Its good to have your company if you pay as Prime Minister made insists his country will not descend into chaos thats despite reports of heavy casualties in fighting between the military and Regional Forces in ethiopia is to grab a region thats in the north of the country near the border to eritrea ethiopias federal government launched the offensive against forces of the to gripe Peoples Liberation front last wednesday blaming them for and its haq on a military base now the t p l if dominated ethiopian politics for decades that was until major came into office in 2018 since then the leadership has claimed the federal government is unfairly targeting their its new group in corruption crackdowns for his fox be accuses the t. P. M. If off attempting to destabilize the country. Intent on perpetrating a culture of impunity and restoring. The un do people its they were great in the past the t. P. A. Live Border Guards have continuously mounted was covert and overt the pence from the mine the people of ethiopia and now the new administration now the to grab leadership have promised to continue fighting and so the federal government agrees to negotiate bats and members of parliament in edges of a bus say they did not recognize the t. P. M. They have as a legitimate administration and have voted to abolish the state government. For more on this im joined by William Davidson hes a Senior Analyst for ethiopia at the crisis group he joins me from at his flock and william what more do we know about the military operation underway in to. What we know that the fighting is concentrated in west to grey and thats where the federal forces primarily and from her region and this is citizens are active is a gauge midwest a great reports of significant obviously had significant casualties coming into an horror Health Clinics and mostly of federal troops but it may well be the case that the great intelligence is being treated to gray and it has very limited information coming out of the great because of the Communications Blackout and other than that no reports its recent new activity gauge mintz by the way the airstrikes and military targets around mclay the cup thats a great and a couple of days or what am whats the feeling around whether or not regionally it is into grad has the next Prime Minister abby asked mant no choice but to send the military in. Thats obviously the view from the federal government and supporters of the military intervention and very much the narrative is that its a grand forces attacked a military base and also in the us to take grand also around mecca lay the regional capital and they say thats just simply unacceptable but i think the key point to understand here is that there is this communications knockout integrate and its been very hard to verify and information and also there is a lone political build up to this conflict where there is a possibility on both sides to have taken measures to avoid apart the conflict and that did occur we ended up with a situation where it reached one federal Government School each other unlawful and thats what led to the conflict and how close does this conflict bring ethiopia to a civil war when i think that spends on your definition of civil war again the federal government is talking about this is a sort of limited Law Enforcement operation simply to remove the t. P. A. Left leadership the leadership of to great region. But the problem of course is that regional leadership is in command of a powerful Regional Security apparatus animates of the federal military integrate seem to have sided with the secret government or at least are not supporting a federal intervention so that means that we actually have a very serious and potentially sustained clash so its not a full blown civil war at the center not crossing anything like the whole of the ethiopians but it is a very serious clash between the federal government and what is a relatively well arms Regional Government and some people would obviously classify that as a civil war d in of itself right and could this be resolved diplomatically if so what kind of compromises what need to be made. Well of course there is always hope that these things can be so diplomatically and theres certainly efforts both within ethiopia and outside and to encourage the parties to come to the negotiation table and we know what certain preconditions thats something which thats a great leadership is willing to do the problem is that the parties these parties were formally part of the same Broad Coalition and then since 2800. 00 they have gradually grown into its opponents and in up with this very stark constitutional debates over the image of a city of tikrit running its own breach no election and now they have entered a conflict stays so at the moment there is no none of the warring parties or really the searing negotiated solution the 1st step i think to do so would be some sort of immediate unconditional cease fire and then the parties would have to agree that they are at least legitimate enough or tauruss. To talk to each other is a moment i simply treating each other as enemy combatants so we need to get repassed that states to get some sort of talks going at the moment it doesnt look likely but who knows if the cockpit jesper tracked it and hopefully both sides will start looking well seriously the prospects of dialogue and he says National Community and regional leaders can help put pressure on the parties to do that all right thats crisis perhaps William Davidson in this of a thank you william. Now reactions to u. S. President elect joe bidens victory continue to pour in or hear what some of africas leaders have said the famous look at the views from the