And all the other hardships and the pandemic. Really, i think, was a wake up call. Politicians in peru are going through the process of selecting a new interim president after Emanuel Merino resigned. Hed only been in the job for less than a week, having replaced martin biscardi who was impeached. The syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem has died at the age of 79 state television confirmed the news not long ago, but there are no details yet about the cause. Was a close confident a former syrian president Hafez Al Assad and then his son, bashar al assad. Throughout the war, he served as ambassador to the u. S. Between 1992000 the leader ethiopias to grey region has confirmed that his forces fired rockets at the airport in eritreas capital. The attack marks a major escalation in the 12 day conflict. The u. S. Has recorded 1000000 new Coronavirus Infections in just the past 6 days. Johns hopkins university, which is tracking the outbreak globally as count of more than 11000000 u. S. Cases in total devises, appointed by president elect joe biden, have described the soaring rates of infections as deeply alarming. And for the 1st time, he is president , donald trump appears to have publicly acknowledged that joe biden won the election, but also reiterated that he wont concede, repeating his substantiated claims about voter fraud. His team is pushing ahead with lawsuits in battleground states. As a by john has agreed to extend the deadline for mania to withdraw from the disputed districts possible deal to end fighting in the corner. That is all your headlines and news continues after talks on countering the cost. The once mighty financial capitals of the world have been reduced to ghost towns by the pandemic. Can they reinvent themselves . Plus turkeys president fires, the Central Bank Governor and a son in law steps down as finance minister. Counting the cost on aljazeera see 0. Your own, like most countries in africa is which resource mining, but all diamonds under time have led to Economic Growth in recent years. But despite its Natural Resources, 68 percent of sierra leones population lives in poverty and with a g. D. P. Per capita of a bond 500. 00. It has relied for years on foreign aid. Sierra leone is still recovering from a 10 year civil war that destroyed many of its institutions. Before and being in 2002, president julius modern, came to power into a 1018. He promised to make his country financially independent by fighting against corruption. President b o is a retired Brigadier General in the sierra leone army, and was proclaimed head of state from january to march 1096, after leading a military coup that removed. Captain Valentine Strasser from power below moved to the United States shortly after that to study in the national ones. He was back at home, he sought the leadership of the syrian peoples party, the b. P. Now in power. One said, the challenges are many the ebola outbreaks of 20142015 before you came to power had significantly damaged the economy. Like many leaders around the world, tackling the 19 pandemic. In addition to fighting corruption, improving letter is a raise and Life Expectancy are also crucial. So after 2 years in office, hes succeeding the president of sierra leone julius talks to aljazeera julius mother be a president of syria. Thank you for talking to aljazeera. Its a present. Lets start with covert 90 of the pandemic that has shattered lives. Rattled economies and strains on the health service, as weve seen a new pattern, which is basically infections increasing worldwide. What does your country stand . Are you thinking about putting in place new restrictions of the moment . No, because date and science tells us we are getting very little piece of the movement. So we are very much on the watch we have or the people are supporting the response system in place. And we are allowed by the moment, we are not thinking about locking them up for what we have never really. Not for those that dont want to be hard to do the 3 day period. Thats terrific. Lockdowns so that we can start to use that he really wanted to achieve by the time of because as you know, what is happening around the world, there is an increase. And since we are not experienced in that, we are very much trying to go back to normal as much as we can. But we are very much on the watch. The movies are around. So the big economic Recovery Plan is meant to see, are we going to transition from the stage of all these post and carry on with creating in this scenario for livelihood in this country. At the moment, we really not experience in many cases as it is that in around the world, the battle against cars at 19 brings back memories for their countries fight against a bowler in 2014 at a 1015. What was the lessons he learned from the particular experience that was helpful to your country now, as it tackles, they spend their look. Well, that is a quick reaction. We had about a pandemic and we went into action immediately. And using our experience with the bowler, we were able to mount a preventive structure to make sure that we could prevent the advent of copied into radio. But of course, we knew we were fighting the losing battle because it was all over the world. And part of being part of the international community, we knew it was going to come here. But as we mounted the preventive measures, we were able to do a world of the very, very long time. And during that time were just kind of the structures. Luckily we had a very bitter experience from the