>> hello. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines. the u.s. security council has discussed the controversial dam that egypt is building on the nile. security concerns have been raised. some say the matter should rather be discussed at the african urine -- african union meeting. >> a nation of over 100 million souls is facing an existential threat. a grand structure of mammoth

proportions. a colossal wall of iron and steel has risen along the banks of a great and ancient river and has cast a long, dark shadow across the future and fate of the people of egypt. with every brick and layer of mortar, it grows higher in the reservoir grows larger and it continues to constrict the life of millions of innocents living downstream of the giant dan. >> haiti says 28 attackers have been identified following the s&e stage -- following the assassination of the president. joe biden says american troops will leave afghanistan by august 31. he insists the u.s. has achieved objectives after nearly 20 years of war. the withdrawal comes as the

taliban continues to seize more territory. south level in the capital and majoring regions -- neighboring regions. this comes after the highest rise in cases. nubbers could double by the end of july. the olympic torch has arrived in tokyo but there will be no spectators at olympic events. the organizing committee made the decision after the country declared a state of emergency in tokyo as coronavirus cases surged there. does the headlines. i will have more news for you here on al jazeera after inside story. stay with us. ♪

>> fears of more tour moyle after haiti's president is assassinated. -- more turmoil after haiti's president is assassinated. what would happen next? will the u.n. need to intervene again? this is the inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the assassination of the haitian president is the latest of people in the poorest country in the americas. unknown gunmen raided his home, killing him and wounding his wife. police say they have killed for

suspects and arrested two others. the prime minister announced a state of siege lasting two weeks but it is unclear who has now been charged as the president had named another man to replace the prime minister. they fear more chaos lies ahead. roslyn jordan reports. reporter: the family of the haitian president will not be able to hold an open casket funeral. assassins shot him several times in the head. in front of his wife and daughter. later that night, police arrested these two men in a neighborhood. they killed four other suspects. three officers were briefly held hostage during the raid. the killing upset local residents. >> imagine living in this area close to the president. even though we have problems with the president, we cannot imagine who would kill him like this. >> i heard something go boom,

like an earthquake. i thought something under the soil had been turning. reporter: the prime minister urged haitians to remain calm. >> i have already spoken about the state of the siege declared. the president's body has been transported into the morgue and the capital. his wife is being treated in florida. at last check, she was stable. reporter: this came as he was in the middle of a political crisis. parliament had been suspended for two years and some had accused the president of trying to undermine the constitution. the decision to stay in power one more year, as long as elections took place on time. president biden: we need more information but this is very worrisome. reporter: the interim prime minister and the man the

president had picks to succeed him are fighting over who was in charge. the president's widow was flown to the u.s. to recover from her injuries. the border with the dominican republic is now closed. authorities have shut down the airport until former notice -- until further notice. >> haiti has been in political and financial turmoil for years. gang violence and kidnappings are common, especially in port-au-prince. inflation is high. food and fuel are scarce. the most 60% of the population makes less than two dollars a day. they have suffered a series of disasters, including an earthquake in 2010 that destroyed infrastructure, a 2016 hurricane, and the coronavirus pandemic. political instability led to protesters taking to the streets

recently to demand the president's resignation. for more on this, i am joined by our guests. in washington is jenna, president and ceo of the truman national security project. in new york, sam, a reporter for the haitian times. also in washington, d.c., jake, a research associate and lead author of a blog on haiti relief and construction. sam, let me start with you. who is exactly in charge in haiti right now? the interim prime minister claude joseph? because a new prime minister had been appointed a few days back but had not yet been sworn in. sam: correct. i believe he was expected to be sworn in later this week after moise was assassinated.

but claude joseph, the interim prime minister, is currently running the country. >> do you believe claude joseph has the political legitimacy to be able to run the country? or will there be more political struggles about who will take charge going forward? sam: i would definitely expect to see more conflict over who is in charge. i know ariel henry, who was nominated to become prime minister by the president has also claimed that he has the rightful prime minister and it is his government. so i definitely expect more conflict going forward. >> jenna, there are growing calls for the international community, especially the u.s., to step in and do more to put an end to violence in haiti and the political crisis in haiti.

what are international actors and to the u.s. in a position to do at this point? jenna: the situation on the ground is highly unstable. the security council had an emergency meeting. there were a couple of possibilities of what might happen. it is important we recognize this as haiti's second earthquake. the first was geographical and the second political. this is that devastating. i think it is possible we might see something i can to what we saw in the -- something akin to what we saw in 2004, and issuance of a three month destabilization force that became a predecessor of the peacekeeping operation that was on the ground for 13 years. until we see something like that, i expect we will see more calls for home.

