The second Wednesday of March in Liberia, National Decoration Day, is always one of remembrance and people gathered this year at a memorial site where many victims of the virus were buried outside the capital, Monrovia, to pay their respects to family and friends. It was a grim milestone for those who lost loved ones to the virus, even though cultural stigma leads many to insist they died of other causes.

The Ebola outbreak killed some 11,000 people mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the United Nations. Liberia was declared free of the virus in 2016, after almost 5,000 deaths.

Many Liberians who lost loved ones during the outbreak deny the virus was to blame. Stigma and fear of the disease remain widespread in the population that survived.

Yasa Johnson told The Associated Press she has looked after her younger siblings since Ebola killed their mother.

“I have come to honor my mother,” she said at the Disco Hill Safe Burial Site in Margibi County, where many victims were buried on the outskirts of the capital.

Some 4,500 people are buried or cremated at the site, the National Public Health Institute of Liberia said. Relatives stood in groups carrying flowers and singing religious songs.

Elizabeth Brown and her husband, who operate an orphanage for children who lost their parents to the virus, also came to pay their respects.

“It saddens me, because their lives were cut off too soon,” she said. “We just want to help them.”

Since the outbreak, Liberia has been marked by ongoing economic struggles. Its newly elected president, Joseph Boakai, 79, came to office in January on a pledge to fix the economy, improve security and fight corruption.

The order will establish a task force that will have the legal mandate and state funding to investigate and retrieve wrongfully acquired government assets and seek the extradition of suspects involved, the presidency said in a statement.

It did not name any suspects or estimate the losses to the state but cited a need to "curtail this alarming menace that has engulfed our country and address the situation of converting public ... assets to private use by officials placed in positions of trust."

Boakai, who defeated his predecessor George Weah in the November elections, won on the promise to tackle endemic corruption and improve livelihoods in the West African nation, where over half of its 4.5 million people live in poverty.

In February, Boakai commissioned an audit of three government institutions, including the central bank. The investigation is focused on the period between 2018 and 2023. It will report its findings within three months.

In January, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, TI noted positive reforms introduced by Weah's administration in 2022-2023 but said impunity for corruption remained high as the measures had yet to be fully realized.

Liberia ranked 145 out of 180 countries on TI's Corruption Perceptions Index in 2023.

A representative of Weah did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Boakai's executive order.

Kush, a synthetically made drug that mimics the effects of cannabis, is wreaking havoc among young people in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone.

Users of the highly addictive substance are recognizable by their extreme drowsiness and can be seen anywhere from the slums to well-heeled areas.

Boakai said during his 40-minute speech to parliament that he and his vice-president would be the first to undergo a drug test, prompting a standing ovation in the chamber.

"The drug epidemic, especially the use of kush in our country, is an existential threat eating away at the future of our children and the country," Boakai said, adding, "we must stand up and face this national security risk together".

"Given the need for immediate action to make good my pledge to the thousands of families burdened by this crisis, I am hereby declaring drugs and substance abuse as a public health emergency," the president said.

Former president George Weah, who was beaten by Boakai in November's run-off poll, was criticized during the election campaign for failing to take sufficient action to counter the scourge while in office.

Abisseh Dennis, a social worker who helps young people get off drugs in Monrovia, welcomed Boakai's announcement and said he was setting an example for others.

"Where the drug is coming from, they need to stop it from coming into the country," she said, calling for a tougher crackdown on drug traffickers.

Boakai, 79, also pledged on Monday to invest in the country's transport, health and education sectors. He also said his government will fight corruption.

During his inauguration last week, the new president was hit by a brief spell of heat exhaustion and had to pause and sit down to finish his speech.

The scheduled program for the rest of the ceremony was abruptly cut short because of the incident.

The 79-year-old narrowly beat the former football star and Ballon d'Or winner Weah in November's run-off poll, with 50.64% of the vote to 49.36%.

"We see hard times, we see dysfunctioning … we see corruption in high and low places. And (it's) in these and similar conditions that we have come to the rescue," Boakai declared at his swearing-in ceremony.

Boakai, whose age and health are the source of much discussion in the country, had to pause and sit down to finish his address in testing heat.

He stressed the need to rebuild poor infrastructure, improve basic services for everyone and ensure all Liberians are given the same chance of succeeding.

The investiture in parliament was attended by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Boakai, who will be steering Africa's oldest republic for six years, has 40 years of political experience behind him.

He was vice president from 2006 to 2018 under Africa's first elected female head of state Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, before being soundly beaten by Weah in the 2017 election.

The November poll was peaceful in a region that has seen a succession of military coups in recent years in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger.

But the small nation of 5 million has been plagued with corruption, high levels of poverty and a weak justice system, after years of back-to-back civil wars and an Ebola outbreak.

Impunity related to crimes committed during those civil wars is another unresolved issue.

