African press review 16 February 2012

In South Africa, The Sowetan reports that the South African trade union federation Cosatu will join the ANC Women’s League’s march against attacks on women wearing miniskirts, spokesperson Patrick Craven said on Wednesday.

The march against gender-based violence in due to take place in Johannesburg on Friday.

On Wednesday, police said no arrests had been made following the assault of two women at the Noord Street taxi rank in central Johannesburg in December.

The Daily Nation reports that Zimbabwe has suspended 29 non-governmental organisations in one of its provinces, state media reported on Wednesday, raising worries of a crackdown similar to one that preceded the elections in 2008.

President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party kicked out foreign NGOs ahead of the poll four years ago, making it difficult for the outside world to provide humanitarian assistance or monitor a vote marred by political violence and voter-intimidation.

The Zanu-PF governor of the southern Masvingo province said the 29 NGOs had been suspended in Masvingo for ignoring demands to renew their annual registration.

Mugabe wants parliamentary and presidential elections this year, despite having agreed in the 2008 power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change that they would not be held until 2013, after a new constitution has been put in place.

In Kenya, the Daily Nation reports that Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Wednesday exchanged angry words in parliament over the implementation of the constitution and the trial of the Ocampo Four at the International Criminal Court in Holland.

The trouble started when Ruto asked Odinga to clarify earlier utterances to the effect that those who opposed the passing of the constitution should not seek leadership positions come the next elections.

Odinga denied that he had called for the disenfranchisement of those who opposed the new constitution but added that people who spearheaded the No campaign could not be trusted to implement the consitution once it was passed.

In the course of the exchanges, the issues of trials of the Ocampo Four at the ICC came up, with Odinga defending himself against claims that he prodded The Hague to investigate and try those behind the 2008 post-election violence.

The Daily Monitor reports that the Kenyan army says it has crippled Somalia’s al-Shebab rebels four months after launching an offensive against them but its superior firepower alone is unlikely to be decisive, according to analysts.

Military officials claim air strikes and ground assaults have routed the al-Qaeda-linked fighters and disrupted their revenue sources since the incursion began in October. The army claims that 75 per cent of al-Shebab's revenue collection has been disrupted.

Politically, Kenya had hoped to form a new security administration inside the southern Somali regions of Gedo, Lower and Middle Juba - together known as Jubaland - and had trained Somali forces to police the buffer-territory.

However, the idea has gained little traction, and the international support from Western allies in terms of the military aid Kenya had hoped for has at best been modest.

Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete has received high praise for the way he has handled the issue of the new constitution, with analysts reporting that it has helped restore faith in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.

According to the Economic Intelligence Unit January report for Tanzania, this places CCM in pole position to continue dominating Tanzania’s politics despite the threat posed by the opposition, especially Chadema.

According to the report, there are chances that divisions in the ruling party may grow but they will not harm its chances of winning the 2015 presidential election.