-- calls for calm. mohammed: what happens going forward? jenna: they were on ground for 13 years and left four years ago. it was not perfect. he brought a modicum of stability. but of the $13 billion of foreign assistant provided by the international community from the earthquake and extended beyond that, haiti has very little to show for it. the peacekeeping operation was deeply flawed with widespread credible accusations of sexual assault, a cholera epidemic. i think there is a reluctance to return to a full-fledged peacekeeping operation. there is haiti fatigue and that cannot be overstated by the international community. there has been sustained presence on ground for two

decades in some way, shape, or form. so there dynamics are so urgent that there will be a call for presence of some sort to bring a modicum of stability on the ground. we need to see some stable -- we need to see some signal from the haitian government but as my colleague knows, there is real question about who is in charge. mohammed: jake, you wrote a piece in which you discussed the u.s. would be better suited to change policies toward haiti. what do you think needs to happen? how does the u.s. need to change their policies toward haiti? jake: another intervention from the international community or u.s. would be a disaster. there is a history of overturning elections, putting military troops on the ground, supporting coup d'etat.

when you look at the situation now, this is as much a product of international policy is anything else. so to look to them for a solution is misguided. i think yes, haiti is in a situation of political uncertainty today but they were before the assassination. his own mandate was contested. there had been calls for his resignation for some time. i think the most important thing moving forward is to listen to the voices in haiti, civil society organizations who have been clear about what they want to see going forward that does not involve foreign intervention but putting together a credible government to oversee a return to democracy. the democracy has been undermined for many years, including by the foreign actors. mohammed: talking about the undermining of democracy going

on in haiti for a long time, elections were supposed to happen in september. do you see that timeline being adhered to? jake: no. i think even those who say they support the elections truly believe -- do not truly believe they'll be able to do it. we've talked about a change in u.s. policy, this is what i was referring to. international actors in the past six months have been insistent that despite the lack of conditions for fair elections in haiti, elections must go forward. this contributed to the tension and pushed us -- push them to this point. so to act as if this has not changed the dynamic, i think it's moving towards a dangerous situation if they continue to call for elections. mohammed: sam, there has been so much reporting about how gang

violence and kidnappings have surged under the president's tenure. why was that the case? and just how bad is the situation for haitian citizens? how fearful are they right now from gangs out on the streets claiming more territory? how fearful are they that they could get kidnapped? sample in the situation has worsened over the past year. people are more reticent about going outside. they are staying in their homes more. that was definitely the case after the assassination when the streets were quiet in many areas. so there is definitely a climate of fear. but this issue with the gangs has been getting worse in the past several years as economic conditions in the country have

deteriorated. mohammed: what are you hearing now from sources on the ground about the instability and the fear that is they are now because of the assassination? what are you hearing from people in different parts of haiti? sam: i have heard that people want a national dialogue. they want all the different actors in the country to come together and create a stable environment for elections. if they are fearful about what is to come, about how the session right now ends. i do not think people trust the current forces in charge to organize a credible process for elections. mohammed: jenna, you are nodding to what sam is saying. jenna: yes. sam is on the money.

haiti needs to ultimately solve this political crisis on its own and come to an electoral outcome that is supported by the haitian people, absolutely. but i would differ with jake on this point. i think it is virtually impossible to guarantee a process that would be widely viewed as credible absent some sort of external, internationally supportive process. before we get to elections, we really should be talking about some kind of stabilization mechanism to keep peace on the ground. i think there is a high propensity for widespread political violence. the gangs are armed to the teeth. police have been overrun in recent months by gangs. there have been a number of gruesome killings of police officers. we just cannot really capture the full extent of the political

crisis that has been ongoing for some time. so before we can get to talk of haiti solving their political future, which of course it must in order for it to be tenable and sustainable long-term, we need a stabilization aspects to calm things on the ground so kids can go to school and the airport and border do not remain closed. we need and in this ticket -- we need an investigation about who was behind the attack. mohammed: who conducts the investigation? with so much political instability in haiti, is the government they are in any kind of position to conduct a -- is there government in any kind of position to conduct a credible investigation? jenna: president biden said the u.s. was ready to offer support