Backed by ex-warlord

Boakai aligned himself with local barons during his election campaign, including former warlord Prince Johnson.

Johnson, who enjoys strong support in northeastern Nimba County, backed Weah in 2017.

Johnson was also seen drinking a beer in a video while his men tortured to death former President Samuel Doe.

He has nominated one of his associates, Jeremiah Koung, as Boakai's vice president. Johnson himself is under U.S. sanctions.

Liberians expect Boakai to create jobs, improve the economy, strengthen institutions and fight corruption — which was one of his key campaign pledges.

"Expectations of Boakai's presidency are high," Larry Nyanquoi, a former local official in Nimba County, told AFP.

Boakai is "seen as somebody who has not engaged in corruption and one who has tried to live the simplest possible life."

Liberians also expect Boakai to ensure a stable supply of electricity and water, and to improve the road infrastructure to attract investment, Nyanquoi said.

Unity and reconstruction

The outgoing government has been accused not living up to its commitment to ensure the rule of law was upheld and failing to establish a war and economic crimes court and impunity in the country.

The mysterious deaths of four government auditors also raised suspicions.

"Every leader has promised to crack down on corruption and they have failed, so he has to say something different," Abdulla Kiatamba, an analyst at Geo Baraka Group of Strategists, said of Boakai.

"They have promised improved economic conditions and they have also failed so he has to say and do something that will be different."

After his win, Boakai called for unity to rebuild Liberia and promised to "extend development to the whole country," in particular by building roads in the southeast.

He also said that fighting corruption would be a priority and promised a "smooth and peaceful" transition.

Weah won plaudits for swiftly conceding defeat.

Boakai now faces the tricky challenge of accommodating all those who supported his election campaign when he starts distributing jobs, analysts say.

He is also believed to have several people in his inner circle with presidential ambitions of their own.

John Kollie, the executive director of Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives, told AFP that Boakai was expected to drop the prices of basic commodities such as gasoline and rice.

At least 15 Indian crew members were on board the MV Lila Norfolk, which was hijacked near Somalia's coast and the navy received information about it on Thursday evening, Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, reported earlier, citing military officials.

The ship sent a message on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, UKMTO, portal saying five to six unknown armed personnel had boarded on the evening of January 4, the Indian navy statement said.

The ship was 460 nautical miles east of the Somali coast when it sent the message, the UKMTO noted.

An Indian warship, the INS Chennai, was diverted and deployed to assist the vessel, the statement said, adding that a naval aircraft overflew the hijacked vessel on Friday and had established contact with it.

The Indian navy has increased its surveillance of the Arabian Sea after a recent spate of attacks in the region.

The hijacking of commercial ships and attempted hijackings by suspected pirates near the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea regions resumed in December after a six-year lull.

Data from the Indian Navy's Information Fusion Center - Indian Ocean Region shows at least three hijackings in December. The previous such incident was reported in 2017.

Experts believe this is because naval forces led by the U.S. have diverted their attention to the Red Sea to thwart Houthi attacks.

"The sudden revival in ship hijacking and attacks can only be attributed to the pirates' willingness to take advantage of the fact that the focus of anti-piracy maritime forces has largely shifted from the Gulf of Eden to the Red Sea," Abhijit Singh, head of the Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi said.

Earlier this week, the navy said it had investigated a large number of fishing vessels and boarded vessels of interest in the North and Central Arabian Sea.

"India plays the role of a net security provider in the entire Indian Ocean region. We will ensure that maritime trade in this region rises from the sea to the heights of the sky," Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said last month of the increased surveillance in the region.

India is not part of the U.S.-led Red Sea task force.

The tanker carrying gasoline crashed and tipped into a ditch along a road in Totota, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the capital Monrovia on Tuesday.

President George Weah sent his "profoundest sympathy" to the families of victims.

"So far more than 40 deaths have been recorded since a tanker transporting fuel made an accident and later exploded," the presidency said in a statement.

"It is reported that some locals in the area attempted to scoop the contents of the trapped tanker when the explosion happened," it added.

"There were lots of people that got burned," said Prince B. Mulbah, deputy inspector general for the Liberia national police.

Eyewitness Aaron Massaquoi told AFP that "people climbed all on top of the truck taking the gas, while some of them had irons hitting the tanker for it to burst for them to get gas."

"People were all around the truck and the driver of the truck told them that they could take the gas that was spilling," Massaquoi said.

"He told them not to climb on top of the tanker and that they should stop hitting the tanker.... but some people were even using screwdrivers to put holes on the tank."

Liberia's chief medical officer Dr Francis Kateh said that dozens had been badly burned.

"Dozens of injured people from the incident have been transported to various hospitals," the presidential statement confirmed.

"The President (Weah) has said health authorities have got his full backing to beef up manpower and equipment where necessary in their frantic attempt to save lives."