Next year a minute minute miller has more from johannesburg. Theres been no official word from the African National congress as to the outcome of this meeting held by the National Executive committee the top Decision Making body of the a. N. C. But we do understand based on reports from the National Broadcaster the s a b c that as well as the secretary general of the a. N. C. Met with jacob zuma to relay a message from the a. N. C. And according to the state board cost that was the jacob zuma has a day or potentially to to resign as president of the country now the n c has been meeting throughout the day in fact will rip returned to the ne see so it would appear that the conversation theyre having isnt entirely over yet but jacob zuma is certainly under pressure all indications are given his behavior in the last ten days or so he is resistant hes resisting this resignation he doesnt want to step down and if that continues to be the case the a. N. C. Would then have to Institute Proceedings for a motion of no confidence to be debated in the parliament now the opposition parties in south africa have done exactly that expected to debate a motion of no confidence next week they want to put forward by parliament if the speaker of parliament doesnt agree to the demands by the opposition they say theyre going to court ultimately jacob zuma is under fire from all sides what most a tremendous to him is the position that his party the African National congress has taken in that theyve said now its time to go. Tropical cycle and gaita has caused havoc in the pacific kingdom of tonga the countrys Parliament House has one of many buildings now lying in ruins theres no word yet on any casualties the power is out there is extensive flooding earlier we spoke to television is the one specific correspondent Barbara Traver who is in the capital the cool ofa. Typewriting but hes resisting a live closer and closer to attend this was by far the worst Home Concrete structure on one hundred well weve actually here you came i mean you could be a bit relieved whole and mom. And friends no i dont actually care not that there isnt like the our team was across the arch it would clearly be that sense even if you can. Another common. Reason you dont live in houses. It was a very eerie is in the days. Governmental organizations are pledging more than three hundred Million Dollars to help iraq rebuild after its war with eisel its well short of one hundred billion dollars the Iraqi Government is trying to secure a Donor Conference in kuwait cities and for structure had been destroyed in that three year conflict more than two and a half million iraqis remain displaced by the war many of them are living in tent camps. U. S. President donald trump has unveiled a four point four trillion dollars budget for two thousand and nineteen a proposed budget and ramps up spending on infrastructure in the military and proposes state cuts to Health Care Programs for the poor and elderly but also includes eighteen billion dollars towards trumps promised border wall with mexico. Official portraits of former u. S. President barack obama and his wife michelle have gone on display in washington d. C. They were unveiled at the Smithsonians National portrait gallery it is a rite of passage for most former u. S. President s to have their portraits hanging in that museum the portraits were created by kim dae wiley and amy cheryl theyre the first africanamerican artists the galleries ever commission for official portraits of the u. S. President those are the headlines the news continues here on aljazeera after six peacoat lines in the sand. In late one thousand nine hundred fifteen one world war one was being fought in the trenches of mainland europe. Britain france and russia were allied against the central powers of germany austriahungary and the ottomans. The war in europe west tag meeting but britain urgently needed a strategy as to how to divide the Ottoman Empire with france should the allies be victorious. The Prime Minister turned to a young british politician called sir mark sykes who had cast himself as the governments advisor on the middle east. The Ottoman Empire is assailed by misfortune crippled by myriad vices and the prey of alien greed ambition and timidity. Englishman may have ideas but they are unable to take any steps to overturn the regime and free the peoples interests power. By the third of january nineteenth sixteen he and the french lawyer turned diplomat. Would have negotiated the terms of a secret agreement. In two words i foresee a protectorate. Which uses the local traditions and customs to establish different cuisines in the four provinces of super. Lebanon a lebanon enlarged by the an extension of beirut to paly to becca and serving as a model of what is necessary to achieve using indigenous and. And. These two men devised a plan that would not only divide the spoils of the declining autumn an empire between the two european powers but would draw lines in the sand that would ultimately influence the shape of the middle east for the next century. Istanbul capital of an Ottoman Empire that had stood for six centuries. Its the fleet. Of asia africa and europe. Its peak had been in the sixteenth century. That the other says i shall. See most quarter there was the how well. The barrack from. That was at the. Many fee. But that. As he met. No there are many year learn to call a double or a scene that can that there were as a year to jobs. And. The. War othella sadar you have to hear from his own who are living but there. Are. A builder of many year. There with me if youre a little more pop so im. From about a very. Base of a neck and have fathers monique america. Has a delusion and i can convey your can be a few. Better with many of. The autumn an empire began receding in the nineteenth century. In eight hundred