him and machar denied that and quickly took up arms against him. so the political rivalry is very, very important. and also it's very important to highlight that the great kind of levels of violence that we're seeing or witnessing are essentially centered around the two main oil producing states. the bentiu is the oil hub where a lot of the oil is exportednd after this massacre there was yet another one, a smaller one in-- state also so what we see is that a lot of the violence is centered around the struggle over resources and oil on the part of both the opposition, the gorillas-- guerillas and rebels but also of course on the part of the government that is trying to re-- these oil rich areas. >> from the perspective of the yoobted stitz and other countries who are trying to calm things down from the outside, is there a concern that this could spiral out of control and become even though the professor said it's not purely an ethnic fight, clearly that's an element here that this could become another version of rwanda where you had ethnic killing o

south sudan's government has been battling forces loyal to riek machar. he told al jazeera that the troops were not behind the attack. the exclusive report contains disturbing images. >> reporter: the things that could be seen along the road from the airport to the mosque were horrific. there were so many dead bodies, construction equipment was used to move them. outside the gate there was another pile of bodies - dragged there or killed together. the stench of death was overwhelming. even for the rebel guards standing guard. the rebels say many were butchered in the mosque, where muslims, mainly from darfur and sudan sought message. after filming these pictures we were told the real number of people killed in the mosque was over 200, out of 800 hiding there. bentiu, like other towns in south sudan changed hands several times since fighting between government soldiers and rebel groups in december. in bentiu people from darfur are believed to have been targeted for a specific reason. rebels are agreed to have been fighting alongside the south sudanese army

i can't say whether riek machar has responsibility or has not. fighting can never achieve any goals that we have. whether it's from the government or the rebels. we need a democratic process and a way to cement all these issues. if the process is not allowing this inclusive dialogue of the seven will be at a stage will call for more international actors to come and help south sudan in fighting the current cries i. >> chil duun many thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> ban ki-moon, police department haparliament hasschee >> have become the victims of the civil war. the organization say the children say that 5 million syrian children are in need of urgent help. more than a million of them are refugees. 10,000 have been killed and one in three children have been either hit or shot at. osama been jaffet reports. >> he had to move here after syrian jets destroyed steroid his house. all three have a disease that stunts their growth. >> he's 13 but looks five years old. >> there are no hospitals nearby and getting to hospitals in aleppo has become

so it does make it difficult to then try to work withing riek machar who is -- obviously gone on record saying that he is trying to overthrow credit president ceer. wkiir. we have very credit firm provisions in the act that would make it be impossible to work with riek machar if he managed to take over. >> human rights abuse he that have happened here, you confident that we will ever see some kind of accountability in country? >> you cannot have a leader, rebel or otherwise who says i'm in charge of all of these troops, they fall under my command and my control. and then say oh but i'm not responsible for their brutal behavior. yes, yes you are. >> susan page, the u.s. ambassador to south sudan speaking to annika bell. >>> tornadoes have wiped out certain areas of arkansas and oklahoma. rescuers are struggling to find survivors as they dig through the rubble of ruined buildings. jay gray joins us from mayflower, arkansas. what was that there that we're looking at? >> adrian this is the kind of debris, the devastation that the crews are looking through. you can see everything piled up ag

it is these actors riek machar and salva kiir are using ethnic tensions in order for people to commit are violence against civilians. that is the exact things we see escalate in place he like bentu and bor. >> these attacks are being blamed on rebels. are these rebels that still support riek machar, are they groups that are not aligned to the president salva kiir but work at his bidding? who are the rebels? who are we talking about here? because it seems as though there are atrocities on both sides of this. >> that's exactly right. right now we have the sudan people's liberation army which is essentially the army of sudan that serves under salva kiir and then we have the spla in opposition and those are both individuals and armed parts of the former peoples liberation army of south sudan who have split off and are working under the command of riek machar. it is an umbrella group that contains a number of factions that of south sudan that have grouped together. >> has this political standoff has spilling out in horrible ways in these big cities of south sudan, have we gotten to a place

president salva kiir and machar belong to different ethnic groups. the two sides agreed to a truce in january. but sporadic fighting has continued. >>> syrian leaders have called a presidential election in the middle of a civil war. voters will go to the polls in june. president bashar al assad is expected to run for a third term. parliamentary speaker mohammed jihad al aham announced that candidacies will be able to register starting later on tuesday. syria law states that anyone running for president must have lived in the country for the ten years before the elections. that disqualifies many of assad's opponents, who are living in exile. assad is widely expected to win. opposition leaders say the vote is a farce. they say it will hamper prospects for a political solution to the conflict. >>> let's now bring in our meteorologist robert speta. robert, pretty depressing weather here in tokyo today. dark and wet. how long will this rain last? >> yes, shery. it's been very gloomy the last several days. also relatively cooler. the last four days tokyo h

