And rohingya refugees. French president Francois Hollande becomes the first european president to visit cuba in decades. Sold to the highest bidder. New and wealthy collectors drive up the price of art as a picasso masterpiece becomes the most expensive painting sold at auction. Good evening this is Al Jazeera America, im antonio mora. We begin tonight with this weeks summit of persian gulf states in the u. S. Six members of Gulf Cooperation Council will meet with president obama in camp david. The ongoing crisis in yemen and the Nuclear Crisis in the middle east. Saudi arabiassaudi Arabias King Salman is staying home to deal with the ceasefire. Josh earnest says it is not a snub. Well be confident that the ones representing saudi arabia at the meeting will not only be able to represent that country but also implement any resolutions from that meeting. Mike viqueria, president obama and king salman talked today by phone. How much have we learned about why he decided not to come . We have the official explanation cited by josh earnest, that king salman wanted to stay in saudi arabia and monitor the ceasefire going into effect and what has led to a humanitarian crisis. The white house let it be known that king salman was the one who called president obama. Sometimes they leave that neutral but they did mention that king salman called president obama to apologize for the absence from the dinner in washington and then the summit at camp david. Stressing this is not a diplomatic split. It is difficult to find a neutral observer, experts in the middle east who do not see this as a snub very frankly. Secretary kerry was in riyadh last thursday, they made statements, the white house let it be known that king salman would be there. Not only would king salman be in camp david but have his own one on one with the president at the white house. Look, there is a diplomatic row here, no question about it. The saudis have been upset for quite some time not only about the negotiations that the administration has carried forward with iran plus the p5 plus one partners coming to an interim agreement but also what they see is the destabilizing actions of iran. They dont think the United Statesfully appreciates the iran designs on the region and the threat that it poses to their own stability. At the white house again josh earnest tried to put the best face on this most recent development. The goal here was not a symbolic purr withsymbolic picture with the five other countries. What we are looking for is a more direct conversation, a substantive conversation about how to deepen and modernize our security arrangements with those countries. So the design of the summit is to reaffirm and reassure very antsy gulf allies. Some gulf states simply arent buying it but they have significant doubt antonio. Mike viqueria, thanks. Lets bring in robert jordan, author of the upcoming book, desert diplomat inside saudi arabia following 9 11. Ambassador good to have you with us the fact that three of the six leaders didnt come either is a message being sent or not . I think it is a message. I think you can call it a snub. Lets be frank here king salman isnt there directing directing everything about the humanitarian aid program. Hes sending his crown prince and deputy crown prince. These are the ones that are directing the houthi campaign to start with. If you see it in those terms is it really not a snub, if they are sending the crown prince and deputy crown prince who are instrument to the security of the kingdom . In state craft there iss a certain amount of symbolism. When you are calling a president ial summit as summit of heads of state you expect them to be there especially when they already commit to be there. When you have an agenda this tightly controlled you like to think you know whats going to happen. I think probably secretary kerry was as surprised as anyone to see this strange turn of events but i think it is directly related to some of the difficulties that the saudis and the other gulf monarchs are having with this administration probably going back to at least the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in egypt, the way this president responded to bashar alassads use of chemical weapons in syria and especially because of the negotiations with iran over the Nuclear Program which is sending a chill down the spine of the monarchs. Does it seem that the group was kept in the dark about the negotiations or sending this further to destabilization in the region . The destabilization is a huge issue but the lack of an airtight agreement i think is really going to cause them to be concerned about iran developing a Nuclear Program after this agreement is reached. The lack of airtight inspections, the lack of a significant enforcement mechanism are things they are very worried about and dont have much confidence in. They want some nato like agreement where the u. S. Would come to the gccs teens in the case of iranian aggression. Nobody believes that will happen. What do you think will come out of this summit . We may have a piece of paper from this president that will not be binding on future president s in which he commits to security relationships. I think it likely that well see a little more muscular provision of defensive antiballistic Missile Systems like the patriot and the fad systems. But i doubt that the gulf monarchs are going to get what they want. This may be why king salman decided not to attend. If you come back empty handed you are not viewed to be an effective monarch in this. Thank you very much for your insight. In yemen today heulgt fighters claim thezhouthifighters claim they shot down a moroccan f16 jet. Search efforts are underway. Reports of the missing jet came during intense fighting in yemen today, saudi planes targeted a many equipment depot in sanaa. Plans for a five day ceasefire is set to begin tomorrow and seem to be now in danger. Mohamed val filed this report earlier from riyadh. All facts point to escalation not deescalation. 