#Ugandan opposition figure appears before a #military court at home days after disappearing in #Kenya.

A well-known #Ugandan opposition figure appeared in a military court Wednesday days after he was reported missing in neighboring Kenya, and denied a charge of seeking military support from abroad to destabilize Uganda’s military forces.

#Kizza #Besigye, a fierce critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and once his personal doctor, has faced arrest and assault on previous occasions. He has contested and lost four presidential elections.

Besigye, who at first appeared in court without lawyers and in a cage, rejected government legal representation and said he should be tried in a civilian court because he's not a member of the armed forces.

The former president of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party also was charged with possessing an illegal firearm, which he denied. He will stay in custody until Dec. 2 with FDC member Hajj Lutale Kamulegeya, who was also charged and denied wrongdoing.

Besigye 's reappearance came four days after he went missing in Nairobi. On Saturday his wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, claimed he had been kidnapped and put in a Ugandan military jail.

The Ugandan government has not commented.

Kenya’s foreign affairs permanent secretary, Korir Singoei, told local media that Kenya was not involved in the alleged incident.

#Halalisani Nchunu, 27, was arrested last week in connection with the murder of Sipho Masuku, a prominent RBM contractor, and found in possession of three AK-47s and a 9mm pistol.#SouthAfrica

#News, #Trump still performing well, right now he still the 🏆

#KYIV, Ukraine -Ukrainian troops have for the first time engaged with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbour, Ukraine's defence minister said Tuesday.

Another #Kyiv official said Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region.

The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in combat, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.
Neither claim could be independently confirmed.

The Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in “small-scale” fighting that amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.

North Korean soldiers are mixed with Russian troops and are misidentified on their uniforms, Umerov was quoted as saying by KBS. That makes it hard to say whether there were any North Korean casualties, he said.

Umerov reportedly said he expects that five North Korean units, each consisting of about 3,000 soldiers, will be deployed to the Kursk area.

Meanwhile, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, said “the first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region.”

He provided no further details.

Western governments had expected that the North Korean soldiers would be sent to Russia’s Kursk border region, where a 3-month-old incursion by the Ukrainian army is the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II and has embarrassed the Kremlin.

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent by Pyongyang to the war under a pact with Moscow.

The Pentagon said Monday that at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia near Ukraine’s border.

More troops from North Korea’s 1.3-million-strong army may be slated for deployment in Russia, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations, an international think tank.

The ramifications extend far beyond Europe, it said.

The #Nigerian president and the UK prime minister held discreet talks at 10 Downing Street in early October. Since July, Britain's new Labour government has stepped up its contacts with Nigeria, where the UK foreign secretary is expected on 4 November.

#Botswana president concedes election defeat, BDP loses power after 58 years

President Mokgweetsi Masisi says he will ‘step aside’ after shock outcome for the governing Botswana Democratic Party.

#NAIROBI, October 21. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which take part in the conflict in Sudan, could have downed a cargo #plane, which supposedly carried Russian #citizens, having mistaken it for a military plane, the Sudan War Monitor website reported.

According to the report, one RSF commander said on a video, published by the militia, that it downed an "Egyptian Antonov plane" using "guided missiles." The website points out that, previously, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo accused Egypt of engaging its planes in the conflict - an allegation rejected by Cairo.

The Sudan War Monitor claims that an Il-76 plane was downed instead, with one crew member allegedly having an ID of Viktor Granov - chief engineer or Airline Transport Incorporation FZC, based in the UAE and affiliated with Kyrgyzstan. Another crew member had a Russian passport. No survivors have been reported, and the bulk of the plane has burned, the report says.

Previously, the Russian embassy in Sudan said that it is investigating the circumstances of the crash of a plane that could have potentially carried Russian citizens. According to the embassy, the "situation is complicated by the fact that the crash site is located in the region of Darfur, which is currently engulfed in fighting.".

#Ramaphosa orders probe into Guptas' breakfast briefings, which cost the #SABC R20m

#Ghana: Youth Harvest Foundation Commissions Borehole for Yikene Community #News #borehole #BoreholeCommissioning #GilbertAzeemTiroog #GNA

Kaizer Chiefs' coach Nasreddine Nabi admitted that they weren't at their best in their 4-0 win over #SuperSport United, but got the victory in honour of the club's chairman