the former vice president and leader of the rebels riek machar, and two allies. >>> in syria rebels say they have blown up a building that once belonged to government forces. this is a video uploaded on social media websites, showing the moment the building exploded in the town. malayea. it is a mainly rebel-held area to the east of the capital damascus. al jazeera can't verify the authenticity of the footage. >>> now, two female protesters have been killed during an anti-coup demonstration in egypt. they were shot when protesters clashed with security forces. demonstrations have been intensifying across the country ahead of next month's presidential elections. >>> al jazeera is continuing to call for the release of three journalists held in egypt. their trial has been adjourned until may the 3rd. they have been in gaol for 119 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy, and baher mohamed are falsely accused of providing a platform for the outlawed muslim brotherhood. now declared a terrorist organization. abdullah al-shami, a fourth al jazeera journalist has been held without trial since

sudan threw out charges against four political prisoners accused of threatening to overthrow riek macharwe have this update from juva. . >> reporter: two significant event suggesting there's a lot of activity going on behind the scenes of government. the first is four political detainees in kust since december had charges against them dismissed, along with seven others released earlier into the year into the custody of kenya. this suggests that the government were attempting to improve the situation when they go to talks in ethiopia. the first major-general hofmi was removed and general matt bol. the head of military intelligence. we are not sure what the reason is. the government told us it's a routine procedure. these people have been in the positions for a long time and it was the right moment for them to move. others suggest the government is not happy with the way things have been going militarily. the rebels have taken major gains, and this is looked at as a possible means of removal of two senior officers. >>> bangladesh marked the first anniversary of its first ever garment anniv

the rebel leader riek machar denied his forces were behind the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people. >> thousands have been killed in a car bomb attack, happening in an outdoor market in the shia neighbourhood of the city. iraq is holding elections for a new parliament. the number of deaths and attacks reached its highest level since 2008. >> 21 people have been killed and 50 injured in a mortar attack by rebels in syria, happening in the largest city, aleppo, when opposition fighters targeted government-held areas. there were also casualties in opposition-held areas of aleppo. government forces dropped barrel bombs, oil bombs backed with explosives and metal designed to maim. >> the u.s. secretary of state john kerry warned that israel is at risk of becoming an apartheid stake. kerry was setting out the consequences if peace talks failed to produce a separate palestine state. the comment were covered by a news website, saying it had a recording of kerry's remarks as a private meeting between u.s., russia, japan and others. kerry said: >> the u.s. state department said john kerry wa

broke out in december between pro-government forces loyal to the president and those that back riek machar, the former vice president. he was accused of plotting a coup, which he denied. let's cross to juba, speaking to anna cavel, covering the story for us. these talks are expected to take place, and are expected to resume, but the situation on the ground where you are is dire. >> reporter: yes, that's right. i mean, as you mentioned there, the peace talks have been happening for months now. the signing of the cessation of hostilities happened in january, amid fanfare. since then fighting has continued. so it's probably fair to say that there are people who are jading with the protest, don't have much faith in the negotiations achieving much. there has been a big change since the last round of negotiation, and that was the release of the four political detainees in juba. so their release was a condition of the rebel negotiating team who said they couldn't make an advancement for the peace negotiations, as long as the four men remained in detention. they are free, so it's possible that the

. >> political infighting and forces loyal to riek machar, turned violent in december. ,000 aned have been killed in the fighting. the u.n. is accusing both sides of committing atrocities. even they they signed a ceasefire agreement in january, neither side laid down their weapons. the challenge is to keep the two sides from abandoning peace talks. >> there has been a break for a few weeks while zanedas are agreed pon - hotel rooms and so forth. really, there's not - there's a lock of urgency among both sides in the conflict. u.s. officials spotted political tensions early on. >> after giving south sudan 400 million in aid since independence, the obama administration is furious that civil war has broken out. >> last week the president issued an executive order threatening both sides with sanctions if they don't stop fighting and make piece. a south sudanese official said wednesday that's easier said than done. >> what we need most is the support. not just punishing us. >> even so, they should expect to see the same message on thursday. that the u.s. didn't vest so much funny and trest

a former national security minister and others are loyal to former vice president riek machar, accusedf plotting a coup in december, leading armed groups against the government. it led to a conflict on the verge of becoming a humanitarian disaster. we have this report from the south-west of the country on fears of a growing threat of famine rfferents this is a market in the south-west of south sudan, and it is called the green belt. there's no shortage of food. there are people with severe acute malnutrition, people on the brink of starvation. the country is capable of producing enough food to feed itself. it's difficult to get the food around. there were logistic difficulties, and they are much, much harder. >>> pakistan's prisons are under scrutiny after a series of gaol breaks over the past year. taliban and al-qaeda-linked fighters freed hundreds of inmates. we take a look at what karachi's main prison is doing to protect itself from becoming the next target. >> reporter: the new arkts at pak -- arrivals at pakistan's oldest and largest prison - anyone from petty criminals to polit

