks now and he was a candidate and then he was in the kind of that again

gain support and allegiance executing suspected informants according to among others the international crisis group are said received weapons and explosives training from afghan and pakistani militants and the only morning of 26 august 2017 several 1000 hours of fighters launched a coordinated attacks on more than 30 police posts in villages and an army base and north of rakhine most of the attacks took place on the narrow mando plain which is framed by densely forested hills to the east and the border with bungler gate to the west indications are that our says objective was to seize mando township. it may aid the call to briefly consider the historical significance of mondo. when britain made burma a colonial entity separate from british 937 the border between burma and india was drawn along the river nath where we find today's border between bungler gauge and. the historical kingdom of addict can have at times extended much further to the north than the river nath including most of fortis to do chicken district in bangladesh members of some are kind communities therefore felt that the border draw

according to, among others, the international crisis group, weapons and explosives training was receivedghan and pakistan. in the early morning of 25th of august 2017, several thousand fighters launched a coordinated attack on more than 30 police posts and villages and an army base. most of the attacks took place on a narrow plane framed by densely forested hills to the east and the border of bangladesh to the west. indications are that objectives were to seize the township nearby. i urge the court to consider the historical significance of this place. when it was made separate in 1937 by the british, the border between burma and india was drawn along the river where we find today's border between bangladesh and myron ma. —— myanmar. the historical kingdom had extended to the north than the river, including most of what is today the bangladesh northern district. members of this community felt that the border drawn by the british was too far south. 0thers by the british was too far south. others that it was too far north. myanmar is never challenged this border since independence in 1948.

she's now at the international crisis group, a remarkable organization that does skilled research around the world. speaking of remarkable, vanda felbab-brown, my intrepid field researcher extraordinaire who's written a book on afghanistan summer years ago but also study transnational criminal networks and insurgencies around the world, carly worked on a book on mexico but also has recently studied in nigeria where she's just back from field research and indonesia and many other parts of the world, i'm a huge fan of her bravery and brilliance. without further ado, tom, thanks for joining us an overview. >> thanks to her board for coming out. afghanistan is back in the news thanks partly to the "washington post" and series of afghan papers. i hope you have many questions because we will be calling on you very quickly and i want to stop asking michael how he sees things right now with the peace talks, and also talk about your proposal to have 5000 troops in afghanistan for the next five years. as some of you may know, there is talk about reducing the forces in afghanistan now currently abo

she is now with the international crisis group. a remarkable organization that does field research around the world. speaking of remarkable, my intrepid field researcher extraordinaire, who has written a book on afghanistan several years ago and also studied transnational criminal networks and insurgencies around the world, currently working on a book on mexico, and also has recently studied in nigeria, where she is back from field research, and indonesia, and many other parts of the world. i am a huge fan of her bravery and brilliance as she studies this kind of phenomenon. tom, thank you for joining us. over to you. >> thank you to everyone for coming out. -- is back inbank the news things to the washington post and the afghan papers. i hope you have many questions because we will start calling on you quickly. i want to start by asking michael how he sees things right , andith the peace talks also talk a little bit about your proposal to have 5000 troops in afghanistan for the next five years. as some of you may know, there is ta

she's now ott the international crisis group, that does field research around the world. vonda brawn, my intrepid researcher who has written a book on afghanistan but also staudied transmashl krill nam networks working on a book on mexico, but also has recently studied in nigeria where she's back from field research and indonesia and other parts of the world. i am a huge fan of her bravery and brilliance. without further adieu, tom, thanks for join us. >> thanks to everyone for coming out. afghanistan is back in the news thanks partly to "the washington post" in a series, afghan papers. i hope you have many questions because we're going to be -- start calling on you very quickly. i want to start by asking michael how he sees things right now with the peace talks, and also talk a little bit about your proposal to have 5,000 troops in afghanistan for the next five years. as some of you may know, there is talk about reducing the forces in afghanistan now currently about 13,000 down to about 8600. that could happen this week. your plan says to go lower, 5,000 for fine years.

