Stop fighting may not be obeyed. After more than a month of violence that left thousands dead, rivals in south sudan reach a ceasefire agreement. Well look at a new documentary that shows how south sudan has become ground zero for contemporary colonialism in africa. We come as friends depicts sudanrces trying to shape while simultaneously applauding the alleged independence of the worlds newest state. What emerges is a devastating critique of the consequences of cultural and economic imperialism. We will speak with the films director Hubert Sauper. The 41sts week marks anniversary of roe v wade. Here at sundance, a new film obvious child breaks new ground. It is a romantic comedy about abortion. We will speak with the erector gillian robespierre. Ande were disenchanted frustrated by the limited representation of women, real women in movies and unplanned pregnancy in movies. Instead of waiting and waiting, we decided to go out and make this on our own. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. An independent Congressional Panel has concluded the nsas bulk collection of phone records is illegal. Privacy andort, the Civil LibertiesOversight Board says the program has had only minimal benefits in stopping terrorism and should be brought to an end. The panel says the Program President obama said last week he intends to reform the bulk collection, but his plan would preserve his capabilities. The panels conclusion will likely reinforce calls to the granting of comments he to edward snowden, the whistleblower who brought all collection and other surveillance programs to light. At a public event on thursday, attorney general eric holder continue to rollout clemency for snowden. Holder said he is only open to discussing a plea deal of snowden returns home and pleads guilty. The notion of comments he was not something we were willing to consider. As i said, were he to come back to the United States and enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers. Presumably, that would be a guilty plea to something. In an online chat on thursday, snowden said he would consider returning to the u. S. If the government reformed its whistleblower protection laws, which failed to cover him as a private contractor. Referring to his concerns about mass surveillance, snowden said its not good for our country, its not good for the world, and i wasnt going to stand by and watch it happen, no matter how much it cost me. South sudan rivals have signed a ceasefire agreement after five weeks of violence that killed thousands of people and displaced more than half a million. Both sides have voiced caution in reiterating concerns over unmet demands. The most recent bout of fighting began last month as a political dispute between president salva kiir and his former Vice President , but quickly escalated into ethnic clashes that raised fears of a civil war. We will have more on south sudan after the headlines. The human brokered syria prose talks peace talks have hit a snag today with opposition delegates refusing to meet directly with government counterparts. The two sides were due for their first facetoface talks after opening rounds of speeches on wednesday. The alassad regime rejected the oppositions precondition of endorsing the formation of a transitional government. Brahimi islakhdar shuttling between the two sides today to keep the meeting alive. At least five people have been killed and over 70 wounded in three separate bombings in the egyptian capital of cairo. The first attack at the main headquarters of the egyptian police, shattering windows and leaving a gaping hole in the street. No one has claimed responsibility, but a sinaibased militant group they carried out previous attacks on Police Released a statement threatening further violence. The military government has used previous incidents to increase its crackdown on the muslim brotherhood. In a statement, the brotherhood said it strongly condemns the cowardly bombings. The attacks come one day before the third anniversary of the launch of the uprising that ousted mubarak. Rennie president Hassan Rouhani has issued a new overture to the u. S. And neighboring middle eastern countries, saying his government is ready for constructive engagement. Rouhani spoke thursday at the World Economic forum. I hereby announce that one of the theoretical and practical pillars of my government is constructive engagement with the world. My government is fully prepared and ready to engage with all neighboring countries to achieve shared Practical Solutions and sustainable legal regimes on a range of issues such as the environment, joint economic projects, trade expansion, realization of the palestinian peoples rights, tackling the trinitarian crisis in syria, security of the persian gulf, as well as the fight against terrorism and extremism. The interim deal to slow Irans Nuclear program in return for sanctions relief took effect earlier this week. Indias Supreme Court has ordered a probe after the gang rape of a woman in eastern west state. 