boiler and we had the people in the system who had the expertise, who had that knowledge. And we were able to put our National Lead Response Team together. And so by the time we, on the 31st of march, when we had our very 1st case, we had a stronger structure that was ready to fight off. So this is how weve been able to get these on the through with a lot of things. Lets talk a little bit here about politics in your country. If you dont mind this, a president , when you came to power, theres been some sense of anxiety and instability, particularly when your setup. The commission of inquiry into cases of corruption that took place from 2007 to just 1018, thats when the all peoples congress, the a. P. C. Was in power. Then he said that this was a pill act of political revenge against iran. Us. Yes, but i think we have proven them wrong because what we did was to get people who are the country georgies who presided over the commission. And they have of course, shown that we did not interfere as a government. I did not as, as head of state, we give them the free hand to investigate and they produce a report from the boards. We have produced a white paper. Definitely, we have political instability. I would not say there has been political instability. Weve had corruption fighting back because once we took one of the fight against corruption, we knew it was going to fight back. We were meant to kill, it was mentally prepared for that fight. But just because its about the very soul of our country. Many say we are for i would disagree with that. I think corruption has been the enemy. And when we had decided this mission to attack ropes from head on, so we are ready for the ramifications of our fight against corruption. This is the argument advanced by our parents. They say that corruption is pervasive. Its not isolated, its not about individuals. Its about the system that has been prevailing for many decades in this, in any other country. And you have been personally a part of the political legacy of your country. Yes, there has to be a starting point, definitely not muddy. I said the same thing to people. I said we have all been corrupt, but we have to draw the line. If we are going to be corrupt, we are not going to be able to have a Better Future for our children. We must accept that corruption is part of this in this country and we have to but we know how it has needed to our lives, our future, the future of this country. And i cannot mistreat administration. I did say before, even i want that i was going to attack corruption. So we are very much aware that everywhere in the country. But we are also aware that there has been growing unity with which corruption was, was, was, was rampant in this country. And the it became fashionable, i would normally say, i wanted to make sure that we can, we listening to in the past saying basically that is about time for accountability and transparency. And im expecting to hear some transparency from you, mr. President. As im going to ask you something, a few questions here. One of those questions are about when you were campaigning and saying that you had issues with your predecessor and ties with china, particularly the deal as there was there was charter, signed with china. What was your biggest concern about those deals . Is that there was no sense of transparency or because you thought the deals were with china were counterproductive to your country. Well, i want to start by saying that chinas a great friend of through the un, and we had issues with transparency under with the d. s, where we are structured. They were not in the best interests of the country. And i did not attack the president. I talked to particular deal with us about malema and what that was going to do it now going to be any, anything different from what we have now invented . It was going to be a smaller here with less facilities. So i stood against that because were talking about nearly 400000000. 00 united dollars. So we continue our friendship and the bond of regime china. But i dug dealer and a few others here to say they gave their lives in the best interests of the people of this going. This is, this explains why you decided theres absolutely no way youre going to go ahead with completing the project, which was basically the new airport outside of the, of the capital. Is it because you were concerned that more loans could just end up being a debt trap for your country . Of course that is one and the were just richer there was no need for us to leave that airport. And another one we can republish what we have and use it on till we know when and where we have to win or we can afford it, then do it and do it in the rather transparent way. We have everybody would get to know what is happening or what, how is that structured . But head of the thing here with the president , that caves of instability and civil war have taken a heavy toll on the infrastructure of the country. Talking about dams, roads, schools, a good systems to rebuild. You need cash invested, seem to be willing to step in the russians, said that you were willing to step in and, and finance some of those, some of those projects. But you didnt seem to be really impressed saying that we need to look into everything into more details before we move forward. Well, i, i think with a National Mandate and minute. So when i look at any deal, and i think it is not in the best interest of the people, i will reject that. We are the new investment for infrastructure because we know development. But