Five Ethiopians were executed in Saudi Arabia this week on drug-related charges following a trial that allegedly did not follow due process and lasted a few minutes without a translator, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights organization said Tuesday at least 79 other Ethiopians remain at imminent risk of execution on similar charges. It cited the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, which said at least 116 people have been executed this year. Human Rights Watch said the five were charged with possessing hashish, a type of cannabis. … Last week, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said it remained “closely engaged” with Saudi authorities on matters affecting Ethiopians. The ministry said it was looking into individuals facing legal proceedings and judicial measures but did not specify whether they included people sentenced to death for drug offences. In May, the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church appealed to Saudi authorities to halt the execution of Ethiopian nationals. (AP)

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been hospitalized and is unconscious after he collapsed during a courtroom session of his treason trial, according to his wife and others who are urging authorities to set him free after repeated bail denials. Besigye fell in the dock on Wednesday while protesting his trial without lawyers of his own choosing, after authorities detained his main attorney, Erias Lukwago, and charged him with alleged failure to report acts of treason. Besigye’s wife, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, said in a post on X that Besigye is unconscious in an intensive care unit at a public hospital in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. “Before he collapsed, he cried out that he was being injured,” she said. … Besigye once was a trusted ally of Museveni in the guerrilla war that propelled him to power in 1986, and even served as Museveni’s personal doctor and military assistant. He later became a fierce critic of the president, condemning what he saw as a descent into authoritarianism that betrayed the democratic promise of Museveni’s early years. Term and age limits on the presidency have since been scrapped. (AP)

Five Kenyan security officers were killed in a clash with suspected ​al Shabaab militants in the ‌county of Mandera near the Somali border, police said. The militant group has been battling for ​years to overthrow Somalia’s central ​government and establish its rule in the ⁠Horn of Africa country, based on ​its own strict interpretation of Islamic ​sharia law. … Police ‌are ⁠pursuing the militants, they added, after a reinforcement team sent to the area was hit by an improvised explosive ​device, which ​destroyed an ⁠armoured vehicle, though no casualties were reported. Al Shabaab’s frequent attacks ​in the region frequently targets ​both ⁠military and civilians, with police saying in January the militants had killed a local ⁠chief ​and a teacher in ​the nearby county of Garissa. (Reuters)

A large contingent of Rapid Support Forces retreating from Um Sayala, Jabrat al-Sheikh, and Bara launched retaliatory attacks against civilians in North Kordofan, local sources told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday. The raids targeted the towns and villages of Um Badr, Sodari, Abu Zaima, Hamrat al-Sheikh, and El Mazroub. Retreating fighters looted local markets completely, raided residential homes, and arrested scores of residents under accusations of sharing coordinates with the Sudanese military, sources said. The reprisal attacks coincided with a series of drone strikes, presumed to belong to the Sudanese army, targeting RSF convoys in Sodari, Um Badr, and El Mazroub. … Sodari serves as a vital strategic corridor that the RSF previously used to transport military supplies and fighters between Darfur and Khartoum. … The escalation follows the army and its allies regaining control of about five strategic areas in North Kordofan, including the critical export road linking Khartoum to Kordofan and Darfur. (Sudan Tribune)