together countries members of the so-called international support group for lebanon to try to find ways to help this country deal with an acute economic crisis lebannon lebanon's leaders have been appealing for international assistance companies are closing the unemployment rate is rising there's a shortage of dollars the banks are imposing capital controls there is inflation so lebanese politicians appealing for help but the protesters who have been in the streets for almost 2 months now against those in power want to give a message to france they say don't give more money to these people who have been in power for decades who have done nothing according to them but accumulate wealth they're calling them corrupt politicians there's a suspicion of corruption. for this government so we don't want them to get any money from now so let's wait for a new government of independent to know how to manage any eventually over the 1st 30 years the government has to be. unable to manage a country and able to put on a country for the same people it's time for us to change these people and put new blood in the government what protesters want is an indepen

by armed groups so what's behind this upsurge in violence and how will the international community secure the sa this is insight to get. to. the a clone welcome to the program back to the crisis in west africa region appears to be getting worse at a meeting on monday the u.n. security council express alarm over the recent increase in violence and called on governments to provide more help they're ready for a french u.n. african troops in the region yet despite this the sa is vast area that runs between 5 countries has seen a shop rise in attacks by i saw an al-qaeda linked groups hundreds of people have been killed and many more forced to seek safety in camps became a fossil madi any share have suffered some of the worst attacks against a miniseries including one last week that killed 71 soldiers from the share regional leaders have also held meetings this week appealing for greater international help but will that be enough will bring in our guests in just a moment but 1st this report from the trees in bomb a coal mine. these desperate times to africa have legion armed groups are inflicting heavy losses to armies and forcing thousands of civilians from their homes. leaders o

together countries members of the so-called international support group for lebanon to try to find ways to help this country deal with an acute economic crisis levanon lebanon's leaders have been appealing for international assistance companies are closing the unemployment rate is rising there's a shortage of dollars the banks are imposing capital controls there is inflation so lebanese politicians appealing for help but the protesters who have been in the streets for almost 2 months now against those in power want to give a message to france they say don't give more money to these people who have been in power for decades who have done nothing according to them but accumulate wealth they're calling them corrupt politicians there's a suspicion of corruption. for this government so we don't want them to get any money from now so let's wait for a new government of independent to know how to manage any eventually over the 1st 30 years of the government proved to be. unable to manage a country unable to run a country for the same people it's time for us to change these people and put new blood in the government where protesters want is an indepe

groups with special agendas to roam free. france will host an international conference on wednesday aimed at resolving the political and economic crisis in lebanon the country has been without a functioning government since the end of october when prime minister saad hariri quit over a major anti-government protests demonstrations are continuing with calls for those still in power to step down under 7 and power sharing system and a new prime minister must be a sunni muslim. a senior north korean official has warned u.s. president donald trump to stop using abusive language towards its leader kim jong un or risk facing quote catastrophic consequences strong rhetoric between the 2 countries has ramped up in recent days a trump saying on sunday that kim risks losing everything if you resumes hostility trump is continuing calls for north korea to denuclearize after it carried out what it called a successful test of great significance not to states will ask the united nations security council this week to discuss north korea's recent missile launches. campaigning for votes in the u.k.'s general election has entered the final stages ahead o

economic crisis in decades it's what triggered anti political establishment protests now in their 2nd month long time ally france is hosting a meeting of lebanon's international support group to secure credit lines to import basic goods like food and medicine the call for the meeting in paris is very interesting because it comes to days before the political parties dominate their prime minister so in a way we see an implicit intervention in the process of deciding the prime minister sending a message with how dearly in power the international community is willing to lebanon's prime minister saddle had he who resigned over a months ago due to the protests stayed on in a caretaker capacity but he is conditioning his return on the formation of a nonpartisan government which has been rejected by his political rivals the iranian backed hezbollah and its allies france the former colonial power in lebanon has led mediation efforts in past crises it now hopes the meeting in paris will push politicians to create what the french foreign ministry calls a competent and credible government to restore the economic situation and meet the aspirations of the people protesters want independ

attacks by armed groups so what's behind this upsurge in violence and how will the international community secure the site this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program back to the crisis in west africa region appears to be getting worse at a meeting on monday the u.n. security council to express alarm over the real.