13 suspects have been accused of gang raping the victim on the orders of village elders as punishment for her having relationship with a man outside their tribe. A doctor treating the victim says she is in stable condition. Stable. S when will she be discharged . In ontors are looking her. Last month marked the First Anniversary of the death of an indian woman was gang raped on a new daily bus. That case ignited india drew attention to Sexual Violence around the world. A new study says a new study says the number of civilian casualties from u. S. Reward pakistan saw major decline in 2013. The bureau of Investigative Journalism says as many as four but possibly no civilians were killed by cia drones last year. As many as 63 civilians were killed in pakistan the previous year. Yemen, mnwhile, saw as many as 29 civilians killed, including up to 15 in an attack on a wedding convoy late last month. A federal Appeals Court has sided with the challenge to oil drilling off alaskas northwest coast. A coalition of native and environmental groups had objected to the u. S. Governments authorization of oil and gas projects, warning of threats to see life and contamination of the ocean. In a ruling this week, the u. S. Court of appeals for the ninth circuit said the government performed in inadequate assessment of the potential Environmental Impact that used only the best case scenario. The ruling could jeopardize the oil giant shells plans to resume Drilling Operations in the arctic this summer. Itsl previously suspended operation after a series of mishaps. In a joint statement, the plaintiffs in the case called the ruling a victory for the arctic am adding president obama has launched a new task force to combat Sexual Assault on college campuses. A new white house report says one in five Women College students evidence actually assaulted at school, but just 12 notify police. The task force will be asked to lay out goals for increasing rates of arrests, prosecutions, and convictions. Virginia has announced it will no longer defend its ban on samesex marriage from federal lawsuits. Attorney general mark herring said he has concluded the ban is unconstitutional, a sharp departure from his predecessor, republican ken cuccinelli. The family of an africanamerican teenager executed in South Carolina nearly 70 years ago is asking for new trial. The 14yearold was put to death in 1944 for the murders of two white girls. He was the youngest prisoner to be executed by the u. S. Government in the last century. In an historic move, his family says they want the case reach right in order to clear his name. The defense Attorney Says the family deserves justice. There was no cross examination. That is what we know. This case was handled so poorly, his family was treated so poorly in the circumstances in 1944, that his rights were snuffed out then. It was only later when the state changed, the political system changed, and the revolution that we have today, that were able to come before the court and even bring his rights and his case to the court in some way or he can get justice. An africanamerican teenager in philadelphia is facing charges stemming from an incident in which police left him seriously injured. The 16yearold Darren Manning was on his way to a basketball game when he was stopped and frisk earlier this month. Manning says in the course of being patted down, and officer squeezed his genitals with such force, that he suffered a ruptured testicle. He underwent emergency surgery and is still having trouble walking. His family now says they worry if you will be able to father children. Manning, a straight a student come has been charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment. Trial has been set for march. On thursday, a crowd of demonstrators raved freezing temperatures to rally in support of manning outside of pulmonary hearing. His attorney calling for a federal investigation into whether police violated his client civil rights. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from the Sundance Film Festival in park city, utah. In a major breakthrough in peace negotiations, south sudan rivals have signed a ceasefire agreement that mandates all fighting and within 24 hours. The deal between south sudans government and rebel forces was reached on thursday in ethiopia after five weeks of violence that killed thousands and displaced more than half a million south sudanese. Earlier efforts that negotiationschchch reached an ie over the key disagreements come including the rebels demand for the freedom of 11 detainees and the withdrawal of ugandan troops fighting alongside government forces. The ceasefire is being hailed as the first step to ending the conflict, but both sides voiced caution and reiterated concerns over unmet demands. This is the chief negotiator for the south sudanese government, nhial. En is the capacity of the rebel group will stop given that the bulk of the rebel army is made up of civilians were not subject to military discipline, orders bestop fighting may not heard. [indiscernible] we remain in demand the release [indiscernible] the most recent bout of fighting and south sudan began last month as a political dispute between president salva kiir and his former deputy riek quickly escalated into a fullblown conflict with reports of ethnic killings. Here at the Sundance Film Festival in park city, uh, new documentary shows how south sudan has become ground zero for contemporary colonialism in africa. Director Hubert Saupers we come as friends, provides an aerial view of the conflict in sudan from a shaky, handmade twoseater plane. The film depicts american investors, chinese oilmen, United Nations officials, and christian missionaries struggling to shape sedan according to their own visions while simultaneously applauding the alleged independence of the worlds newest state. What emerges is a devastating critique of the consequences of cultural and economic imperialism. In this clip from the film, we hear an english businessman address an investors conference in the capital juba followed by news reports of the newly formed nation of south sudan. That is a clip from Hubert Saupers new documentary we come as friends that just from your cure the Sundance Film Festival. For more were joined by Hubert Sauper. His 2004 film was nominated for an academy award. , welcome tor democracy now this is a fascinating film. Can you relate the film to what is happening today in south sudan . Hi, amy, thanks for having me. Yes, as a documentary filmmaker, you work for years. I worked for six years on this film. Im not a newscast person. I finished making it in 2012. The last episode of