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African press review 4 October 2013

A Nigerian plane crash is a double tragedy. SA police try to tackle trauma. Questions about Westgate remain unanswered. Who killed Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo? Who won Guinea's election? And why is Dakar short of water?

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In Nigeria the papers are all about Thursday’s plane crash that killed 20 passengers and the crew. The small plane, operated by Associated Airlines, went down a minute after taking off from the Murtala Mohamed airport in Ikeja, Lagos.

It was a double tragedy, according to The Punch, as the chartered aircraft was conveying the remains of ex-Ondo State governor Olusegun Agagu to his hometown for burial and several members of Agagu’s family were on board. 

TheDaily Times reports that Mrs Agagu and her son are confirmed dead. The Punch says the casket containing Agagu’s remains were retrieved from the wreckage undamaged

In South Africa the Johannesburg Star reports a dramatic rise in the number of police officers murdered while on duty. The paper says that 45 members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) have been killed by criminals, while an equal number turned their guns on themselves after killing members of their own families.

The Star reports that the SAPS now has a plan in place to deal with the growing problem of emotional trauma and suicidal feelings within the force.

In Kenya Standard Digital raises a number of questions about the Westgate mall attack. They include the number and whereabouts of the attackers, the number of hostages, how many survived and if  British national Samantha Lewthwaite was among the terrorists and whether she survived.

The murder of the successor of slain Muslim cleric Sheikh Aboud Rogo, Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo, is a top story in today’s Nation. He was gunned down alongside three others Thursday night by unknown assailants in Mombasa. According to the paper Rogo’s vehicle was sprayed with bullets as he headed home from Musa mosque where he had just finished preaching. The Nation says that other Muslim leaders, including Sheikh Abubakar Sheriff, alias Makaburi, who arrived at the scene later, pointed accusing fingers at the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit.

The Senegalese press is monitoring the situation in Guinea as the country awaits the verdict of the 28 September parliamentary elections. Le Soleil de Dakar highlights an appeal from President Alpha Condé urging the people to demonstrate the maturity of the Guinean nation by accepting the verdict of the polls. His address to the nation was to mark the 55th anniversary of the country’s independence.

Le Soleil
also commends calls for calm issued by opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo. According to the paper, while the date of publication of the results is still not known, security forces have reinforced their positions around strategic sites in the capital, Conakry, cordoning off neighbourhoods that have witnessed months of violent anti-government demonstrations, leaving one person killed and 70 wounded.

Sud Quotidien takes up the blame-game awash in Senegal about the acute shortage of drinking water in the capital Dakar. It reports that the Socialist Party of Ousmane Tanor Dieng points the finger at the regime of ex-president Abdoulaye Wade for failing to acquire quality spare parts for the water treatment and pumping station supplying the capital. Sud Quotidien also says that five such breakdowns occurred during Wade’s rule, which was drenched in systemic failure.
 

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