Ugandan opposition leader in Kenya for medical treatment

Kizza Besigye is suffering from temporary blindness and serious bruising, his sister saysAn assistant to Besigye says the opposition leader is in serious conditionBesigye was hit with pepper spray and was arrested on Thursday in KampalaThe Ugandan president says that Besigye attacked police with pepper spray first

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye remained at a private hospital here on Saturday for treatment and observation following his arrest earlier this week, his sister said.

Besigye's sister, a medical doctor in Uganda, said her brother has suffered from temporary blindness and serious bruising since his arrest in Uganda on Thursday. She spoke to CNN by phone from Uganda's capital city of Kampala.

"He has had several tests," said Olive Kobusingye, "to test the toxicology of the substance that police sprayed in his eyes."

An assistant to Besigye said the opposition leader is in serious condition and that his doctors have deemed him "too weak" to talk to anyone. He will be kept in observation for at least another night, said the assistant in Nairobi.

CNN could not independently confirm the reports of Besigye's health.

Meanwhile, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was also in Nairobi on Saturday, addressing a popular private business forum.

He spoke just one day after hundreds of angry protesters faced off with security police in the streets of Kampala. At least four people were killed and 120 injured, according to the Ugandan minister of internal affairs.

Rioters were angry at the government and upset over Besigye's latest arrest.

Besigye has been arrested several times this month.

After his fourth arrest on Wednesday, he was released on bail and ordered by the court not to protest for seven months. Defying orders, Besigye hit the streets again Thursday, where men in civilian clothing smashed his car and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray before loading him into a police car.

"Apparently it was after that opposition leader who sprayed the police with that pepper spray first," said Museveni. "I think the lenses of CNN didn't see very well. It was that leader who did that first."

Journalists working for CNN on the scene and videos of the arrest report no attack on the police prior to Besigye's arrest.

Responding to opposition claims that several demonstrators have been killed by police using live ammunition, Museveni said that their deaths will be "investigated."

"This will not escalate. We will defeat them," he said about protesters. "My democracy is a democracy with discipline."

Besigye lost presidential bids in 2001, 2006 and 2011. Museveni has led the east African nation for 25 years.

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Nigerian leader to rioters: 'Enough is enough'

Nigeria in turmoil over election resultsNEW: Electoral commission postpones voting in two statesThe president tells protesters to avoid violence"There are ... no grievances that our laws and courts cannot address," he says Protesters in the mostly Muslim north charge the vote is rigged after Jonathan's election

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Concerned about ongoing violence, Nigerian election officials Thursday delayed gubernatorial elections in two states.

Voters in Kaduna and Bauchi states will now go to the polls on April 28, said Attahiru M. Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Elections will continue April 26 in other states.

"This is to allow for further cooling of tempers and for the security situation in those states to improve," Jega said.

The development came after Goodluck Jonathan, who was declared the winner in the recent presidential election, warned perpetrators of postelection violence that "enough is enough. He said the unrest in a series of elections brings back memories of events leading up to a 1960s civil war in the nation.

Jonathan, who ran as the incumbent, hails from the oil-rich southern region, which is majority Christian.

Parts of the mostly Muslim north charged the elections were rigged. Armed protesters in the region prowled the streets chanting the name of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, the main opposition frontrunner.

"We are shocked by these horrific acts, which strike at the heart of our nation," Jonathan said in a statement Thursday. "These acts of mayhem are sad reminders of the events which plunged our country into 30 months of an unfortunate civil war."

Muslims fearing reprisal attacks in Christian areas have fled to military barracks or neighboring states, the Nigerian Red Cross said.

More than 40,000 people are displaced in the north, according to the aid group. Government officials have declined to release the number of fatalities or injuries over fears it could prompt revenge attacks.

Jonathan urged protesters to avoid violence, saying "enough is enough."

"There are ... no grievances that our laws and courts cannot address," he said.

Jonathan's warning comes two days after he pledged a "new dawn" for the nation following the vote hailed as a significant improvement from past polls.

The last election four years ago was widely condemned for rampant vote rigging, violence, theft of ballot boxes and intimidation. While Saturday's election was marred by violence, reports of underage voting and other logistical problems, observers considered it an improvement.

Action Congress of Nigeria, an opposition party, Thursday called the presidential election "the most systematically rigged election in Nigeria's history" and warned against a repeat in next week's gubernatorial elections.