24 hours from now as we speak. There are doubts that it will happen because on both sides efforts are increasing to show that if any truce happens it will not be out of weakness, because we are defeated but because we want to have a truce but still as i said, there are doubts the houthis have managed to strike inside saudi arabia, they are shelling, killing one person and injuring four, they also struck at the province of jizan to the southwest on the border between yemen and saudi arabia killing one saudi citizen. The red line they called it, we have seen in the last few days that whenever there is such a strike 50 houthis in saudi arabia, saudis intensify their attacks particularly towards the province of saada the province ever the houthis and place they can see the army depots or targeting houthi commanders there. Our thanks to mohamed val in riyadh. U. S. Secretary of defense john kerry is expected to meet with president Vladimir Putin tomorrow. The two will hold talks in the black sea city of sochi. Reduction support everrussian support of syrian president assad. Speaking in brussels today nato secretarygeneral said hes concerned about the russian buildup of military presence in ukraine and its support of the separatists. Russia and the separatists have capacity capabilities which enables them olaunch new to launch new attacks without warning time. What the intention is i will not speculate but it is of great concern that we have seen this steady buildup. Nato Foreign Ministers including secretary of state kerry are slated to tackle the ukrainian crisis in turkey later this week. Celebration erupted in creern Eastern Ukraine today. Black red and blue flag followed by people carrying balloons in the flags colors. In the frum a year referendum a year ago 90 voted for selfrule. In the republic of georgia the u. S. Has begun two weeks of military exercises. U. S. Army transported more than a dozen infantry fighting vehicles across the black sea from bulgaria. The move is opposed by russia which fought a five day war with georgia in 2008. Armed groups have signed a peace accord that requires them to disarm. Capital bansgui. So many people were desperate to leave they crammed into container trucks headed for neighboring countries. The exact number of People Killed in the fighting is unclear. Half of the Central African republic of children. Half have been orphaned. The psychological scars are deep. The problem is there never has been any kind of justice accountability over the years or the different crimes that happened in this country. If the country is given a serious chance to move forward there has to be proper investigation into what has happened. Reporter sundays peace deal by rebels politicians and religious leaders may be one step towards that end. Theyve agreed not to grant an amnesty for the worst perm traitorperpetrators and to forget the brutality of the last two years. What ended as a religious conflict didnt start out as one. The United Nations says the root causes were poverty and government mismanagement and that religion was a convenient excuse used by some sides in the fighting. Sellica rebels who forced the president from power and installed a muslim president arent all muslim. Anti ballica rebels arent all christian. Now trying to encourage muslims and christians to interact peacefully again. Community leaders are busy organizing interfaith prayers football matches and other events. Yet animosity remains rife. Sporadic killings and reprisal attacks continue, International Peace keepers are trying to keep rival militias apart. The u. N. Is pushing for elections this summer. Its a tall order for a country barely holding itself together. Imoku molu al jazeera. About 2,000 people marched today with little interference from police. The president s filing for a third term in offers in burundi malcolm webb is in bujumbura where police are having trouble controlling the opposition. It would only take police three days to clear the protests. They still havent done this. Plastic bags tied on for visibility, rocks and rubbish piled on the floor and in the center of the road a burned out trailer, the protesters manning it can decide which vehicles are allowed to pass and which ones arent. Translator the only people who are allowed to pass the roadblocks are soldiers journalists and the ambulances, people who are going to work are not allowed. It is our duty. We need to express our concerns to draw the attention of the International Community so people know that the situation is not good here. We want to affect the economy to put pressure on the government. There are roadblocks every 20 meters or so throughout this whole neighborhood. This one here made of the usual rocks and burned tires and branches, ones like this are very common. Here the protesters have managed to push a shipping contain inteer theerinto the road. They did it with their bare hands. They will continue until president nkurunziza decides to withdraw from running for his third term. Thousands of rohingya migrants flee from poverty. Thousands of migrants from bangladesh and myanmar have been flooding into indonesian and indonesia and malaysia. Many are Rohingya Muslims who are routinely persecuted and denied citizenship in their native myanmar. 