people's liberation army of south sudan that has split off and now working under the command of riek macharit is not as simple as that. it is a occupation group of the former government ever south sudan that has grouped together. >> right. has this political standout that is spilling out in horrible ways in these cities in south sudan, have we gotten to a place now where the political standoff in the cup has turned into an out and out tribal ethnic war in south sudan, are we there yet? >> there is definitely the use of these tensions that are causing what are war crimes and crimes against humanity essentially. the violence is widespread and systematic. i don't want to characterize it as an outright civil war. root causes of this conflict, it is a warning sign that things will escalate and get worse. that's why the peace keeping community and the u.n. needs to be prepared to deal with this confrontation for months if not years to come. >> that was allison giffen of the stimson center. residents say they heard a series of blasts early this morning when a fire broke out at a packaging and recy

rebels loyal to riek machar have been fighting troops to grain control of oil fields. >> the city lives in horror, the people are scared. the humanitarian situation is not good at all. >> security is seriously absent. you can only work and be active where there is security. security helps you be supportive and helpful, otherwise you can't live properly. >> christians around the world are marking easter sunday, but some in jerusalem say they don't have the same freedom to celebrate. >> why is it that the christians and muslims cannot get to holy place, but the jews can. coming up, dispute as to access to the jerusalem holy sites. >> reward for your rubbish. the innovative idea in nigeria getting people to recycle. >> and a perfect chart to the chinese grand prix. all the details later. >> six people have been killed in artillery fire in the iraqi city of fallujah. the city in anbar province has been under control of anti-government groups since the start of the year. iraqi military fired rockets from the outskirts of the city, 60km away from baghdad. all entrances have been closed. a jou

rebel leader riek machar met with her on friday to discuss the violence. >> chemical weapons inspectorsre being sent to ir-syrsyria t investigate gas attacks. the syrian government denies using chlorine on civilians, it is out laud as a wep on of war. it is not an a banned lift of chemicals. >> reporter: there has been a spate of incidents believed to involve chlorine, these you talk pictures show what act visits say was the aftermath of a barrel bomb dropped by the syrian government. it's claimed that chlorine in can strs was packed into the barrel so the gas would spread on impact. a team a being dispatched to syria. news welcomed by the u.s. ambassador. >> translation: we welcome the announcement that the ocd's mission to determine the agas attacks. syria must immediately cooperate with such fact-finding and anybody responsible for such attacks must be held accountable. >> syria's ambassador to the u.n. made it clear he doeses not believe there has been attacks. >> the aim is to overshadow preparations for the elections in syria. they will not spare any effort or any argument to over

they have been battling forces loyal to the former vice president machar. we have this exclusive report from juba. warning you may find some of these pictures disturbing. >> reporter: we had a sense of what we might find coming into the land because from the air we could see dead bodies on the road. but it wasn't until we reached the center of town that we were really able to see the extent of the killing that has happened. the things that could be seen along the road between the airport and the mosque were horrific. but with no preparation of what was to come. there are so many dead bodies construction equipment was used to move them. outside of the gates there was another pile of bodies. by the drag there or killed together. the stench of death was overwhelming. even for the rebel soldiers standing guard. according to the government of south sudan the presence of rebels in the town is a clear indication of responsibility for this massacre. >> they have been violating the hostilities in which all hosti hostilities must come to an end. >> reporter: bentiu l

basket of that region on the continent and three course or oil and so what you now have is a cheer machari'm sorry who his rebel troops are taking over areas where there are oil depots where they're drilling sea and that's what they're that's all and then you have your god and who's a neighboring country and their intervening sea on the side of salva kiir so this has the potential of being a. a major major worldwide disaster so when you were in front of the ugandan embassy you were not only calling on the united states but also uganda to the old adage the southern sudanese have asked that uganda back away that they stay out of this no if ands or buts about it. this is this is was it was fascinating that the the the people who are arrested who organized this demonstration aren't taking sides they're just simply saying look the humanitarian. catastrophe that they're about ready to face. supersedes all of these political alliances let's be honest you've got two strong willed leaders who are who are butting heads who want control joe great great having you thank you and once again thank you f

what's going on well now as when they really need that support now what's going on is use pointed out macharwho is a former deputy of the government he was i think either the number two man or very close to the top salva kiir who we both met and talked to the president and there is a power struggle now this power struggle maybe even more dangerous than believe it or not than the civil war primarily because these were allies who had fought a twenty five years civil war these are individual effen a group said live very close to each other it would be as if we're neighbors so it's a war that's absolutely right and so what happens is that. those military personnel that are loyal to cheer. have are out fighting the military personnel that are loyal to salvage kier mostly doing because and it's now lived in to civilians where they are literally going and i mean this literally going into people's homes and dragging them. out of their homes they're killing the usually the men they're killing children and what we found out is that there are over one million people have been displaced one million peop