streets in south africa some back way and kenya is very good very good because of. Not of no sense to mark no sense of what everybody is going to respect the denuded im happy because hopefully we will have less of that racial bias. Meaning bias. For what. Might be might not because the. Sanction. Lets hope by then is going to do the same if hes going to do that then we support him if not then i want. Their way he handled this kind of a thing i dont know timepiece so that hes not thinking for the people hes not putting peoples lives forward this is putting his 9 year into supply chain to school with 100 people but. Im glad im a peaceful the new president remember there was before biden there was one of african soil president obama what difference to africa so i dont see how theyre different or so its just neutral and congratulations for President BidenVice President coming to harris has been pouring in from leaders on the conscience as well nigerias president will have a divorce at that. Age mr biden to deploy his fost experience in tackling the negative consequences often nationalists politics on hold a phase which have created divisions and uncertainties and so introduce grace engagement with africa on the basis of reciprocal respect and shared interests and then the chair of the African Union. Mahomets congratulates of the 2 and say it the African Union commission looks forward to a new stronger u. S. Africa relationship based on Mutual Respect and shared values off international cooperation. And for more on this im joined by cite. A political scientist at the university of pretoria in south africa welcome to news africa so weve see congratulating messages from African Leaders to joe biden and Camila Harris what can we expect to see in terms of u. S. Africa relations and the biden administration. Thanks so much for having me i think that what we can expect is to see a u. S. Administration thats far more interested in Africa Donald trump is there a match not particularly interested in the african continent except in so far as its related to a u. S. China relations and he really did see africa as a battleground in terms of the u. S. His trade relations with china and he was not the key visited the african continent and any point during his presidency so i think that well see a local interest in africa particularly in development and Security Issues and trade issues. And what has been bidens record on africa. So biden himself doesnt have a particularly any detailed record on africa at all and he supported Barack Obamas africa policy as the Vice President under obama but weve heard from the speculation about who could be his possible choices for secretary of state International Security advisor. Samantha power and susan rice susan rice who has a ph d. On zimbabwe and was the u. N. Was the u. S. Is represented at the United Nations is a keen african mist and has had a long interest in security and Development Issues on the continent i mean one thing about her though is that shes quite hawkish on africa issues and has been a great supporter of sanctions against mugabe regime for example and was an advocate of a hostile stance on sudan. So itll be interesting to see how those people around biden influence his african homicide ok i dont have too much more time with you but i do want to get this in so whatever can lead it would you say needs a white house visit the most. I say this from south africa would need a white house visit i think it would help him greatly show up his political position in the country but also on the continent and i certainly think that i certainly think that and nigeria. Would also be wanting to have a white house rather soon in the with ministration and the other way around where would biden need to visit 1st. I think that he will need to visit west africa 1st actually so i think that he would want to visit nigeria and ghana gonna go to election in december and so. He im to meet the you did the returning incumbent or new president early next year i think certainly ethiopia given the conflicts the discovering one and that may be a place that he wants to visit in order to engage with. It and i and yeah and in south africa as well could be an option all right stand by him thank you. And that is it for now ill be short a check out all of the stories on the dot com forward slash africa were also on facebook and on twitter so we love to hear from you at these events know what you think of all the stories that we havent destroyed that we should be covering time makes time. Why subscribe to d. W. Books meet your favorite writer write meet objective but i write is to share where to find beautiful. Books on you to. Use for me. Is for you. Its for help. To be told. Beethoven is for. The tougher it is for. Beethoven 202250th anniversary year. Welcome to arts and culture and what a weekend it was a collective sigh of relief was autumn ball across europe on saturday when democrats obeid and won the necessary votes to defeat President Donald Trump a reality that still sinking in for cultural figures also coming up. Well look at how worldwide coronavirus restrictions are affecting the Film Industry and the future of festivals as streaming becomes the norm. And in our series 100. 