Mr Henry gave the national address as violent protests calling for his ouster mounted.
Haiti has been mired in gang violence for years.
In the most recent incident, police killed five armed members of an environmental patrol, which some say has morphed into a paramilitary group.
Tensions had been rising in Haiti in the days leading up to 7 February, the day that new presidents are traditionally sworn into office.
Haiti has not had a president since Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by Colombian mercenaries in July 2021.
Mr Henry had been chosen by Mr Moïse as his prime minister just 24 hours before the former president was gunned down. He was sworn into office two weeks after Mr Moïse’s assassination.
He has been ruling the country since, repeatedly promising to pave the way for long-delayed elections to be held.
In December 2022, he signed a deal with representatives of political parties and civil society organisations in which he agreed to hold elections in 2023 in order to have a new government ready to be sworn in on 7 February 2024.
But 2023 came and went without elections being held and with Mr Henry arguing that worsening levels of gang violence made it impossible to ensure a free and fair election.
The repeated failure to hold not just presidential but also legislative elections means Haiti has not had a single elected government official since the term of the last elected senators expired in January 2023.
Anger about the political vacuum, as well as at shocking levels of violence, which according to United Nations figures have internally displaced almost 314,000 people, have fuelled protests.
Image caption,Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been internally displaced by the violence
“The country is being held hostage by gangs. We can’t eat. We can’t send our children to school,” one demonstrator told AFP news agency.
Another protester told AFP that “this Wednesday is D-Day”. “It’s the day when Ariel Henry must leave office.”
The already tense situation has been exacerbated by the return of Guy Philippe, a former police chief who played a key part in the ouster of former President Bertrand Aristide 20 years ago.
Philippe was repatriated to Haiti in November from the United States, where he had served a prison sentence after admitting taking bribes to protect narcotics shipments.
Haiti ex-coup leader Philippe sentenced
Since his return, he has been sharing video messages on social media in which he calls for a “rebellion” against Mr Henry.
And on Tuesday, Philippe was spotted in the capital, Port-au-Prince, shaking hands with his supporters. He later called into a live radio show, telling listeners that “the fight is just the beginning”.
Tensions rose even further as police confronted armed members of Haiti’s Security Brigade for Protected Areas, known as BSAP, shooting five of them dead.
Some of BSAP’s members are said to be allies of Philippe and the brigade has been accused of having evolved into a paramilitary group rather than an environmental protection agency.
Mr Henry has tried to rein in the brigade’s power by sacking the head of the department in charge of the group, but that move just further angered its members.
He has also called on the United Nations to dispatch an international force to Haiti to help control the gangs, but so far only Kenya has promised to send officers.https://blejermot.com/
And even Kenya’s help hangs in the balance after a court blocked the deployment.
Mr Henry gave the national address as violent protests calling for his ouster mounted.
Haiti has been mired in gang violence for years.
In the most recent incident, police killed five armed members of an environmental patrol, which some say has morphed into a paramilitary group.
Tensions had been rising in Haiti in the days leading up to 7 February, the day that new presidents are traditionally sworn into office.
Haiti has not had a president since Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by Colombian mercenaries in July 2021.
Mr Henry had been chosen by Mr Moïse as his prime minister just 24 hours before the former president was gunned down. He was sworn into office two weeks after Mr Moïse’s assassination.
He has been ruling the country since, repeatedly promising to pave the way for long-delayed elections to be held.
In December 2022, he signed a deal with representatives of political parties and civil society organisations in which he agreed to hold elections in 2023 in order to have a new government ready to be sworn in on 7 February 2024.
But 2023 came and went without elections being held and with Mr Henry arguing that worsening levels of gang violence made it impossible to ensure a free and fair election.
Anger about the political vacuum, as well as at shocking levels of violence, which according to United Nations figures have internally displaced almost 314,000 people, have fuelled protests.
Image caption,Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been internally displaced by the violence
“The country is being held hostage by gangs. We can’t eat. We can’t send our children to school,” one demonstrator told AFP news agency.
Another protester told AFP that “this Wednesday is D-Day”. “It’s the day when Ariel Henry must leave office.”
The already tense situation has been exacerbated by the return of Guy Philippe, a former police chief who played a key part in the ouster of former President Bertrand Aristide 20 years ago.
Philippe was repatriated to Haiti in November from the United States, where he had served a prison sentence after admitting taking bribes to protect narcotics shipments.