we are also we should reduction. We make sure that the process of getting those loans are also both theory and in the best interest. So we are not cherry picking. We just want to make sure that hes in the best interest of the president. You know that your people will judge you in the future, all the basis of what will you accomplish for them, and what battles me and many people all over the world is how come cyril yoan. A nation rich in diamonds and other Natural Resources is at the same time, one of the poorest nations on earth. That is the exact reason where we are here to change the narrative. And we have very active in the extractive sector, which you just identify. We are the i think i did said to you that we are not a politician. We have been caught up in bad governance for a very long time. And that is why you can, i think you can feel the pressure on me for, for fighting corruption. These are the things that i think that our development and with the resources, we do not bring about reforms in the governance of our resources. We are not going the able to to jupiter for the needs of our people. So if you can see one thing we have identified resource, these Mineral Resources of Natural Resources, people see a very important but to be able to actively manage that. I think for me, i have identified the human being the Human Capital resources of our country and the most important and that we have to develop. And that is my project. Ive got Human Development one you talk about the extraction process seems to have to be implemented. Are you thinking about restructuring the whole sector . Because ill give you an idea about whats happening in your country, mr. President , if you dont mind, its so poorly organized, the diamond mining sector, to the point where youre famous for being in the country where all it needs is just a shovel and a c. V. There you go and try your luck. This does not work. You cannot move forward as a nation if you continue operating under this particular scheme. Whether thats right to do that we are trying to sanitize the extractive sector. We are rich, we have resources that the piece of land that we see as a nation, that a lot of rich, well we have to, we have to provide some guidance. We have to have sound policies on how we extract these and use them for the poppers of developing our nation, taking care of the social programs. So when i mentioned earlier, Human Capital development already, we have prequalification, we have been for over 22500000, people in this country because as much as the resources there, we can talk about the never thing the Human Resource passage of this going to have to be developed. So we are very much engaged in these 2 tasks a revamp of extractive in order to be able to get the benefits this we have not done in the past and that is why it is they get out of bed. So many interests in and out of the game. So it is always difficult to, to, to, to restructure that sector. Speaking of those interests, are we likely to see as 0. Tolerance when it comes to the international trade, Trading Companies which are more interested in their own interests. While at the same time they might be willing to manipulate the system for more revenues at the expense of the civil unions. Of course, there are International Corporate organizations, the core mean we are that we should have the investment. But we also know that in the process of exploiting those resources that has damaged the ecology and the environment. And we should have enough to keep the activities activities are taking place in mosul for the mission. We need resources to be able to revenue to be able to the men. We want to improve a lot of parts. But again, the potential is there. And again, with other success like our great culture, which is which was supposed to be a key, it cannot make sector. Why is it like in fall behind for the very reason that we have spoken about broad governance and i speak to you. Its one of those sectors when i spoke about Human Development in 3, when we talk about Human Capital development, we are talking about the Agricultural Sector of security, education and health. So these are exactly the 3 areas we are of course attending to or the issues of government that the indian ereal drug reports or we are placed in a lot of premium on that. And we know that we should be exporters and we are working on we are working on the policy to make sure that we should, we can produce enough and even export security. When you read reports of International Organizations like the world bank or the International Monetary fund, which basically predicts that your Economic Growth of your country will contract by Something Like 4 percent. And that inflation will continue to hover around 16 percent, plus more than 50 percent of the population which lives below the poverty line. Doesnt this look a grim reminder of what might happen in the near future . You seem to be facing unprecedented massive challenges ahead. These are definitely a very difficult scenario youve just spoken about. But we are also coming to make sure that we are putting in place sound. What is the shooting that we have from policies that have not paid off from the past and making sure that we can inclusion we have been reducing consistently as a matter of fact. I mean corruption, you might have had when i over it was in the region of what is 49 percent according to the region by the m. C. C. Now we can, if you want, so it is not going to be an easy job. I dont expect that, but im very optimistic at the time and then i went from sharing that to me and with the people of this country that one day we do it in, its going to change the face of the century. And that is why i remain optimistic because our people are beginning to bite into that. And we have going to fight for as we are what is done in the many instances where the nation has been faced with very serious challenges. And you seem also to be willing to somehow change this to your types that have been going on for quite some time about your country, those images of young fighters roaming the streets of the capital and elsewhere, pillage and villages. And to does that just 7 to things need to happen. 