00 german must reads german swiss novelist Benedict Welles confronts death and loss in the end of loneliness. But 1st her world is populated by dragons dark fairies and mythical monsters germanys clinia form is a hugely successful childrens fantasy author and illustrator her incar trilogy was a best seller in germany and in the u. S. Well based now in california shes just published the 4th book in her mira world series and ill speak to her right after this. Conelly a phone co earned a degree in education and began working as an illustrator of childrens literature before starting to write her own books. Her fantasy novels for children and young adults have been translated into 37 languages its selling millions of copies Time Magazine named her one of its 100 most influential people 420058 reflection of the impact of her work which hasnt chanted generations of Young Readers worldwide. Is also a regular guest on the red carpet as several of her books have been turned into films that includes the 1st volume of her in kurt trilogy one of her most successful books. Her personal paradise is in california where she lives on a farm where the canary a phone call has made her home in the United States for the past 15 years. And joining me from her farm near malibu where its very early in the morning is cornelia phone co welcome to arts and culture for. Now im just wondering if it sunk in yet that the era of the president you have dubbed he who cannot be named is soon to be over in american politics how did it feel to wake up to that realisation this morning. With that side of relief but because also with Great Sadness because almost 50 percent of americans did vote for the former president which i find the saddening and quite worrying fact indeed well you were apparently contemplating having to leave your paradise in california and return to germany if trump were elected for a 2nd term is that consideration off the table at least for now. Yes but sadly mostly i will decide when i can say you will be to Climate Change and we all know that will not go away within 4 weeks 4 years and thats why its happened to devastating on this coast and i have been picking my superiors for 3 years now so lets see where this will go indeed the Environmental Concerns obviously in california a huge issue with the forest fires that are part of your rim of Heaven Foundation you have an artist in Residence Program that you host on your farm at the corona crisis has obviously been a real setback in this regard how important are these workshops and how optimistic are you that your cultural activities can resume. Well he was looking about very strange years like this is that a typical way some things that give us out there is so we had a moment restructuring the program and seeing what we could bring in these times when the european artists cannot have much i have extensive programs now with this south america with american universities and were also bringing 6 children here to recover under god sees instead of locked in an apartment so always full of enlightening ideas a year said stories are especially needed in these difficult times just published the 4th novel in your mirror a world series on silver trail congratulations but you write fantasy id like to know how much of the real world really make that into your books politically speaking well the real world is there you can trust it as we see everything in a moment so i. Often get much just as a reality as socalled reality realist writing because its mostly just students less human everyday lives and with our very narrow perspective on this front. Now just a final question here ms funky you us german relations are current currently at an all time low and im just wondering if if you can tell us how culture can help to heal these divisions and these out misunderstandings ive tried every day with artists from europe coming in saying who said he different from what we manage and because my experience in germany is that very often the most hostile reactions to america come from people who have never been here so i think its as though we shouldnt travel that much but it was poor planet nevertheless i think you need the exchange and the conversation and the collaboration with each other and thats the only thing that unites a Cultural Exchange obviously a fundamental part of rebuilding understanding and collective understanding and relations between europe and the United States obviously things looking up to some degree at this point in time and thank you very much for sharing your impressions with me cornelia from co thanks for joining us on alt arts and culture. Much a politics may be looking up but the coronavirus pandemic rages on and currently europes 2nd round of lockdowns is taking the expected toll on cultural businesses and institutions particularly of course the movie industry which will look at all of this week in more detail as its affected in so many different ways starting with canceled or drastically downsized Film Festival. It turned out to be october 9th may when the come from festival finally took place but weather wise it all looked much the same as usual as always the red carpet was rolled out but was it all worth the effort. I headed up a few interviews in which people were asking about the death of cinema. And now we know that. They were there when but which film. But although cinemas in some countries briefly reopened Movie Theaters throughout most of europe are now once again empty. On the cause that however the mood was relaxed. There were of course disinfection outside the festival palace. In the absence of hollywood a listers miscount 2020 attracted a lot of attention as did a promising newcomer georgian director dia because she really had originally planned to show her film beginning at the festival back in may it went on to win at the sun sebastiaan Film Festival in september. The drama about a group of jehovahs witnesses in a small georgian town illustrates why streaming films at home on your couch just isnt the same as going to the cinema in a Movie Theater you can immerse yourself in the experience. How much do we really see whats really