Haiti ex-coup leader Philippe sentenced
Since his return, he has been sharing video messages on social media in which he calls for a “rebellion” against Mr Henry.
And on Tuesday, Philippe was spotted in the capital, Port-au-Prince, shaking hands with his supporters. He later called into a live radio show, telling listeners that “the fight is just the beginning”.
Tensions rose even further as police confronted armed members of Haiti’s Security Brigade for Protected Areas, known as BSAP, shooting five of them dead.
Some of BSAP’s members are said to be allies of Philippe and the brigade has been accused of having evolved into a paramilitary group rather than an environmental protection agency.
Mr Henry has tried to rein in the brigade’s power by sacking the head of the department in charge of the group, but that move just further angered its members.
He has also called on the United Nations to dispatch an international force to Haiti to help control the gangs, but so far only Kenya has promised to send officers.
And even Kenya’s help hangs in the balance after a court blocked the deployment.https://blejermot.com/
Detailed before-and-after imagery also shows how the bombardment of southern and central Gaza has intensified since the start of December, with the city of Khan Younis bearing much of the brunt of Israel’s military action.
Israel has repeatedly told Gazans to move south for their own safety.
Across Gaza, residential areas have been left ruined, previously busy shopping streets reduced to rubble, universities destroyed and farmlands churned up, with tent cities springing up on the southern border to house many thousands of people left homeless.
About 1.7 million people – more than 80% of Gaza’s population – are displaced, with nearly half crammed in the far southern end of the strip, according to the United Nations.
Further analysis, by BBC Verify, reveals the scale of destruction of farmland, identifying multiple areas of extensive damage.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is targeting both Hamas fighters and “terror infrastructure”, when challenged over the scale of damage.
Now, satellite data analysis obtained by the BBC shows the true extent of the destruction. The analysis suggests between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed. That’s between 50% and 61% of Gaza’s buildings.
The analysis, carried out by Corey Scher of City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, compares images to reveal sudden changes in the height or structure of buildings which indicate damage.
ou can clearly see the level of damage from street level. Once bustling high streets have been left derelict or destroyed.
These images show the front of the Shawarma Sanabel restaurant before Israel’s invasion, and how the same junction looked in a composite image from January after intense bombardment of the area.
The IDF has repeatedly justified its actions by noting that Hamas deliberately embeds itself in civilian areas and explained destruction of buildings in the light of targeting fighters. But questions have been asked about destruction of buildings seemingly firmly in the control of the IDF.
One example was the Israa University, in northern Gaza – initially badly damaged shortly before being blown up completely in what looked like a massive controlled explosion. The video was widely shared onsocial media and the IDF says the approval process for the blast is now being investigated.https://blejermot.com/
Keith said he had been receiving chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for his cancer. He said he was “comfortable with whatever happened” with his illness.
An Oklahoma native, he worked in oil fields and as a semi-professional American Football player before breaking out as a musician in the 1990s.
His debut single Should’ve Been a Cowboy, released in 1993, became a number one hit. The song romanticises the cowboy lifestyle with reference to singing cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.
Later albums included Blue Moon, Pull My Chain and Unleashed.
‘I write about lives I know’ – Toby Keith to BBC
Keith’s songs frequently made reference to patriotic themes, most controversially with the song Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American), released shortly after the 9/11 attacks, which was criticised for what some perceived as chauvinistic lyrics.
The song was criticised by fellow country artists the Dixie Chicks. The feud lasted several months before Keith announced there were “far more important things” to focus on.
Over the years, he played at events for several US presidents, including George W Bush. Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Mr Trump awarded Keith a National Medal of the Arts in 2021.https://tehopeng.com/
But there are no such thrills for Republicans this year.
A dispute over how presidential candidates should be selected in the state has turned past electoral excitement into mass voter confusion. This week there will be two separate votes in the Republican contest.
That means Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, the two major candidates still in the Republican race, will each compete in Nevada without even appearing on the same ballot.
“It’s a very confusing mess for a lot of voters, a lot of analysts, and for pretty much anyone,” said Jon Ralston, a political commentator and the editor of the Nevada Independent.
The situation has come about because of the two different voting systems in the US, caucuses and primaries, and a clash between the Nevada Republican Party and the state government.
In caucuses people gather at events, hold debates, and then vote on their preferred presidential candidate – sometimes by a show of hands.
