the sahel is now a deeply dangerous place.i—poaching patrol ambushed by suspected islamist state militants. everyone agrees that this region is important, especially if is is looking to start a new caliphate. it is something we worry about a great deal. doing with the collapse of the physical caliphate in iraq and syria, the load of foreign fighters that have moved to the caliphate are likely to go somewhere and if they come here, that could be devastating security situation in north africa. more people, more poverty and climate change will play into extremist hands in the years ahead. like afghanistan, the people of the sahara don't like outsiders. fighting an ideological insurgency has proved almost impossible feat even the most advanced armies. is the war lost before it's even begun or can the islamist threat in the sahara be broken? time to take a look further ahead with the weather. will this sunshine last? temperatures have been creeping up a little each day and that trend will continue. strong sunshine and high levels o

insecurity and instability are rife across the sahel.sing chaos in north—eastern nigeria and the countries bordering lake chad for years. northern mali was overrun by islamists five years ago, and now groups affiliated with al-qaeda and the so—called islamic state are dividing and growing, competing for influence across the region. libya has become a key route for sub—saharan african migrants trying to reach europe by sea. agadez has been at the heart of the sahara's people—smuggling business since libya's collapse into chaos. it used to be a thriving tourist town but most visitors are now on their way to, rather than from, europe. tour guides have become traffickers. the money bankrolls islamist groups directly, and corrupt officials off their cash cow. are you frustrated by the amount of corruption that allows this to happen? yes, of course i am frustrated. i know this generates a lot of money. not to mention that even the violent islamist organisation are also involved in this. they are making a lot of money out of it. he makes excuse

gunfire the sahel is now a deeply dangerous place. state militants. everyone agrees this region is important, especially if is is looking for somewhere to start a new caliphate. it's something we worry about a great deal, certainly with the collapse of the physical caliphate in iraq and syria. the load of foreign fighters that have moved to the caliphate are likely to go somewhere. if they come here, that could be devastating to the security situation across north africa. more people, more poverty, and climate change will play into extremists‘ hands in the years ahead. like in afghanistan, the people in the sahara don't like outsiders, and fighting an ideological insurgency has proved almost impossible for even the most advanced armies. is the war lost before it is even begun or can the islamist threat in the sahara be broken? well, it does look as though there could be some slightly cooler weather, with a little bit of rain on the way, but not until the end of the weekend and into next week. in the short—term, well, the heatwave's ju

the sahel isa the soldiers are coming.mportant place for us to focus now because of al-qaeda and isis affiliated violent extremist organisations, which are growing in strength. us bases are being built across africa, but just strength. us bases are being built across africa, butjust how fast is america's military footprint growing? drones and special forces are the tools of modern, western warfare. but a united nations peacekeepers becoming collateral? as they struggle to bring peace to a fast changing landscape. there is still a peace to keep. government has abandoned the villagers, allowing historic feuds to erupt, and radical islamist is to become the law. —— islamists. this potent mix is turning the sahara into the new frontline of the war on terror. the sahel spreads 5000 kilometres from mauritania in the west to sudan in the east. these nations are struggling with an encroaching desert, massive population growth, unemployment and increasing insecurity. here in northern niger ina scrap insecurity. here in northern nig

there presence is bringing international troops into the sahel.orism mission. it is creating a new front line in the war on terror in the sahara desert. stay with us on the briefing. also on the programme: here comes the bride — all dressed in two—ply. we look at some of the latest wedding dress chic. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for a0 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race. germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. just a day old, and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. the rea

alastair leithead, bbc news, the sahel.o provide students with the technology allowing them to live stream lessons into their home or hospital bed. louisa currie reports. adam, what number did you choose? i chose 521. first lesson on wednesday, maths. plenty of kids would groan at the thought but for those with severe illnesses, school can be the normality they need in their lives. you begin to get a bit bored, really, with computer games all day, as strange as that may seem. and i reallyjust missed seeing my friends. i became a bit socially disconnected from everybody so it was really nice to go in and see everybody. 13—year—old adam hasjoined his classmates from home today. he was diagnosed with bone cancer in december. it would be really nice if everyone in my situation could have a robot to go in for them when they can't go in. it kind of seems a bit strange, this is the first time it's really being tested. it feels like a bit more of normality for him and it‘s quite exciting, the kids like it, they like to see him in c

britain already has a presence in the sahel.d partners who will fight foreign terrorfor them. with little will to send ground troops, our special forces are training local soldiers to be the boots on the ground facing the enemy. a stable and secure africa really does have importance to us in europe and particularly in the uk. there is a direct link with increased demographics, lack ofjobs, that will affect the migration issue and, therefore, the security bit. the many migrant trails heading through the desert are firmly linked to the islamist groups, making them money and giving them cover to travel freely. and america is rolling out resources across africa. this multi—million pound runway is one of many bases often secret that project us power across the sahara. islamist fighters ambushed four us soldiers in niger... many americans didn‘t even know their troops were here untilfour were killed by islamic state in niger. the argument is it‘s better to fight here and now before the groups grow and spread. certainly, with the colla

