General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema was sworn in as president of Gabon Saturday after winning almost 95% of votes in April 12 election, having served as interim president since taking power in a 2023 coup. Nguema, 50, won the election with 58,074 votes, which accounts for 94.85% of votes cast, according to the final results announced by the Constitutional Court.

He was expected to win the election, being widely seen in the Central African country as the man who put an end to the Bongo dynasty, which ruled the country for more than 50 years. Nguema, the former head of the country’s Republican Guard, toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba nearly two years ago. Following the coup, soldiers proclaimed Nguema, a cousin of deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba, as president of a transitional committee to lead the country.

Many accused the Bongo family of living in oil-funded luxury while much of the population struggled. The inauguration was held in the Angondjé stadium and was attended by several high profile African leaders, including both President Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who have been in peace talks in recent months due to the ongoing conflict between Congolese forces and Rwanda-backed rebels in Congo’s east.

This year’s election was seen as a crucial election for the central African nation’s 2.3 million people, a third of whom live in poverty despite its vast oil wealth. Nguema gained support on a platform of anti-corruption and promised to develop the country, focusing on key campaign promises including improving the healthcare sector, building roads, and giving jobs to young people.

In the quiet town of Cactus, Texas, Haitian migrants like Nicole and Idaneau Mintor are facing a new wave of fear and uncertainty. Both work long hours at the JBS meatpacking plant—home to 3,700 workers, many of them immigrants—debating whether the American dream they chased is now slipping away.

Nicole, who arrived through the CBP One program last November, says she was drawn to the region for its job opportunities and higher wages. She earns more than $20 an hour deboning cattle—money she could never have hoped to make in Haiti. But earlier this month, she received a message warning her to leave the U.S. within seven days or face deportation or fines.

“They would consider going back to Haiti,” she said in Haitian Creole. “But the country is in a bad situation right now. You can’t make a decision. You have no idea what to do.”

The Biden-era immigration parole program allowed hundreds of thousands from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter legally. But recent actions under Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown have thrown those protections into question. Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of deportation notices, many like Nicole still live in fear of losing their jobs, homes, and work permits.

“I don’t steal. I pay my bills. I respect the laws,” said Mintor. “But they are planning to take away my work permit.”

For these workers, the uncertainty is not just legal—it’s existential. With no clear path forward and no safe way back, their futures hang in limbo.

Lebanese authorities warned the Palestinian Hamas group Friday not to carry out any attacks from Lebanon otherwise they will face the “harshest measures.”

The warning by the Higher Defense Council, Lebanon’s top military body, came weeks after several Lebanese and Palestinians were detained on suspicion of firing rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The move comes as Lebanese authorities are spreading their authority throughout the country, mainly in the south near the border with Israel after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended in late November with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

“Hamas and other factions will not be allowed to endanger national stability,” the council said. “The safety of Lebanon’s territories is above all.”

Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests by The Associated Press for comment on the Lebanese decision.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, the Palestinian group that has armed presence in Lebanon has carried out several attacks against Israel. Israel has since carried out airstrikes that killed Hamas official, including one of its top military chiefs, Saleh Arouri, in Beirut.

Lebanese authorities detained last month several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were allegedly involved in firing rockets toward Israel in two separate attacks in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets. “The harshest measures will be taken to put a complete end to any act that infringes on Lebanon’s sovereignty,” said the statement that was read by Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Mustafa.

The meeting of the Higher Defense Council was attended by senior officials including the country’s president, prime minister, army commander and heads of security services. The council’s statement quoted Prime Minister Nawaf Salam as saying that all “illegal weapons” should be handed over to the state.

The announcement in Beirut came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit Lebanon later this month. Since the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire went into effect in late late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone fired three missiles Friday morning at a gas station in the southern village of Houla wounding five poeple. On Thursday, Israel said it killed an official with Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in a drone strike in south Lebanon.