Primaries are a more traditional style of voting where people cast a ballot at polling stations.
Image caption,The Trump campaign is telling voters to vote against Nikki Haley in the primary and participate in the caucus two days later.
The state Republican Party opposed the change and tried through the courts to have the primary stopped, but that was unsuccessful.
So the party decided to hold caucuses anyway and to award its 26 state delegates to the winner. Presidential candidates need to win a majority of the 2,429 Republican delegates to secure the nomination.
Mr Ralston said that Trump supporters in the party see caucuses as more advantageous than a primary, because they attract more engaged voters and could give Mr Trump the best chance of winning with big numbers.
But that means on Tuesday Nevada will hold its primary without Mr Trump on the ballot. Two days later the state party will hold caucuses without Ms Haley.
“They gerry-rigged this,” Mr Ralston said of state Republicans, “but it’s blown up in their face.”
The BBC has contacted the Nevada Republican Party but has not received a response.
The Trump campaign and state party officials are now worried that there could be low turnout for the caucuses. Because voters can cast ballots in both contests, Mr Trump’s supporters are working to convince people to vote for “none of the above” in the primary and then attend the caucuses.
“But it’s hard for me to believe that the average person wants to go caucus, after they’ve cast a ballot in primary,” Mr Ralston said.
This means each candidate could win a Nevada contest and declare victory, even though people have not had the chance to choose between them.
Who could Donald Trump pick for vice-president if he wins nomination?
Nikki Haley fights on, but this is Trump’s party now
Nevada’s Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, has called the situation “unacceptable for voters”.
It is unclear whether the situation will resolve before future contests, or if the Republican Party will continue to demand a caucus. But it has caused candidates to pass up serious campaigning there.
As one of the first states to share its preference for president during the US election season, Nevada brought its glitz, glamour, and significant sway to the American democratic process in past years.
Barack Obama strode among poker tables and fruit machines doing some last minute campaigning in 2008, as workers on the Las Vegas strip were give special permission by the courts to cast their ballots inside casinos.
Even Nevada’s notorious Moonlite BunnyRanch – a licensed brothel – previously got in on the action, endorsing candidates with “Pimpin’ for Paul” in 2012 and “Hookers 4 Hillary” in 2016.
This year, there is no brothel-based alliteration to be shared, as the proprietors decided to stick this one out.
The focus of the presidential race has already moved to South Carolina where Ms Haley and Mr Trump will next compete on 24 February.
It seems that the once important Nevada contest is proving rather a turn off.https://blejermot.com/
Verena Pausder is a successful German entrepreneur who is clear about where she thinks the economy is going wrong.
This week, it was confirmed that Europe’s biggest economy shrank by 0.3% last year.
Whilst the country avoided recession – thanks to a statistical quirk – most economists think Germany will be in that position when the numbers for the first part of this year are published.
Germany’s growth is being held back by the twin shocks of the energy crisis, caused by the war in Ukraine, and higher interest rates.
There are also long-term structural issues such as ageing infrastructure, a labour shortage and the cost of tackling climate change.
Germany’s far right seek revolution in farmers’ protests
Global economy set for weakest growth since Covid
Germany to cut green spending to meet budget rules
At January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Germany’s finance minister Christian Lindner denied these problems made Germany the “sick man” of Europe.
“After very successful periods since 2012 and these years of crisis, Germany is a tired man after a short night, and the low growth expectations are probably a wake up call,” he said.
“And now, we have a good cup of coffee, which means structural reforms, and then we will be continuing to succeed economically.”
Image caption,Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Chancellor Olaf Scholz are struggling to get Germany’s economy growing
For Mrs Pausder, who is chair of the German Start-up Association and founder of the kids app developer Fox & Sheep a “change in mindset” is what’s needed.
“I think we’re really good at kind of listing all the negative stuff and what we’re not good at. And I think what we’re forgetting is what we actually get done.”
She points out that despite the downturn there were still 2,489 start-ups founded last year and the country is making good progress in the switch to green energy.
Image caption,German Start-Up Association chair Verena Pausder says the economy would benefit from a change of mindset
Younger generations are more willing to take risks, she says. But as things stand, Germany’s pension funds – which are worth more than $700bn – “are not allowed to invest into asset classes like venture capital and private equity”.
“We’re used to these big brands of the past, and we want to do everything to have them in the future. And sometimes we put too much energy into conserving what we have [rather] then to investing in the new things.”