thirty it lost algeria to france. While egypt gradually came under british rule which then expanded into the arabian peninsula. The arabs of mesopotamia greater syria and the his. Remains part of the Ottoman Empire which was undergoing its own changes. Whether to address or. Democrat or you mention loose at the very near. A well measureless well but as erlich fee. Measures a third me when im a mostly. Moderate middle i live a lot of b. I looked at a lot of the year mostly million. In one thousand eight the committee of union and progress the young turks overthrew didnt have me just act. And restored to the eight hundred seventy six constitution. This reduced tension at the top of ottoman politics but also created infighting among arab groups in the empire and let her hear much more of a new dictatorial. The more we. Can debate home. And who knows ill call me to get paid. Of but there really is that. Short. And so far a. Recent carefully in the. So far i think. There would be more and that your but it does because it would have. Been led. To a drive to three key and no more american law to be you. Know i dont work have a whore. Because by nineteen fourteen you could really say that for those arabs who are engaged in identity politics what they aspired to was a better deal for the arabs within the art of the. This brand of politics is known as arab ism and arab ist were really thinking in terms of imitating the austriahungary empire with a kind of arab turkish dual monarchy and the Ottoman Empire but were very concerned not to exit the audubon umbrella for fear that where the arabs edited make a bid for independence they would be immediately at risk of european. The ottomans suffered a major defeat in one thousand advance a little period priests serbia and montenegro in the first balkan born. In european territory but the defeat did initially ease the relationship between the arabs of the Ottoman Empire and the young turks governments. Able to focus fifteen maybe even been. On well with many a year and a half. I would get. In with when to faff im also at the end of thirty three how it was that the what the rethought. Reckon thought of food for thought for i mean what are you. I thought that the. The First World War started at the end of july one thousand fourteen. Britain france and russia the central scholars the germany austriahungary and bulgaria. Shortly after the autumn and opted just supports germany. The pillar of the feet. And homework. But a funny. Little shit when i came. Home and it was set for most of them by about an f one how to see idea coauthor of the earth many sort of show you. That are liberal did the. National heart of. Political. Who are you starlet. I look at remove. My knee i mean not the collegian to be a highly. Mean mean. Politically really thought that i will a good or i must be really really really brilliant or so youre going to dog the luckily my mother took. Me in the circular buffer lobby at the moment i was at the oral point. Ruth dolan head of says he did and we had definite well. Well. Behind there that you know lets get going and at method a look at low ball again a to read woman who wore in get auburn the most for almost half moved down the hall and we had death. In february one thousand nine hundred fifteen frustrated by the stagnating war in europe the british open to an Eastern Front against the ottomans on the dardanelles strait they imagined the ottoman army as weak and easier to defeat as the way of taking on germany and ending the war. Russia however was more concerned about its use of ottoman waterway so the russians asked britain and france to find in agreement to guarantee their own share of the spoils after the war. The russians were keen to seize more as Cultural Capital as a sort of restoration of orthodox christianity after. Five centuries of all of the rule and so with the outbreak of the First World War on the eve of the could literally invasion the russians wanted to secure their allies commitment to granting istanbul and the straits to the russian empire and this becomes the exchange of documents known as the constantinople agreement concluded between march and april one thousand nine hundred fifty. Britain france and russia entered into the constantinople agreement which granted the russians certain ottoman territories and waterways. However this agreement peeved the way for another secret deal as london and paris started to plot exactly what they wanted from a region thats was gaining strategic significance in the coming age of oil. You could really see the britain and to the war without any clear territorial ambitions in their territory they could not at the stage of the constantinople agreement identify one place that they wish to add to their empire but they reserve the right to do so as soon as they worked out what their priorities were and so in a sense the constantinople agreement really is the first of the wartime partition agreements that will begin to shape the way in which the arab provinces will be carved up primarily between britain and france since russias interest lay mostly in turkish territories so in very British Fashion the british created a committee called the debunks and committee and its remit was to look in. The sort of the options for britain so that when the time for negotiations with the french came up the british would be well prepared know what they wanted and this is actually something that the british did throughout the war and right to the end of the war. So in april one thousand nine hundred fifteen the british set up a committee headed by the diplomats. To define their interests in the ottoman territories its made certain assumptions about what its ally france would expect from any potential deal. I mean a few who. Are there to see if you could walk and if it is you you really do there and