attacks by armed groups so what's behind this upsurge in violence and how will the international community secure the sign this is insight. to. khloe and welcome to the program back to the crisis in west africa region appears to be getting worse at a meeting on monday the u.n. security council express alarm over the recent increase in violence and called on governments to provide more help they are ready for a french u.n. african troops in the region yet despite this the saeed's vast area that runs between 5 countries has seen a shock.

international human rights watchdog group freedom house registered global declines in political rights and civil liberties for 13 consecutive years. this is the context in which to consider america's impeachment crisis. the fact of the case are blindingly clear. president trump pressured the new ukrainian government to investigate the bidens as has been described in sworn testimony by 17 witnesses. many of them sitting senior government officials with each person's account confirming the others and emails, texts and the rough call transcript documenting it. the republican's defense is that this elaborate campaign to help trump's reelection was actually a big misunderstanding. trump had never asked for it. all the officials working feverishly for months across contents for all simultaneously diluted. call it the walter mitty defense. in fact, the real defense is offense. this week the president called members of the fbi scum and attorney general william barr dismissed the con krugss of his own justice department's inspector general. the president and his followers routinely attack the foreign service, the intelligence agencies and the justice department. the white house has refused to honor congressi

economic crisis in decades it's what triggered anti political establishment protests now in their 2nd months longtime ally france is hosting a meeting of lebanon's international support group to secure credit lines to import basic goods like food and medicine the call for the meeting in paris is very interesting because it comes to days before the political parties dominate their prime minister so in a way we see an implicit intervention in the process of deciding the prime minister sending a message with how the power the international community is willing to live in prime minister saddle had he who resigned over a months ago due to the protests stayed on in a caretaker capacity but he is conditioning his return on the formation of a nonpartisan government which has been rejected by his political rivals the iranian backed hezbollah and its allies france the former colonial power in lebanon has led mediation efforts in past crises it now hopes the meeting in paris will push politicians to create what the french foreign ministry calls a competent and credible government to restore the economic situation and meet the aspirations of the people protesters want independent expe

groups with special agendas to roam free. france will host an international conference on wednesday aimed at resolving the political and economic crisis in lebanon the country has been without a functioning government since the end of october when prime minister saad hariri quit over a major anti-government protests the demonstrations are continuing with calls for those still in power to step down under lebanon's power sharing system and a new prime minister must be a sunni muslim. talks are underway in paris between the leaders of russia and ukraine the meeting between vladimir putin and one of them is an entity brokered by the leaders of france and germany is aimed at ending the 5 year conflict in eastern ukraine ukrainian officials say among their demands are lasting cease fire in the donbass region and the exchange of prisoners. i'm not to step back and he's in paris the fallout has been talking for several hours what's the latest on that. well the 4 leaders have just finished 7 hours of talks here in paris and they have finished dinner and we're hoping to hear very soon what has come out of all these talks the good news is that e

group ration will be in place too and the crisis that began in june 2017. 0. well let's bring in new bow he's a middle east analyst and nonresident fellow at the gulf international forum that's a think tank he joins us live now from washington d.c. so there have been a number of encouraging signs recently like qatar's foreign minister traveling to riyadh and qatar staging the arabian gulf cup of football so with sport and diplomacy playing more important roles how ripe is a situation now for some kind of reconciliation do you think the signs are there but at the same time despite these 2 momentous steps that have been taken over the past weeks we know that to know why diplomatic initiatives have so far over the past 2 and a half years taken place with out the robust u.s. diplomatic pressure in the background. the question is now will the blockade be lifted. which is the country demand for all practical purposes for its emir shaikh to meet him to attend the upcoming g.c.c. summit in riyadh and because we don't know what the answer to that question uncertainty is lingering yet and some some observers say the attack by iranian backed to the rebels on the saudi oil