groups in turkey syria iraq and iran with a total population of around forty million and as artie's paul asli reports they have their sights firmly set on long awaited independence. discriminated repressed and divided for years the kurds were the scapegoats of the middle east but now the fortunes have turned resilient and hopeful history is on their side for four thousand years kurds lived in iraq now they are enjoying defect autonomy and many believe independence is not far away but now practical is another run by a powerful state in baghdad and a strongly believe that we are moving towards. a full independent kurdish state in the north of iraq across the border in turkey as much as twenty percent of the population is kurdish their fight for independence has long been a thorn in ankara side but. always called for a kurd fighters they have more weapons and they'll never give them up easily but it's in syria where the kurds face the toughest fight they're caught up in the middle of a bloody civil war their territories are being claimed by al qaeda their villages raided their people killed resi

the change in a quality embodied be maintained in a country which suffered such deep scars artie's paul asli and next asks if a different chapter on segregation that lies ahead. for many years south africans in particular have been asking themselves the question what happens when mandela pos is on and for a long time there was a war we that everything he stood for which was essentially bringing white and black south africans to give it would disappear when he dies this question has become less urgent as the years have passed on and a new generation of south africans has come to the fore but certainly there are pockets of particularly white south africans who are today afraid now i visited the community of claim from tain which is a whites on cave they you find only off the condos and all these are white south africans who can trace the roots back to european settlers who came in the sixteen hundreds you need special permission to enter the area there are security guards everywhere there are statues paying tribute to the founders of a party which was some africa's legal system of discriminati

seized from him on a street during an opposition assault on a predominantly christian town and as paul asli a reports next it's the latest in a series of attacks on religious targets in the country. twelve nines and three of the helpers who belong to the orthodox monastery of moola are believed to have been moved to brood now according to syrian opposition activists the women will move for their own safety but earlier religious officials said that the women were abducted by members of the al nusra front which is affiliated to al qaida the syrian observatory for human rights says that the women were taken after several days of intensive fighting during which the almost refined find to eventually manage to capture the old quarter of moola and various reports point to the fact that these are mr front fighters entered the orthodox monastery in the same term of mosul know where these women were while there's a lot of concern particularly amongst christians living in syria as the attacks against their communities seemingly escalate we have heard from the pope who has recited a prayer for the safe

and reflection in south africa in memory of former president nelson mandela who died on thursday paul asli reports next on how his life was a long walk from being labeled a terrorist at one point to becoming the world's most respected freedom fighter. he's the man who did help build a divided land that on the brink of civil war the man who after twenty seven tough years behind bars walked free from prison in his heart was not trivial i think that his greatest legacy to this country is reconciliation in the last three decades the world tirelessly polished the image of nelson mandela and image recognized around the world only coca-cola is better known better men who struggle for racial equality again south africa's ruling white minority had a dark side the world has conveniently forgotten about nelson mandela even leader of a struggle. a radical. someone. an embrace violence and as a necessary political instrument at a particular juncture in our history this house was the secret headquarters of the african national congress it was here in the early sixty's that mandela and his comrades launc

ethnic divides but with mandela's passing some africans fear the ghosts of the past may return as paul asli of. dolan sought refuge in south africa from the congo because of one man nelson mandela causes though i knew a lot of the do. that had to came but now he's gone and only means afraid she and other foreigners like her will be kicked out i think that out as well but it was because they don't one foot in the area in that spot in the attic in their jobs millions of africans have fled their troubled countries in search of a better life in south africa but more often than not they've swapped one harbor for another with no money work or prospects a handful have made this place a methodist church in downtown johannesburg home if you're a green or you for your german or if you're fringe and you come into this country you were in to experience what experienced here one of the things the pastor did for instance was that a divorced us from the rest of africa who failed is struggling to support his wife and five children in a brutal attack she was beaten so badly she miscarried he was left for de

themselves being targeted spire militias for having previously supported colonel gadhafi and his day paul asli reports next on the plight of one embattled minority there. this dirt track was once a building site teeming with foreign construction workers now it's home to forgotten victims of the revolution the people of to wear two years ago after the revolution rebel groups expelled them from their homes accusing them of supporting president gadhafi two month long siege of misrata to work there is now a ghost town the only living things straight animals and the odd militia men the population scattered across the country in telecom at a refugee camp run by the aid humanitarian organization is home to one thousand five hundred of them that's around three hundred families the to work in say they're constantly under threat. the camp is not protected militias make problems for us they killed people here they arrested people here who did nothing malicious come and say we are going to we're go and take three or four people how miss into him was the victim of such an attack on october twelfth my sons