Ugandan opposition leader collapses in court and in ICU, his wife says

KAMPALA, Uganda 

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in the capital, Kampala, after collapsing and losing consciousness during his treason trial, his wife has said.

Prison guards put Besigye in an ambulance after he collapsed

The 70-year-old has been in detention since November 2024. His lead lawyer was arrested last month and charged with allegedly failing to report acts of treason.

The visibly frail politician was objecting to state lawyers being appointed to represent him when he fell, prompting prison guards to rush him to hospital.

"He is unconscious, unable to speak, and unresponsive even to a pain stimulus," his wife, Winnie Byanyima, who heads the UN's agency tackling HIV and Aids (UNAids), wrote on X.

Besigye, who has run for president against long-serving leader Yoweri Museveni four times, was dramatically abducted in Kenya in 2024 and taken back to Uganda.

He has since been held along with his aide, Obeid Lutale, and both have been charged with treason, which they deny.

Prosecutors allege that Besigye and his co-accused plotted to overthrow President Museveni's government.

Treason is a capital offence in Uganda and if found guilty the veteran politician could be sentenced to death.

During Wednesday's hearing at the High Court in Kampala witnesses in court said Besigye repeatedly shouted "stop" about his legal representation before collapsing.

"Before he collapsed, he cried out that he was being injured," his wife posted, adding that Besigye's sister Olive Kobusingye, who is a doctor, was in court but was not allowed to attend to him.

He was transferred to Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda's largest public hospital, but was refusing treatment from government medical personnel.

"He will not allow any government official to touch him," Byanyima said.

His wife demanded that Besigye be allowed to receive treatment from his personal physician at a private clinic rather than at a government health facility.

The ICU wing where Besigye is being treated is guarded by heavily armed security officers. Reports say his sister, who is also his personal doctor, has now been allowed to see him.

Besigye's main lawyer, Erias Lukwago, is in jail after being seized by the army last month.

His other lead lawyer, prominent Kenyan Martha Karua, was then barred from entering the country when she flew in to represent him last month.

There have been increasing calls by the family, opposition and human rights groups for Besigye to be released on medical grounds.

On Wednesday, Besigye's son, Adam Ampa, appealed to President Museveni and his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is Uganda's army chief, to show mercy by releasing his father on humanitarian grounds.

"Regardless of politics, no son should have to witness his father reach such a state while standing before the very law he served and dedicated his life," Ampa wrote in an open letter shared on social media.

This is not the first time Besigye has been admitted to hospital since his detention.

In February 2025, he was taken to a private clinic after his health deteriorated while on hunger strike over his continued detention.

He was taken to hospital for a brief stay again earlier this year.

Bobi Wine, a Ugandan opposition politician who fled the country fearing for his life after ​contesting the January presidential election, said Besigye's appearance in court while clearly unwell was a "shocking violation of his most basic rights".

Besigye once served as Museveni's personal doctor before breaking ranks with him in 1999.

He has been less active in politics in recent years, and did not contest the 2021 election.

US launches 'heavy' strikes on Iran after attempted attack on American troops

WASHINGTON, United States 

The US military says it has completed a "heavy wave" of strikes against Iran in retaliation for Tuesday's attempted ballistic missile attacks on American forces.

Centcom said it hit "dozens" of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in response to Iran's firing on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media said the latest strikes had killed three people, including a two-year-old child, on Qeshm island, while other locations were also hit in the south and west of the country.

The latest hostilities come on a week that has seen the conflict expand, with the first publicly announced joint US-Saudi strikes targeting Iranian proxies in Iraq.

When the US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in February, President Donald Trump said the war would last only a few weeks, but it has gone on for five months with no end in sight.

On Wednesday, news outlet Axios cited an unnamed US official as saying that Trump had met Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, who had conveyed that Saudi Arabia wants to de-escalate tensions. 

Meanwhile, the Egyptian government said a fire at a port on Wednesday had been caused by a drone attack. Egypt, a US ally, has not previously been directly attacked during the war.

The US-Iran conflict has reignited after several days of relative calm.

For days, both sides halted strikes as talks apparently restarted in hopes of some type of diplomatic solution. Trump called them "very friendly negotiations", though Tehran denied any discussions were happening.

But following the Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan on Tuesday, Trump vowed to retaliate, telling reporters at the White House: "We're going to be hitting them very hard because it's our turn to hit them. They know it's coming. They asked us not to do it."