leave front live on the ground a sort of in the front seat going to be a call on it right now i will certainly be in the muscle i look at it and the thought that if you have a month with you probably have your month what have you have month britains interests are most likely to be in completing its imperium in the persian gulf by securing the territories of the province the bus route baghdad link as they were to persian oil fields and island in the shot that are up. Nicely completing dominion that stretched right around the earth coastline of the persian gulf which it would take since an eight hundred twenty s. Good morning gentlemen are going on so you go on some time to settle. And its youngest. And most carefree. Oxides who was kitcheners military assistant kitchener was the secretary of state for war and he delegated the job of sitting on the committee to sykes mark sykes had been born into a wealthy family in yorkshire in the north of england in eight hundred seventy nine. He studied at Cambridge University and was elected as a conservative member of parliament. In one nine hundred eleven. He like to give the impression of being an expert on the middle east based on his travels in the region but he was not quite the authority as it was sometimes assumed. He presented the Bunsen Committee with his vision of a new near east region as riches and this would be our use had come up himself with a different plan which was something completely different a much more Old Fashioned that was to create a quarter of across the middle east so he was planning to divide the middle east between france and britain. And create a belt of english controlled country that stretched across from the mediterranean coast to the mountains on the iranian from and back to the century as a as a affront to britain could control and keep other people away from the red sea and the persian gulf. That was rejected by the bunch i wish the older wiser said you know that why work your. Way into line one nine hundred fifteen the debunks in Committee Recommended dividing the Ottoman Empire into several provinces over which britain would seek influence rather than exercise direct control. But when sykes was sent to the middle east and india he began to revert to his original idea of a british cordon from the mediterranean to iraq. So mark from your knowledge of the air out of the question. Where would you say that a legion slot between us and the french i mean. Practically all arabs approach. Not exactly anti french but frightened of financial exploitation and they are frightened of French Colonial methods. But there are many christians in syria in the limited particular how do they feel that christians are as afraid at the bottom of their hearts as the muslims and only in syria that feeling sarah is prevalent everywhere because they know what the french do that feeling pretty well runs all through. There is the French Nationalist Party which is sentimental still harking back to the crusades. So science returned and as the currents of the started to come together he was called into downing street at the end of the year on the sixteenth of december one nine hundred fifty and then. He must of gone with a map as well because he got into them the meeting with the cabinet the Prime Minister and his chief ministers sitting around the cabinet table in downing street i believe they fear an arab caliphate. Is an independent state the common language the arabs of tunis algeria and morocco the regional course they control entirely the french nationalists believe that if the allies when they want syria and palestine and north mesopotamia likes appeared to be someone who is very knowledgeable and in fact in that Cabinet Meeting that he went to in december one nine hundred fifty in. It or that the result of the Cabinet Meeting was that one of the cabinet ministers he was there believe that he could speak arabic and turkish but in fact he could speak neither language so he he dotted his speech with arabic phrases that sort of thing to give himself the appearance of being an ex when in fact he was more of a gifted amateur what do you think we should do some are. I think to counteract the french war aims. We require diplomacy. Do you think diplomacy will achieve with the fridge i dont want to make any suggestions except on very general lines. But i feel we ought to settle with france as soon as possible and get a definite understanding about syria what sort of arrangement would you like to have with the french what would you say to them i would like to see for ourselves. South of haifa apart from the active tourist. If you have even just to be very. Good and the who marks. Lisa. I mean there were funny. Men in the force of guns and though i look at the idea of how old the men would love to mop up a. Few months of chemical its most important that we should have a bout of english controlled country between the sharif of mecca and the french in syria what would you do for a friend i should like to draw a line. In asia. To the last came good cook and this must all be settled before we can take military action against the turks in syria. We must find out what the french actually insisted on having they demolish syria they can both be merely a military purposes we must make terms with problems. Which means we must make terms. About. Right to. Britain has identified the territories of the Ottoman Empire its wanted in order to protect its interests in the suez canal and the area provinces. But this clan was dependent on britain and france winning the war which at the start of one thousand and fifteen was almost at a standstill on the western front in europe. The allies decided to open an Eastern Front against the ottoman and. The ill fated gillet Police Campaign ran between april nineteenth fifteen and january nineteenth sixteenth. When its