Those big brands have traditionally sold huge amounts of cars, machinery and pharmaceuticals abroad, driving economic growth and influencing government policy.
However, foreign demand “has been declining for many, many months”, says Dr Klaus Deutsch, the chief economist at the German Federation of Industries (BDI).
Exports to non-EU countries were down 9.2% in December compared to the same time a year earlier.
Dr Deutsch explains that Germany’s recovery depends on the world’s two biggest economies, as well as domestic concerns.
For exports, he says, “The question of greatest importance is whether the US economy can avoid a recession” as well as if China can overcome the many challenges its economy faces.
Around 7.5m people, or 16% of the workforce, are employed in manufacturing, and nearly half of what they make is sold abroad.
That gloom in the manufacturing sector is, he says, driving the pessimism amongst German consumers which “is a bit worse than in most parts of the world”.
Image caption,Germany needs to invest billions as it continues to switch from fossil fuels to greener energy sources
December’s figures showed an uptick inflation to 3.7%, which is still lower than many other major European economies. The rate at which prices are rising means people are holding back their spending on everything from cars to furniture.
It’s a sentiment that’s not hard to find amid the hustle and bustle of office workers and tourists on Berlin’s shopping hub of Friedrichstrasse.
On a cold, but sunny winter’s day one man tells us that he notices higher prices everywhere from his rent to his energy bills, as well as when he goes to restaurants. “Berlin used to be a cheap city. That’s not the case anymore.”
A woman tells us that for her family of five the weekly supermarket shop used to come in well under 100 euros. “Now I spend well over that,” she says.
Image caption,People on Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse shopping hub were pessimistic about the economic outlook
Despite the shrinking economy, the number of people in work has increased steadily over the last two years. That points to lower productivity.
According to Moritz Schularick, President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, “Unhappiness isn’t mainly driven by the current economic situation. It is driven by a deeper cultural unease as well as uncertainty and fear. There’s a lot of angst.”
That sense of negativity about the outlook is reflected in the latest GfK survey of consumer sentiment, which says crises, war and inflation are all leading Germans to save rather than spend.
Image caption,Carmakers such as Volkswagen have traditionally driven the exports which have fuelled Germany’s economy
Mr Schularick thinks the move away from cheap Russian energy is less of a challenge that the long term issues and December’s court ruling which has forced Olaf Scholz’s government into budget cuts.
“One of the lessons we’ve learned from the UK and the 1930s, is that in these situations you don’t want to antagonise parts of the population even further by making painful budget cuts because that feeds the extremes and populists.”
German train drivers stage longest strike on record
Germany’s far right seek revolution in farmers’ protests
German law seeks to attract skilled migrant workers
Economic discontent has helped the political rise of the far-right AfD who are seen as against immigration. Amid a labour shortage that is something which is worrying business leaders such as the CEO of software giant SAP, Christian Klein.
“We are completely against any kind of extremism now, because we need to have those talents coming to us to innovate, to boost the economy. And that’s why it was time indeed, to speak up not only for myself, but for the German economy.”
The AfD’s deputy leader Peter Boehringer denies his party is bad for business and says companies biggest problem is high energy costs which have been caused by bad government policy.
Image caption,SAP’s chief executive Christian Klein is amongst business leaders concerned the rise of political extremism will harm Germany’s economy
If Germany’s economy is to return to growth innovation will be crucial, says SAP’s Christian Klein. Germany’s most valuable company saw the amount of money it took in grow 6% last year to $33.7bn.
“Many companies actually turn to SAP, especially in macroeconomic challenging times.”
He explains his company is helping its customers tackle challenges ranging from supply chains to climate change and productivity challenges caused by high inflation.
“In Germany, I don’t see a decline in IT budgets. What I actually see is that business leaders want to invest because they see tech as an opportunity to overcome those challenges.”
Additional reporting by Damien McGuinness in Berlin
You can watch more about Germany’s struggle for economic growth on Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst on BBC News. Viewers in the UK can watch on BBC iPlayer from 23:30 GMT on Saturday. In other countries it at 23:30 GMT on Saturday, 05:30 GMT and 16:30 GMT on Sunday and 08:30 GMT on Monday.https://blejermot.com/
The beverage is a cultural institution in the UK, where an estimated 100 million cups are drunk every day.
But now a scientist based more than 3,000 miles (5,000km) away in the US claims to have found the secret to a perfect cuppa that many Brits would initially find absolutely absurd – adding salt.