The latest wave of US strikes started at 20:00 ET on Wednesday (01:00 BST on Thursday) and lasted about an hour, with Centcom calling them a "powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East". All of Iran's missiles were intercepted, Centcom said.

The attack by the US targeted "military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities," Centcom wrote once the strikes were complete.

Iranian state media agency Irib reported that the islands of Qeshm and Abadan, both central to the oil industry, were among the areas hit.

"A US attack on a residential home in the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child," Fars reported citing the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences.

Meanwhile, Jordan's armed forces said that air defence systems had successfully shot down five Iranian missiles targeting the Kingdom's territory on Thursday.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 30/7/2026

 

DR Congo court approves referendum law, fueling third-term debate

KINSHASA, DR Congo 

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Constitutional Court has approved a controversial referendum law that critics say could pave the way for President Félix Tshisekedi to seek a third term in office.

In a ruling announced on state television, the court said the proposed legislation complies with the constitution. The law would allow the president to amend the constitution through a constituent assembly followed by a referendum in the event of what it describes as a "major dysfunction" of state institutions.

However, the judges raised concerns over provisions that would have allowed the president to call a referendum on any issue considered to be of "fundamental" importance.

The bill was passed by parliament in June, where President Tshisekedi's coalition holds a comfortable majority. It now awaits the president's signature before becoming law.

Under the current constitution, the president is limited to two five-year terms, with Tshisekedi's second and final mandate due to end in 2028. The constitution also states that presidential term limits cannot be revised.

Although Tshisekedi has repeatedly denied seeking a third term, he said in May that he would accept another mandate if requested by the Congolese people.

The opposition has strongly criticized the reform, arguing that it could undermine constitutional safeguards. The debate comes as the country faces mounting security challenges, including renewed fighting with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group in the east and a growing Ebola outbreak.

Equatorial Guinea and Gabon resolve 50-year border dispute

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia 

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea signed an agreement on Tuesday ending a decades-long dispute over three tiny islands in potentially oil-rich waters after the top UN court backed Malabo.

The two west African nations had been squabbling over the 30-hectare island of Mbanie and two smaller low-lying islets, Cocotiers and Conga, since the early 1970s.

In May last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, which rules in disputes between states, found in favour of Equatorial Guinea.

At a ceremony at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Equatorial Guinean Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono Angue and Gabon's head of the Constitutional Council Dieudonne Aba'a Owono signed the accord committing both countries to respect the ICJ's decision.

"This matter has been settled once and for all," the Equatorial Guinean minister said, adding the two countries must now "move forward."

Aba'a Owono said the agreement opened "a new era of cooperation with Equatorial Guinea."

AU Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who also signed the agreement, welcomed the resolution of a border dispute that he said had gone on for too long.

The spat dated back to 1900, when then colonial powers France and Spain signed a treaty in Paris setting out the borders between the two countries.

Gabon argued that a later treaty, the 1974 Bata Convention, then fixed the islands' sovereignty in its favour.

The two countries asked the ICJ to decide which legal texts were valid -- the Paris Treaty of 1900 or the Bata Convention of 1974.

The court ruled that the Bata Convention did not constitute a legal title to the islands, which was held by Spain and had passed to Equatorial Guinea upon independence in 1968.

The islands themselves are tiny and virtually uninhabited but lie in an area potentially rich in oil and gas.

Iran and US trade strikes, shattering brief lull in fighting

By Kayla Epstein, WASHINGTON United States 

Iran has launched "multiple" ballistic missiles in an "attempted surprise attack" on American forces in the Middle East, the US military said, shattering a lull in the fighting.

The attack occurred at 17:45 EDT (21:45 GMT) on Tuesday, with all missiles "successfully intercepted", said US Central Command (Centcom), which did not disclose any locations of targets.

The US military and Saudi Arabian forces meanwhile struck "Iran-aligned terrorists" in Iraq in retaliation for Iran-directed drone attacks, according to Centcom.

Tehran has not yet commented. The reported crossfire would end a brief break in hostilities between the US and Iran, which was designed to bring negotiators back to the table.

The US and Saudi Arabia struck "multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites" in eastern Iraq, according to Centcom.

The US military said this was "a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours", using an acronym for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Centcom said Iran's military "and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further US military response".