1st of all education and number 2, the gender gap in your country. Can you give us some idea about how, how, how do you think you can move forward when it comes to those to important issues . Education and again that we have taken education. Thats not said many times in this interview. The main thrust of our government with how to class 3, quality education wearing kid from 3 primary to end of 2nd is cool. We go to school at the cost of it is not free, but we pay for everything from learning materials to tuitions, to teach you materials and we are providing food in some sense that is to make sure that everybody goes to school. We know the benefits of education, what it guides, who have been disadvantaged, what a very long time because of a neg, lect. We have also been doing quite a lot in that area. Sexual and gender based violence. We have taken on we have very strict laws now and punishment for those who engage in rape became and i hadnt even had to declare a state of emergency for it yet. And we have put in place more than to just 100 that gosnell have sips places in school to, to be delivered to take part in education and not to fear. My wife, ive been involved in a campaign to make sure that child is free, you know, from our good marriage from really with shes given provide enough time. Its our past because we realise that the guys can lose of 2. So when to do it these days from going to school because the last century part a lot of it we have taken up the issue of the guards very seriously. And initially this guy is catching up on that. So these are things we take very seriously. I need to know about more rooting guns in the young man that its history. We have said, toots, you know, we have had a peaceful settlement of the conflicts we have. And in tripoli, we are just about it enough to call mission peace, a National Vision commission to keep it clean, i own just making sure that issues that kind of need to get conflict of whatever nature kept on the control of it. When you look at neighboring countries, where theres been more instability, particularly mali broken up us on ivory coast. And where people have become pretty much worried about the potential for military haunt us to take over once again. What kind of message would you like to send to those people . The, this situation, the Different Countries vary and what leads to a midget . Who in one country may be different or similar . Do they, those specific situations lead into whos again maverick . I think that we need to look at very properly. You know, the armies are mr. Villian now, and i dare i speak. I says civilian, we should not get the military involved in what should be a civilian r. C. S. But the military is also part of the country, the military. We also suffer when the bad government will also suffer when it is given. The leadership is not doing what its supposed to do. Are you confident at this particular stage that said earlier, has turned a chapter of the trickles . Yes. We have this by that as a nation, that we are going to force you the Democratic Path irrespective of what is happening around the world. We know that the, the list picks for politics when it is restricted, creates the possibility for many to coups and or the social upheaval as. So what we have done is, i mean nation i said, nation that we, we wish you the Democratic Path and we have had that for peaceful transition. I have warrants the sick in the interest of the people that country i joined the military to do to fight for my nation. But even when i was involved in the lives of fools, it was for the best interests of this nation. We have to leave it. Thank you very much indeed. Julius mud, president of so thank you for talking to i just thank you. Thank you very much. Dissecting the headlines in the midst of a pandemic. Lets start with some of the on the ground realities affecting the news coverage. Whats the lay of the land there . Stripping away the spam reaping story about president ial corruption. It is real reporting. Its not if you keep challenging assumptions and the official line, we all decided we need to tell our story. Look, we dont want to rely on the authority and its the listening post on aljazeera. This is life on the streets of l. A. From the discovery of theater is an opportunity to escape and become someone else for the tuition of a plane and a life of tight. Little princess, part of the viewfinder of latin america, which is the last 10 years of conflict, cannot be resolved. And one of libyas rivals agreed to a dates for Holding National elections, but failed to agree on a unity government to lead them there. And this is why, from doha also coming up through his political crisis, continues. Congress is deciding on a new interim president after the other one quits or in mass protests
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.