Prof Michelle Francl’s research has caused quite the stir in the UK, and has even drawn a diplomatic intervention from the US embassy.
“We want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be,” the embassy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
60-second cuppa – an ‘insult’ or a teatime treat?
It is not the first time the drink has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic.
Back in 1773, demonstrators in Boston, colonial Massachusetts, threw 300 chests full of tea into the harbour in protest at British taxes – a key moment which sparked the American Revolution.
“I certainly did not mean to cause a diplomatic incident,” Prof Francl, a professor of chemistry at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, tells the BBC.
“My emails have been going crazy today. I did not anticipate waking up this morning to see loads of people talking about salt in their tea.”
So why add salt?
It turns out that it is not a new idea – the ingredient is even mentioned in Eighth Century Chinese manuscripts, which Prof Francl analysed to perfect her recipe.
“What is new is our understanding of it as chemists,” Prof Francl said.
She explains that salt acts as a blocker to the receptor which makes tea taste bitter, especially when it has been stewed.
By adding a pinch of table salt – an undetectable amount – you will counteract the bitterness of the drink.
“It is not like adding sugar. I think people are afraid they will be able to taste the salt.”
She urges tea-loving Brits to have an open mind before prejudging her research, which she has documented in her new book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
“It is OK to experiment,” she says. “I did experiments in my kitchen for this – channel your inner scientist.”
Prof Francl has loved tea ever since her mother made her first brew when she was 10 years old.
Everyone has their own opinion on what makes the perfect cuppa, but Prof Francl recommends using loose leaves instead of tea bags and giving the drink a constant stir so the tea gets a good exposure to the water and milk.
Other suggestions she makes include using short, stout mugs to keep the tea hotter, and warming up the mug and milk, with the latter added in only after pouring the tea.
But chief among her advice is to never, ever heat up the water in a microwave: “It’s less healthy and it does not taste as good,” Prof Francl says.
“You end up getting tea scum forming on the surface, and that scum contains some of the antioxidants and taste compounds.”
While the concept of microwaving tea might sound a bit alien in the UK, it is “totally common” in the US.
“Americans have some truly awful tea-making habits,” Prof Francl says.
“I have had better cups of tea at service stations in Ireland than I have had at fancy restaurants in the US.
“I think it is just that people do not know [how to make a good cuppa]. If you do not drink tea, you do not know you are making a horrible cup of tea for someone and giving them a miserable experience.”
She says she loves coming to the UK, where she knows she will be able to locate a decent brew.
“I know when I land I can get a great cup of tea. It is good to have that common ground,” she says.
So, what next for British-American tea relations?
The US embassy is not heeding Prof Francl’s advice and says it will stick to what it calls the “proper way” of making tea – by microwaving it – while the UK Cabinet Office is adamant it https://selesaisudah.com/
Image caption,Eli Albag held two contrasting photos of his daughter, Liri – the one on the right, released by Hamas after she was taken captive, shows her looking dirty and dishevelled
Eli Albag told the BBC that he thought released former hostages who spent time with his daughter Liri knew something about this but avoided telling him to spare him any grief.
He said the pain this was causing him had made him a “dead man” and he was only able to keep going by taking “medicine”.
Israel says more than 130 people remain unaccounted for after they were abducted during the 7 October attacks by Hamas. More than 100 captives were released during a six-day ceasefire at the end of November.
Some released hostages have said they were told directly by other female hostages that they had been sexually assaulted. A report by the Associated Press quoted doctors as saying that 10 of those released were assaulted or abused.
Mr Albag is one of four relatives of hostages who have come to London to lobby the UK Government to put pressure on Qatar, which is involved in talks to release the hostages but also hosts a number of senior Hamas leaders.
They say they want the Gulf state to choose whether it wants to continue to host Hamas or be “part of Western civilisation”.
Image caption,Former hostages say Liri Albag was physically unharmed at the time when they were released
Mr Albag says Liri is his youngest daughter, the “happiest, who liked music, who liked to dance” and who had “friends all over the world”.
Standing outside the Houses of Parliament in London, he held two contrasting photos of her – one taken before the Hamas attack, the other taken by Hamas after she was captured. In the latter, Liri looks dishevelled, with dirt pictured on her face and hoodie.
“You see the eyes – they say all. They say, she’s afraid,” Mr Albag said of the photo.