Earlier on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia said its military had intercepted and destroyed drones targeting petroleum facilities in the country's eastern region.

Defence ministry spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki alleged the drones were launched by Iran-affiliated militia groups in Iraqi territory.

The reignited hostilities come a day after US President Donald Trump spoke of "very friendly negotiations" with Iran. At that point, the two sides had not exchanged strikes for a third consecutive day.

The pause in fighting had followed 13 straight nights of bombing by the US, which said it had destroyed tunnels and bridges in southern Iran. Scores of people were reported to have died in the strikes.

Access and control of the Strait of Hormuz remains a key sticking point in talks, which Tehran has denied are even happening.

Oil prices rose early on Wednesday over concerns that an escalation in the conflict could further disrupt energy shipments through the strait.

In morning trading in Asia, the global benchmark Brent crude was up by 4.3% $87.70 (£65.98) a barrel, while US-traded oil was 4.2% higher at $82.62.

The latest strikes coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, where he met Trump at the White House and attended the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent Iran hawk.

At least 624 US military service members have been wounded since Trump ordered strikes against Iran in February, according to recent Pentagon data.

The Pentagon said 417 of those personnel were injured in relation to Operation Epic Fury, the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 29/7/2026

 

Uefa reacts with fury to Infantino World Cup plan

GENEVA, Switzerland 

European football's governing body Uefa has reacted furiously to proposals from Fifa to seek private investment in its competitions, including the World Cup.

Fifa - the sport's global governing body - said it intends to expand "football development funding" to more than $10bn (£7.5bn) and invite third-party investment in a new venture.

The story was first reported in the Financial Times and the Times, with the latter claiming the plans could potentially earn Fifa president Gianni Infantino tens of millions of pounds.

In a lengthy statement outlining the proposals, Fifa says it will " invite third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments" in a new subsidiary - Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) - to "consolidate" its commercial and event operations.

Fifa say that once approval has been granted, Thrive Eternal is expected to lead the proposed investor group for FFE.

Thrive is an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared.

Infantino said every nation should benefit from the riches football creates.

"Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value - and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game," he said.

"Our job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: Fifa exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world."

However, Uefa issued a statement criticising the proposals, which it claimed "crosses a line".

Uefa sees the announcement as a step too far - and raises the potential for further expansion of Fifa competitions in order to raise revenue, both in terms of size and frequency, which could threaten its own lucrative competitions.

"This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross," Uefa said.

"Uefa takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder who cares about the future of the game.

"The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade - especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not Fifa's to sell."

Fifa says it would retain control of FFE "and exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, the international match calendar and all regulatory and sporting decisions".

The matter is likely to be a topic of conversation at the next Fifa Council meeting in the autumn and then around the Fifa Intercontinental Cup, featuring Champions League winners Paris St-Germain, in December.

The proposal could be voted on by all 211 members at the Fifa Congress in Morocco in March.

Libya orders army to expel protesters from gas plant

TRIPOLI, Libya 

The internationally-recognised government in divided Libya said it has ordered the army to regain control of a gas plant after a group of protesters forced their way in, risking a blackout.

"The head of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdelhamid Dbeibah, has ordered the ministry of defence and the general staff of the armed forces to immediately take full control of the Mellitah gas complex and to reopen the gas pipelines and gas supply to the country's power plants," it said.

On Monday night, protesters angered by frequent and prolonged power cuts forced entry to the site, bringing it to a halt.

"Several groups of people entered the Mellitah complex to shut off the gas valves supplying power plants, which threatens to put several plants out of service and increases the likelihood of a general collapse of the power grid," electricity company GECOL said.

The situation is "extremely critical", it added.

"Negotiations are underway to persuade the protesters to allow operations to resume," an official at the complex told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Their presence "poses a high risk" to the operation of the gas complex and its control rooms, the official said.

Overnight, scores of young people dumped rubbish in front of the headquarters of oil and gas companies in Tripoli, chanting "The people want the fall of the regime," in protest against power cuts and the high cost of living.

The vast complex supplies natural gas to several Libyan power plants for local electricity production.

With the most abundant oil reserves in Africa, Libya plunged into war during the ouster in 2011 of former leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Two governments are currently vying for power there: a UN-recognised administration in Tripoli and a rival in the east of the country backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

In recent days, hundreds of residents of the Tripoli area have demonstrated against interruptions in the power supply.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 28/7/2026