African press review 5 May 2014

Violences in Nairobi and Mombasa, this week's World Economic Forum on Africa, Ugandan Fatwa on mobile phone ring tones and upcoming general elections in South africa are all topics in today's African papers.

In the wake of the weekend bomb attacks in Mombasa and Nairobi, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement wants the government to present the country with a timescale for the withdrawal of Kenyan soldiers from Somalia.

Orange Democratic Movement acting leader Anyang’ Nyong’o demanded that the government should table a road map for a secure Kenya and a stable Somalia. The opposition party also demanded a plan for the training of Somali forces to take charge of security in their own country and for accelerating Somalia’s economic development.

Also in this morning's Nairobi-basedStandard newspaper, news that Kenya's schools reopen this week for the beginning of the second term amid serious concerns that learning may be interrupted.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers says it might be forced to call for a strike should the government fail to factor in additional money it had promised to cover leave and responsibility allowances, promotions and the hiring of of more teachers.

The other main teaching union, the Kenya National Union of Teachers, has promised to issue a statement on its official position on the possibility of supporting the threatened strike today and called for calm.

Across the city, at the Daily Nation, the main story looks ahead to this week's World Economic Forum on Africa summit in Nigeria.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in the West African country on Sunday evening.

Security issues have dominated the run-up to the conference, which Nigeria's government hopes will demonstrate the country's potential to overseas investors.

The Nairobi government yesterday defended President Kenyatta’s trip to Nigeria even as he came under attack from Kenyans on social media over his absence from the country in the wake of the recent terror attacks.

Kenya's High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Tom Amolo, said the presidential visit was winning Kenya multiple gains through bilateral deals.

Brand South Africa has cancelled its plan to attend this week’s high-level gathering of the World Economic Forum in Abuja, because of security fears after two bombings and the mass abduction of schoolgirls.

In a letter to its stakeholders, South Africa’s key marketing body says South Africans travelling to Nigeria can expect to be reasonably safe although they should exercise due caution.

According to Johannesburg-based financial paper, Business Day, the letter goes on to regret that the Brand SA team will not be travelling to Abuja due to the inability to secure additional security services for the delegation.

In Nigeria, the Lagos-based Guardian gives pride of place to president Goodluck Jonathan's Sunday promise that his government “is ready to do anything to end this terrorism.”

Vowing that the disappearance of the young women abducted from Government Girls Secondary Schools in Chibok, in Borno State, cannot be another mystery for the world to grapple with, President Jonathan said “wherever these girls are, we will surely get them out.”

Jonathan, however, pleaded with the parents and guardians of the abducted school girls to co-operate with security agencies and release information about the missing children.

The Guardian also reports that the Northern States Christian and Elders Forum has called for each of the girls to be paid  225,000 euros as trauma compensation after their release.

On the front page of the Ugandan Daily Monitor, a report that The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramadan Mubaje, has issued a Fatwa banning mobile phone ring tones in which Koranic verses are recited.

Citing Islamic teachings in the Koran, the Mufti said Muslims are required to pay maximum attention whenever the Koran is recited and not indulge in any disrespectful actions or behaviour.

He noted that when people use the Koranic verses as ring tones, they interrupt the recitations by pressing buttons to either answer or reject the calls.

The main story in South Africa is the run-in to Wednesday's national elections. According to BusinessDay, the climax to the campaign trail has been marked by "Promises, threats and posturing".

President Zuma yesterday sought to silence detractors who accuse him of riding the wave of progress created by his predecessors. He detailed the advances of the past five years at the African National Congress’s final rally.

He outlined his administration’s progress and promises for the new term to a crowd of about 95,000 supporters.

It was a weekend of posturing as the three main political contenders in Wednesday’s polls - the ANC, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters - all held their final rallies in the hotly contested Gauteng province which surrounds Johannesburg.

The first serious allegations of violence were made by the DA on Sunday, when the party accused ANC supporters of stoning three buses en route to a DA concert in Kliptown. The DA in the Western Cape also said that on Sunday it had laid a complaint with the South African Police Service after a group of ANC supporters stoned the vehicle their members were using in Gugulethu.