He is a self-confessed tough guy but he is unable to sleep and often unable to talk because of what he thinks could be happening to her.
“All the family’s broken, she has two sisters and a young brother, and from 7 October we are not living,” he says. “I wake up in the morning alive and go to sleep dead. Each day. This is what’s happened to us, no day no night.”
He says he knows from the released hostages that his daughter was alive and physically unhurt after 50 days of captivity, though they were living in a tunnel with no food, no water, no fresh air and no electricity. She was unable to have a shower for that whole period, he adds.
“It is our hope that we can receive her back, in good condition.
“We know that some of the girls – it’s very difficult to say this – they attacked them, sexually, and we are worried, especially that they didn’t release them.”
Liri’s father said that there were women aged between 18 and 30 who had not been released.
The former hostages would not respond to his “difficult questions” about sexual abuse and moved their eyes away, he said.
“I understand they don’t want to talk about this, they don’t want to hurt us. But we understand. We really understand,” he says.
“It’s difficult to say, and difficult to think, but I worry that they’ve done something wrong to these girls. I cannot understand them, I cannot understand these animals.”
With more than three months having passed since the hostages were taken, another sensitive issue arises.
Amid fears that some may have been raped, it could soon be too late for any unwanted pregnancies to be terminated.
Mr Albag shares this fear and accepts that the “clock is ticking, there is a limit of time to stop it”.
Later on Monday the four Israelis attended a Conservative Friends of Israel meeting. Eli Albag handed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a dog tag with the words “Bring them home”.
Another of the four, Liran Berman, whose brothers Gali and Ziv are still held hostage, explained their message for the Qataris.
“We know that Qatar is the key player,” he said. “They are hosting the leadership of Hamas but they are also investing in Western civilisation, buying football teams and properties in London, in Europe, in the US.
“They need to choose a side. If they want to be part of Western civilisation, ok, but they can’t host Hamas leaders.”
A Qatari official responded by offering “deepest sympathies” to the families of the hostages and said they were continuing to engage with all sides, “working around the clock to reunite the hostages with their families and bring an end to the war”.
“Since the first day of the crisis, Qatar has done everything it can to secure the release of hostages and prevent further bloodshed,” the official added.
“This includes using its communication channel with Hamas, established over a decade ago in coordination with the United States.
“So far, 109 hostages have been released from Gaza through these efforts, while Qatari mediation succeeded last week in reaching an agreement to deliver medicine to hostages and other aid to civilians in Gaza.”https://selesaisudah.com/
It will mark a generational shift, as Mr Boakai will take the reins of power from the nation’s youngest-ever elected leader, George Weah.
The former international football star rose to the presidency at the age of 51 after defeating Mr Boakai in elections six years ago, but lost to him this time around by just over 20,000 votes.
For Rodney Sieh, the editor of Liberia’s FrontPage Africa news site, Mr Boakai’s victory did not come as a surprise.
“People were fed up with the Weah administration – its corruption and opulence, the flashy cars and fancy restaurants. An official from the presidency even threw a bottle of Moet champagne over a flashy car he bought for his wife, and put a photo on social media.
“Voters questioned how officials could lead such lifestyles when ordinary people are struggling more and more to put food on the table, and to pay school fees for their children,” he told the BBC.
Mr Boakai won despite the fact that for years he has been derided by his opponents, and some ordinary Liberians on social media, after appearing to doze off at public meetings – a charge his aides deny, saying his small eyes and drooping eyelids give this impression.
To improve his image, Mr Boakai often wore dark shades on the campaign trail this time around. But concerns remain about his fitness and health – especially as his term in office will end when he turns 85.
“Boakai did not travel a lot to the different counties to campaign for votes. He says he has a clean bill of health, but we know that he has a pacemaker because of a heart condition,” Mr Sieh said.
Before the election, Mr Boakai dismissed the concerns about his health.”Age should be a blessing to this country,” he told the BBC. He said he considered himself “a man who is old, who is wise, a man who is sound and a man who is committed to the cause of the country”.
Mr Boakai was vice-president in Nobel Peace Prize-winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government until 2018, and contested the presidency under the banner of the United Party (UP).
Gyude Moore, a Senior Policy Fellow at the US-based Center for Global Development, said that what counted heavily in Mr Boakai’s favour was that voters saw him as a man they could trust after the scandals of the Weah administration.