6,000 remain trapped in wooden both on the high seas trying to make it to malaysia, a closer look at the desperate journey of rohingya migrants. One migrant mom whose suffering at home was nothing compared to the ordeal she efaced at sea. Amina hutto paid more than 2,000 dollars to save her childrens lives. She never imagined the traffickers would starve and beat her family. Holding them for ransom until her mother paid for their release. Her eightyearold son died before they could escape. My son was fine in the boat but fell sick when we were in the jungle due the starvation. He vomited and had die re. We drank sea water as there was no Drinking Water in the boat. Amina and her surviving children arrived in kuala lumpur two weeks ago. Fled violence and poverty in myanmar. This week about 2,000 more were rescued off the indonesian and malasian coast. Hungry exhausted and frightened after their ordeal. Advocates for migrants are urging regional governments to take action. Let us now come together. The country has to be open. Has to be transparent. You must start having good governance. And most of all i think this can only be sorved if soived if solved if we cut corruption once add for all. Thailand is title thing security to try and top the trade. The malasian government says its strengthening its borders but cracking down on migrants themselves. Governments in Southeast Asia are under pressure to respond to the rising influx of immigrants. Hux rightshuman right organizers say more of them will risk their lives. They are denied citizenship by the government and are considered illegal immigrants. The majority of Myanmars Rohingya live in the Northwestern State of rathain. Since thailand began cracking down on refugees the rohingya started traveling by sea with the help of smugglers from indonesia and malaysia. Working with the Holocaust Museum. Andrea very good to have you with us. The Holocaust Museum has been on the vanguard of sounding the alarm of possible genocide in myanmar. Many have been forced to live in concentration camps. Thats exactly right. We are seeing very worrisome signs, people being segregated from their families, living in a state where they have no other option. When we were in rakine state we spoke with many rohingya who have been displaced taking to the sea seems the only answer. Even those not in the camps face persecution and all sorts of discrimination. Absolutely. There are policies that rohingya must face, that dont apply to other groups, on every basic aspect of human life. Even Doctors Without Borders have been banned from the camps to help them medically. Its a terrible situation yet president obama visited myanmar in 2012 to celebrate what progress the country had made towards democracy. He was there last fall for a regional summit about does that improve the lot of the rohingya minority . Well, i think what we are seeing in myanmar today is some political openness. I think were also seeing an International Reaction to that openness that doesnt take into account some long standing and very dangerous signs of persecution of minorities. The situation of the rohingya is one. A lot of the things you mentioned, the statelessness the persecution the displacement, the lack of humanitarian aid all of those are able to be changed. International community could press the burmese government to make those changes. Over the past few weeks weve seen the migrant crisis in the mediterranean explode with European Countries saving and receiving tens of thousands of people but the response in asia has been very different. Uhhuh. I think what were seeing is just a regional problem. That the Human Rights Violations that and really the Early Warning signs of mass atrocities to come in the state of myanmar are now becoming a regional issue. So its now incumbent upon other southeastern Asian Countries to help myanmar in its progress to really restore the full rights of the rohingya population. If these countries are not being receptive to these migrants what needs to be done . What can the International Community do . Well, i think really the way to stem the abuses is to make changes within myanmar. Thats why so many people feel like they have to leave. So aid can be restored, allowing humanitarian access in to those who need. Restoring citizenship and Voting Rights for Rohingya Community allowing them just a basic freedom of movement, of marriage,. Family choice. These are things that could be done must be done, in order to stem the tide of migrants going to other countries. Terrible Human Rights Violations there and not enough people speaking out against those violations. Andrea, good for you to join us. Europe is seeking authorization to dismantle smuggling operations and to destroy their vessels. But officials insist that does not mean bombing boats. Meanwhile, italy says it is bearing the brunt of the migration. Translator i hope that now at last europe will show that it has been touched by conscience and has its eyes open. Under the trie try tan operation may europe be sympathetic on economic support and on hosting the migrants. More than 26,000 migrants have arrived in italy so far this year. Refugees are showed housed in special centers where food and clothing are provided. French president Francois Hollande makes history visiting cuba. Coming up he sends a message to the u. S. Fighting between police and ethnic albanian rebels, the power struggle thats threatening to destabilize the country. Welcome back to Al Jazeera America. Im antonio mora. Coming up in this half hour of International News the rescue effort in nepal turns from people to historic landmarks. But first a look at stories make headlines in american minutes. Arkansas at least five people were killed from tornadoes on sunday. One couple were killed while protecting their oneyearold trial. The Boston Marathon bombing trial, defense rested after calling sister helen prejohn. Life in prison that he should be sentenced to life in prison without parole instead of facing execution. 3 people were killed and 260 wounded in the april 2013 attack. Shell is one step closer to starting drilling for oil in the arctic ocean. Today a federal regulatory gave the Company Conditional approval to drill off ala