The United States has deported five immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa where the king still holds absolute power.

The United States says it has sent five immigrants to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program.

Eswatini’s main opposition party claims its leader was poisoned in an assassination attempt.

Cyril Ramaphosa has been sworn in for a second term as South Africa's president in a ceremony in the administrative capital, Pretoria.

The small southern African nation of Eswatini is holding elections to decide part of the makeup of its parliament while its extremely wealthy king retains absolute power.

Southern African nations have sent envoys to the tiny kingdom of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, to engage with King Mswati III about the political and civil unrest that has engulfed the country in recent weeks.

The South African government has urged calm and restraint in Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, which has been engulfed by pro-democracy protests this week amid growing reports of state violence against demonstrators.

Pro-democracy activists in Eswatini, the southern African kingdom previously known as Swaziland, have vowed to intensify demonstrations against the monarchy until it makes democratic reforms and lifts its ban on all opposition parties.