but had not received an official request. it is in everyone's self interest, including both sides who claim air to the throne to have an independent, external investigation, credibility brought by an independent third-party element to conduct an investigation would be very important, putting aside the reality that there is not an indigenous organization to conduct the investigation required. mohammed: jake, some say the president was a target because he was clinging to power, acting as an autocrat would and trying to expand his power. others say he was a target because of the reforms he wanted to implement. which scenario is more likely? jake: i think it is important to know that anything about

motivation here is speculation. we need to take time to get more information and not just feed into a rush to judgment. but going back to the issue of security, it's impossible to separate the sick -- the security situation in the situation with the gangs from the political situation. there are political conflicts that led to politicization of the police where there are open factions warn each other. both groups are funding gang warfare. so to address the situation without addressing the political situation would be a misguided effort. creating the space for a haitian dialogue for that process to take place will have a dramatic impact on the security side of things, even absent international intervention. mohammed: we have to talk about the humanitarian and landscape in haiti. how dire is it now and how much

has all of this instability and power vacuum on the constitutional crisis and everything else going on contributed to the suffering of haitian people? jake: it's extremely tough. 4 million people are insecure -- food insecure. but this is a product of decades and century of power being concentrated in port-au-prince and greatly ignoring the rest of the country. i think also a product of the focus on international action. when you look at the fights for power in port-au-prince, haitian politicians are looking for the injured -- are fighting for the interest of canada and the united states, not for haiti. if we want a represented oath -- representative government, that has to change.

mohammed: how much anger had the president been facing from the public over his attempt to hold onto power? sam: i think it has been building ever since the start of his term in november 2017 when the senate probe implicated him and others around him in corruption with money that had been granted to haiti, it was a loan from venezuela to purchase oil. that sparks popular protests in 2018 and then again in 2019. so that anger has been building. mohammed: doesn't look like there will be more anger directed toward the government? will protests continue? willoughby wait and see?

-- wheel eight b wait and see -- will it be wait and see? >> i don't think there will be a lot of trust in this process as it is being organized by the current government. the president was trying to organize a constitutional referendum and it is currently scheduled for september 26. that also true protests early this year. i can see more unrest if that process goes forward. mohammed: jenna, how much concern is they are among regional leaders? jenna: the dominican republic was quick to close the border, which admittedly is like locking your door with a screen door. it is a course border. suspects remain at large.

-- coarse border. suspects remain at large. there has been concern -- concern throughout the region. we saw initial expressions of concern from the organization of american states but the capacity of regional actors to respond in this environment will be very limited and that is why i think -- mohammed: is there any concern among the regional leaders about the state of emergency and if it has the potential to make things worse? jenna: we have 15 days. it is effectively martial law.

we will see as people continue to assert themselves in that capacity. they have 15 days in which to create an environment in which they can shut down protests. we will be looking for additional displays of force on the ground and the dynamics surrounding that. the question is what happens after the 15 days. there is a reputation for extending these decrees for an extended time. so what happens after this and what comes out of the security council session later this afternoon. we will look for the two week mark. mohammed: jake, is there any chance at this point that mr. joseph would go to the

opposition and try to work out some kind of deal going forward? or is there a possibility that some type of transitional republic could be put in place in a climate where things are so politically divided. -- divided? jake: i think it's important to read -- to remember that this did not begin with the assassination of the president. we have to look at a few things. one is the conflicts between claude joseph and the other. the underlying political dynamics are still there. they will still drive what comes next. were talking about a push for elections and others calling for a transitional government. right now we can't expect electricians next year -- cannot

expect elections next year. mohammed: jenna, i want to give you the last word. jenna: i think it will be virtually impossible to imagine a dynamic in which suddenly a transitional government is possible without additional support externally. as jake notes, there has been a deep political crisis ongoing for years. so the heinous and unexpected assassination of the sitting president is not going to bring about a sudden political peace. if anything, it will inflame tensions and make what was already near impossible even more challenging. i think we need to manage expectations and what we can hope for near term is a modicum of calm. mohammed: we have run out of time. we have to leave the conversation there. thank you so much to all of our guests. and thank you for watching.

you can see this and any program any time by visiting al jazeera.com and also go to our facebook page. you can join the conversation on twitter. for me and the team here, goodbye for now. ñgawawawmñña [music playing]

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