Liberia’s new President Joseph Boakai failed to reach the end of his speech and had to be helped away from the podium during his swearing-in ceremony.

Mr Boakai, 79, had been speaking for around 30 minutes at his inauguration ceremony when it became clear that he was having difficulty continuing.

He failed twice to carry on speaking, and the ceremony was adjourned.

Some reports suggested that he suffered from heat exhaustion as the temperature reached more than 30C.

Video footage showed a man fanning papers near Mr Boakai’s face, before he was taken away.