“He has been involved in Liberian politics in some form or another for decades. He is regarded as an elder statesman,” said Mr Moore, who was a minister in the Sirleaf government and came to know Mr Boakai well.
“I think he will be a competent manager, and I expect him to give ministerial posts to people who were deputy ministers and assistant ministers in our administration. So the government will have experience, which the Weah administration lacked,” Mr Moore told the BBC.
Image caption,Jeremiah Koung was Joseph Boakai’s running mate in November’s election
But the man to watch in the new government is Jeremiah Koung, who rose from being a street hawker to become a businessman and lawmaker – and is now set to be sworn in as vice-president at the age of 45.
“I think Boakai’s selection of Koung as running-mate softened the debate [around his age], and made many Liberians move towards the Unity Party alliance,” Liberia-based political analyst Daniel Sando told the BBC.
Mr Moore described Mr Koung as “young and energetic”.
“He is bound to have presidential ambitions, and will demand a substantial role in government,” Mr Moore added.
Mr Koung hails from the Movement for Reconstruction and Democracy (MRD) party, which is led by Prince Johnson – a pastor and lawmaker who was once a rebel commander. His forces infamously captured the-then military ruler, Samuel Doe, in 1990, before killing him and slicing off his ears, while Mr Johnson watched.
The murder was captured on an old-fashioned video tape, and copies of it were widely distributed by Mr Johnson’s men as they celebrated Mr Doe’s death.
Mr Johnson claimed to have found God on that day, and went on to become a pastor, politician and lawmaker after peace was achieved in Liberia in 2003.
“Johnson is now a kingmaker in Liberian politics,” Mr Moore said, pointing out that he has strong support in Nimba, Liberia’s second most-populous county, and the main battleground in elections.
“In the 2017 election, Prince Johnson endorsed Weah and that’s why he won. But he backed Boakai in this election, saying Weah did not keep his promises.
“We don’t yet know what promises Boakai made to him to get his endorsement, but his candidate has got the vice-presidency. Koung is popular among young people, especially in Nimba, and helps bridge the generational gap,” Mr Moore said.
Image caption,Prince Johnson (in red hat) helped George Weah win six years ago, but has now ditched him
Having forged an alliance with Mr Johnson’s party, Mr Boakai is unlikely to yield to the demands of some civil society groups to establish a war crimes court.
“Families have suffered because of the war, and there will always be a demand for justice,” Mr Moore said.
“But Liberia got peace only after an undertaking that there will be no prosecutions. Peace has prevailed, and a whole generation has grown up in a democracy – unlike my generation, which lived through war.”
Mr Sieh said the new government’s big challenge will be to tackle the country’s economic crisis.
“Liberia’s economy is heavily dependent on imports and, from what I hear, the central bank does not have enough foreign exchange to buy goods. We have enough supply of gasoline only until 20 March. Even rice – our staple – is imported. Shortages are a recurring problem, and prices keep going up.
“So the Boakai administration will have to find solutions quickly, or it could end up facing protests in the next few months,” Mr Sieh said.
For Mr Sando, Mr Boakai has to focus on cracking down on the drug cartels destroying the lives of the many young, unemployed Liberians.
“Young people are the most-disadvantaged in Liberian society. Most of them are substance abusers and addicts,” Mr Sondo said.
The most recent drug to flood Liberia’s ghettoes is kush. Said to be a mixture of cannabis, chemicals and medicine, it is cheap but its effects are devastating, making young men walk around like zombies in the middle of traffic in the capital, Monrovia.
Sometimes, residents wake up to find two or three dead bodies lying by the roadside – the suspicion being that kush killed them, though there is no medical evidence in Liberia to confirm this.
The drug addicts are a tragic reminder of Liberia’s deep-seated socio-economic problems, and the need for Mr Boakai to do what his predecessors failed to do – help them become, as Mr Sando puts it, “a better version of themselves”.https://selesaisudah.com/
This year, the holiday was overshadowed by the war in Gaza and the ongoing threat to the survival of the community from a deeply controversial real estate deal.
Many spent the day in an unconventional fashion, joining a sit-in at a tent in their church car park, which is part of a large plot at risk in the Armenian Quarter of the walled Old City.
“This illegal, treacherous land deal actually brought us all together,” says Setrag Balian, a ceramicist turned activist.
Armenians date their presence in the holy city back to the 4th Century. Many of the 2,000-strong community live inside the large, cobble-stoned compound of St James Convent.