my film happened at the moment when the newly formed state sedan transgressed the new formed border to its neighbor north sudan. In exchange, they bombed villages of south sudan and it was a big fight over an oilfield , which you can see in the movie. But say two years on, conflict a called,forms, but it is lets not say religious conflict because when i shot the film two years ago, until then it was officially a conflict dream muslims and christians conflict between muslims and christians. It is a complicated story. Now the muslims are contained in another country in north sudan. Mr. Bashir is at work and quite known in the world. He is known for being not a very tender president , but now the south sudan is no longer fighting between the religious lines. It becomes ethnic lines. Newer tribes were fighting against other tribes and to warlords are trying to figure out who is going to strike the deal. Is the same thing, a divided country, and it is the oil and water for an island, the gold. Talk about the Larger Forces at play. We come as friends is a movie that depicts the pathology of colonialism, basically. It is very complicated and hundreds of or thousands of years old, pathology. Should i talk about the movie . Which is what you do with the movie, these Larger Forces at play. In fact, let me play a clip from the film talking about these Larger Forces. The u. S. Ambassador to south sudan is speaking at the opening of a new power plant near the kenyan border. At one point, his address is interrupted by protesters. The u. S. Ambassador to south sudan speaking at the opening of a new power plant near the kenyan border, saying we literally and figuratively are bringing light. Hubert sauper . Well, that is a very known old phrase. I think the ambassador is wellmeaning, im sure. Of movie is about my sense the problem, which is very, very old in human history, which is outside forces coming into play. In this case, it is south sudan, the very place resell the opening of this power plant, making electricity for the locals, the place where most of the Gold Resources of this new. Ountry are under the ground nobody really talks about it, but i think when you want to extract gold, you need a lot of electricity. I presume there is a connection between this new power plant in the future gold expiration. You also need a lot of fresh water gold, and theres also freshwater in this place. For me, it was amazing as a filmmaker to come to a place like south sudan like a window of history because one of the main consequences of colonialism is the division to rule. Divide and rule. Most people know that africa was cut into 50 pieces 100 years ago, and now it is basically in 2011, sedan was cut in two more pieces. Everyone was basically applauding this new situation because we have two new countries and it is going to be peaceful. Not many people talked about the new order, which is thousands of kilometers long. All along the borders of africa, people die. This order cuts straight to the oil fields. Ofch is the scene of the end the movie, which we may not have time to see, but it is a terrifying and. I want to go back to another clip of your film we come as friends. A tribal leader in south sudan coming to understand he is least about 2300 square miles of Community Land to a dallasbased Company Called the nile trading and development operation. The contracts are explained to him by political activist from juba. That is a clip from we come as friends. The amount of land was sold for 2300 square miles and is approximately equivalent of greater metropolitan chicago. Hubert sauper, how did this happen . You know, i cannot tell you how it happened, i can just tell you it is a fantastic thing as a filmmaker to experience i say fantastic and a bit of a sarcastic meaning to experience things from history which we know one of the things in colonial history in africa was mr. Stanley went for the belgian king into the congo and made tribal chiefs sign contracts to give up their land and suddenly, as a filmmaker, 100 years later, we end up experiencing life firsthand the same situation again. It is literally jawdropping. Im holding a very small camera and seeing things that happened which are historic in a way, but symbolic. Amazing amazing, experience as a film maker and im transposing this experience as art and now it is showing in sundance. And a moment, i want to talk about how youpent the last six years making this film and the airplane he built to travel from france to sedan. But first, another of the forces t play in we come as friends depicted are the missionaries. Here an evangelist from oklahoma is preaching to a group of students in his missionary school the small town in south sudan youre the kenyan border. The missionaries, Hubert Sauper . The missionaries. Well, i worked for six years on we come as friends and we made a lot of friends on the way. Small home built airplane, as you said, which we built with the film the film crew built a small airplane. We are kind of aliens in this environment. We meet aliens also. E of the aliens we met aliens are oil workers working in a close environment who have ,irconditioned containers bulletproof dining rooms, and are surrounded by local people who never speak to those chinese people. Some of the people we met were evangelists, as you just saw in your clip. They have their ideas of the world and they bring the word of jesus and light and hygiene and order i think order is a very important thing. It is a very, very important aspect of colonialism to bring order into chaos and make people march in step and make people wear uniforms. One of the things you need to do before you put children into uniforms is you give them shirts and make them wear clothing. People who are running around use and naked, you cannot as soldiers, for example. And so forth. We come