britain already has a presence in the sahel.s how western armies work and, for the visitors, it isa armies work and, for the visitors, it is a chance to find partners who will fight for an karavev them. with little will to send ground troops... 0ur little will to send ground troops... our special forces little will to send ground troops... 0ur specialforces are little will to send ground troops... our special forces are training local soldiers to be the boots on the ground facing the enemy. sta ble the ground facing the enemy. stable and secure africa really does have importance to us in europe and particularly in the uk. there is a direct link with increased demographics, lack ofjobs, that will affect migration, and therefore, the security bit. the many migrant trail is heading from the desert are firmly linked to the islamist groups. they give the money and cover the travel freely. and america is rolling out resources across africa. this multi—million pound runway is one of many bases often secret that project us power across

their presence is bringing international troops into the sahel.. it is creating a new front line in the war on terror in the sahara desert. turkey holds parliamentary and presidential elections this sunday and the polls suggest president erdogan's ak party could lose its parliamentary majority. kurdish minority votes could be decisive, and so it all depends on how the pro—kurdish hdp party fares. selin girit has travelled across turkey from east to west, and sent this report. life isn't easy in this remote village in turkey, and these residents say the government has made it even harder. they used to vote in their village but now their polling station has been moved 17 kilometres away. the government says it is to protect the ballot from kurdish militants. translation: some of us can't afford to travel, some of us are too poor or old. but even if we have to carry them on our backs, we are going to vote. translation: in 19 kurdish cities, polling stations have been moved or merged. the opposition says votes could be rigged and voters intimidated. t

obviously, the instability from the arab spring and north africa, the sahel, the middle east, syria has caused people to flee their homes, some for economic reasons, some for conflict, environment, climate issues. and unfortunately, being in southern europe, when you're greece, italy, even spain, are you the first port of entry for those migrants seeking safety in & a better way of life. normally, italy has allowed those migsrants once they've arrived in italy sort of a close your eyes, let them continue on through europe, but what's happened since the 2015 migration crisis, europe even countries want those migration flows to stop. so they're putting informal borders between austria and italy, italy and france, and now those -- >> migrants land and they're stuck. >> they're stuck. yes. and they're seeing this rising in urban areas, many tal dwrans associate more -- italians associate more crime and lawlessness with this migrant population. it just builds on the frustration of the economics of migration. it's really becoming an existential challenge for many europeans that see a shrinkin

and treasure goes into one country if the enemy can simply set up a tent city in the middle of the sahel or somewhere in pakistan or somewhere in iran? do you see where i'm going? why is it afghanistan the center? you're talking about a mobile enemy. most of the people that plotted september 11th weren't from afghanistan, they just used the land. help me out here. >> senator, with afghanistan, obviously an ungoverned space, not the only ungoverned space, and not the only place very specifically that isis and al qaeda operate from. there are other locations as well. in afghanistan, as we discussed it today, one of the unique pieces, afghanistan still has a government, a functioning government. so it's a -- i'd go to that direction. al qaeda, isis, dangerous in afghanistan, transnational in nature, communicating outside of the conflict zone. and not dissimilar to other places around the world which my particular command were able to attempt to address those threats as well. >> i understand your answer, but i really don't. again, you say, afghanistan has a functioning government, which seem

i think it's probably one of the most vulnerable countries in the sahel.question will be rightly when the terrorists are gone what happens next. and i can promise you if confirmed i will do my best to fight for those resources to replace the vacuum that's left behind. >> let me ask you this, given the concerns somewhere have voiced of radicalization due to abuses by security forces when and how should we be weighing in countries with well documented human rights abuses even in the face of significant terror threats? >> senator, abuse by security forces is a significant problem. in my experience in africa i have seen the positive role that u.s. military exchanges can play in actually improving the security forces from systematic abuses to a point where it's only rogue elements to rogue individual. based on my experiences, senator, i'm very -- >> i'm talking about selling arms. >> senator, i totally support u.s. law. and i promise you if confirmed i will examine very closely the human rights situations in each of those cases. >> as you know the committee, th

starting to see a blowback, not just in the case of the four service members who lost their lives in the sahel, but also a lot of questions around what's happening in somalia and particularly some of the civilian casualties we've seen from operations there associated with our commando raids in our advise and assist missions that are really worth having that conversation about, and i would love to see that happen. >> i would just add a couple of quick points. one is, on that question of where service members are deployed, my understanding is that is another area from transparency has declined, and it's become harder to be able to determine where it is that the military is putting people at any -- at particular times. so that's just to say that that's another area where we've seen declines in transparency. second, yeah, i'm in agreement with -- with both the rationales for why we may proshlotentially service members in africa and in the need for a more full-throated discussion of that. we've talked a lot about the trump administration today. i think it's worth putting out there, congress has a r