''President Jonathan should call his dogs of war at the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) to order, so that they will not push their luck by attempting to thwart the will of the people any more than they have already done, with the grim consequences that we all can now see,'' the party said.

World leaders have urged the west African nation to probe allegations of ballot stuffing and unusually high turnout in some areas.

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and its most populous nation with 150 million people.

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New leader picked for restive Syrian province

Protesters gathered to demonstrate against the government of Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, April 19 in Banias.NEW: Al-Assad lifts emergency law, abolishes special courtThe president swears in a new governor of HomsThe protest takes place after the government warns against public gatherings

(CNN) -- Syria's president lifted the country's 48-year-old state of emergency Thursday, one of three expected government moves aimed at fostering stability among a discontented populace.

But human rights activists question the government's intentions to follow through on reform because of the stiff police crackdown on peaceful protests.

President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree that tosses out the emergency law, a major demand of opposition members.

He also abolished the Higher State Security Court, a special court that prosecutes people regarded as challenging the government, another measure hated by opposition forces.

Al-Assad also issued a decree "regulating the right to peaceful protest, as one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution."

The moves come two days after the country's newly formed Cabinet approved the measures. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, called the legislation "strategic" and "part of the country's political reform program."

Despite the changes, there've been continuing clashes and tensions between security forces and protesters, who have taken to the streets since mid-March with a variety of grievances. Scores have died in bloody confrontations.

Groups like Amnesty International have welcomed the government's moves to lift the state of emergency and abolish the "notoriously unfair" security court that the 1963 emergency law "spawned."

The emergency law permitted the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes. The law barred detainees who haven't been charged from filing court complaints or from having a lawyer present during interrogations.

But, "the concessions now being made by the government have been achieved at a very heavy cost in human lives," Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Tuesday when the Cabinet passed the decrees.

"There must be no more slaughter. Syria's president must take firm action now to stop the bloody crackdown by his security forces and ensure that those responsible for it are held to account."

"President Bashar al-Assad should match his action in lifting the emergency by establishing an immediate independent investigation into the unlawful killings and other violations committed by his forces, and by providing reparation to the victims," Smart added.

Demonstrators are demanding other changes, such as releasing political prisoners, lifting travel bans, and the right to establish independent political parties, said Najati Tayara, an activist in Homs.

Tayara, who says he hasn't been part of the demonstrations, is the spokesman for the Homs Center for Citizenship, a movement he said was recently created by young people from different backgrounds.

The group is calling for more freedom and a multi-party system in a society now controlled by the Baath Party.

Meanwhile, a new governor of Homs was appointed by the Syrian government. Al-Assad swore in Ghassan Abdul-Aal Thursday, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.

There have been public protests, clashes between demonstrators and security forces, arrests, and reports of deaths in the city of Homs.

On Sunday, security forces reportedly killed 17 protesters, Amnesty International said. Police arrested political activist Mahmoud Issa late Tuesday, and people were reported killed in clashes after an overnight sit-in protest earlier that day.

Tayara told CNN the situation in Homs is quiet Thursday, but he noted that demonstrations have been staged on Fridays in recent weeks. He said there's no security presence in the city but there are security forces on the outskirts of impoverished neighborhoods.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton singled out the region Wednesday in comments to reporters about Syria. She urged the governor to end violence, stop "arbitrary arrests, detentions, and torture of prisoners" and "begin a serious political process."

"We are particularly concerned about the situation in Homs, where multiple reports suggest violence and casualties among both civilians and government personnel," she said.

Abdul-Aal succeeds Mohammed Iyad Ghazal, who was relieved from his job after protests and citizen complaints, according to the Syrian Days website.

Raman Qubani, a 31-year old political activist, told CNN about 6,500 demonstrators from all religious sects and ethnic groups rallied in Ein al-Arab, near Syria's Turkish border.

They chanted "Allah, Syria, Freedom," but did not talk about toppling the regime.

In Aleppo, Syria's largest city, authorities arrested 35 people after a protest Wednesday, a rights group reported Thursday.

The demonstrators were taken into custody at the University of Aleppo, said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights.

CNN's Rima Maktabi, Arwa Damon, Salma Abdelaziz, Yousuf Basil, Nada Husseini, and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report

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