welcome to hardtalk, with me, zeinab badawi. ethiopians have known much conflict throughout their recent history, but the war which broke out between the government of the prime minister abiy ahmed and the tigrayan people's liberation front, the tplf, two and a half years ago has been particularly devastating. tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. plus there are also ethnic conflicts in other parts of ethiopia, such as in oromo in the west, and the amhara community are also restless. my guest is meaza ashenafi, the first woman to be appointed chiefjustice of the federal supreme court of ethiopia. now there is hope of making progress in the peace talks taking place, but will there be justice for the victims of war? chiefjustice meaza ashenafi in abbas ababa, welcome to hardtalk. look, you've got violence across many parts of ethiopia, you've got an acute food crisis as well, which means that 30 million of the country's 100 million population are in urgent need of help. this is a tough time for you to be a sen

now on bbc news —take me to the opera, with zeinab badawi.opera fan for decades, and i want to share my passion with you. so i'm on a mission to find out how opera is making itself fit for the future. this time i'm meeting some of the top creatives who make sure that the magic happens so that the big stars can shine so brightly on the night. i feel it really like a pilot. i mean, we are ready. the plane is fine. we have checked everything we could check. everybody is on board. on time. we take off, but then anything can happen. la scala in milan is one of the greatest opera houses and a firm favourite here is the thrilling bulgarian soprano sonya yoncheva. i think it's a special moment where instrumentalists and voice are collaborating in a way that they inspire each other. everyone likes sonya. she's a gorgeous voice. first of all, she's a very good musician. the art of putting together an opera and how it's being reimagined in the 21st century. let me take you to the opera. voices chatter sitting in the audience at la scala in milan waiting

the ministry ofjustice would be in the best position to respond to that, zeinab badawi.ght. ok, you raise the fact that there's a national dialogue going on. you were appointed chiefjustice in 2018 by the prime minister, abiy ahmed, when he assumed power. and in february this year, you swore in members of a national dialogue commission, and you said that this should facilitate "an inclusive "dialogue and reconciliation "process that would heal wounds". do you want to see a kind of truth and reconciliation commission of the kind that we saw after apartheid in south africa? i don't think the south african commission and the dialogue commission interpret exactly parallel, because the dialogue commission here is mandated to facilitate citizen dialogue as well as elite dialogue, unfortunately or fortunately, in any political setting. we can't avoid elite dialogue, as well. the south african reconciliation commission is more focused on issues of healing and rehabilitation in the transitionaljustice. so, the commission is setting up its office and designing its strategy, and th

hello, i'm zeinab badawi.come to this edition of global questions from tbilisi, the capital of georgia. this country neighbours russia and there's a lot of concern here that moscow's invasion of ukraine could trigger putin's ambitions to try to control other parts of the former soviet union, like georgia. after all, just north of here are two russian—backed separatist enclaves in georgia. in this programme, we'll be looking at what it's like to live in moscow's shadow and ask how real is putin's dream of a new imperialist russia? welcome to the magnificent garden hall in tbilisi. i'm joined by a top panel from across the region who are going to be answering questions from our local audience here. but before they do that, let us give you this brief overview of why people in former soviet republics like georgia and moldova are feeling a bit vulnerable after putin's invasion of ukraine. georgia is probably the most exposed country in the world to russian aggression. moscow has troops stationed about 30km from whe

welcome to hardtalk, with me, zeinab badawi.ke out between the government of the prime minister abiy ahmed and the tigrayan people's liberation front, the tplf, two and a half years ago has been particularly devastating. tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. plus there are also ethnic conflicts in other parts of ethiopia, such as in oromo in the west, and the amhara community are also restless.