In the past, they have often been divided by political differences and family fights and there have been rifts between Jerusalemite Armenians and their Church leaders who act as employers and landlords for many.
Yet for two months, local Armenians and priests have all been staying in a large, improvised tent here, around-the-clock, to try to block the development going ahead. They eat here and work shifts as guards behind a makeshift barricade decorated with Armenian flags.
Together, they say, they have seen off attacks by contractors with bulldozers, armed settlers and masked thugs.
Controversial land sale angers Jerusalem Armenians
Jerusalem Christians say attacks on the rise
“Everything was put in danger with this deal,” Setrag says. “Whoever wants to take away our rights and endanger our presence and our lives here, we will stand up against them and defend our rights till the end.”
Last April, facts began to emerge about a 2021 contract secretly signed between the Armenian Patriarch and a Jewish Australian-Israeli developer. It gave a newly-created firm, Xana Gardens, a 98-year lease to build and operate a luxury hotel in an area known as the Cow’s Garden.
The deal covered a plot of 11,500 sq m, abutting the ramparts of the south-western corner of the Old City, with an option to take over an even bigger area.
It includes the car park, some church buildings and the homes of five Armenian families, accounting for about 25% of the Armenian Quarter.
Located on Mount Zion, it has huge religious significance and is incredibly valuable real estate but an annual fee of just $300,000 (£237,000) was to be paid by the developer.
Image caption,Local Armenians and priests have been staying in an improvised tent on the land as they protest against the deal
“For that amount you could barely rent yourself a couple of falafel shops in the Old City,” commented one Armenian using the car park, who asked for his name not to be used.
Amid heated protests by locals and a decision by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority to withdraw their recognition of the patriarch over his role in the deal, pressure grew on the Church to cancel the contract.
Meanwhile, an international team of Armenian lawyers came to investigate and give advice.
The patriarch claimed he had been tricked by a trusted priest who was later defrocked. He finally announced a formal move to cancel the deal in October.
At that point, tensions between Armenians and representatives of the developer – whose workers had forcibly taken over the car park – began turning into direct confrontations.
When Israeli bulldozers arrived at the contested site to try to begin demolition, Armenians rushed to block it. The next month, there were claims of intimidation as the developer arrived with several armed men.
Further attempted incursions came after the protest tent was set up. The most violent was last month when masked men came to the car park beating people with sticks and using tear gas. A priest, Father Diran Hagopian, broadcast events on Facebook Live.
“They were shouting, ‘you should go out from this land’,” he later told the BBC. “One of their leaders was shouting: ‘You can break their legs, you can even kill them, but they should leave.'”
The apparent involvement of known Jewish settlers in attacks alongside other evidence has increased long-held suspicions that a powerful settler organisation is involved in the attempted land takeover.
Image caption,Aviv Tatarksy, from Israeli non-profit organisation Ir Amim, says settler organisations want to “Judaise” the Old City
Ever since Israel captured the Old City and its holy sites from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War, Jewish investors in Israel and overseas have sought to buy properties to try to cement Israeli control over occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinians want this part of the city as the capital of their hoped-for future state. Jewish Israelis view the whole of the city as their eternal, undivided capital.
Researchers at the Israeli non-profit organisation Ir Amim, which is focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and supports the diversity of Jerusalem, are worried about developments in the Armenian Quarter.
“This is close to sensitive places,” says Aviv Tatarksy. “Creating a settlement in this area is part of very far-reaching aims of settler organisations who basically want to Judaise completely the Old City, with their eyes on the Temple Mount or al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The settlements built in occupied territory are seen as illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees.
The BBC has contacted the developer behind Xana Gardens several times but not heard back.
The now-defrocked American priest who coordinated the deal, Baret Yeretsian , was surrounded by a mob of angry young Armenians shouting “traitor” as he exited St James Convent last year, assisted by Israeli police, before moving to Southern California.
He has since denied to journalists that the developer has any political or ideological agenda, describing such accusations as “propaganda” based on his Jewish identity.
The Armenian Church has now begun proceedings through the Israeli courts to challenge the validity of the contract for the Cows’ Garden.
As locals gathered around a brightly lit Christmas tree in their makeshift tent last week, they remainhttps://selesaisudah.com/ed resolute but were aware that their legal fight could easily take years.
Whether incursions can be stopped in the meantime remains to be seen.
