African press review 16 June 2014

Violence in East Africa and a Salafist ban on Muslims watching the world cup .. all in today's African papers ...

The latest attack in Kenya's coastal province dominates the web versions of this morning's Nairobi newspapers.

According to the Standard, at least 48 people died in last night's violence in Mpeketoni.

Mpeketoni town is about 40 kilometers inland in Lamu County, and is less than 30 kilometres from the border with Somalia.

The police say about 50 gunmen armed with explosives attacked two hotels, a bank and the police station.

The Nation reports 26 deaths, adding eye-witness testimony that the attackers flew black islamist flags from their vehicles.

Britain last week issued travel warnings covering several East African nations -- including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, who all have troops in Somalia -- speaking of the threat of attacks at public screenings of World Cup matches.

Britain closed its consular service in Mombasa on Friday because of fears of a terrorist attack.

In Egypt, a senior Salafist figure has issued a religious edict, saying that Muslims are forbidden to watch football matches in the World Cup as it could be seen as admiring disbelievers.

According to the edict, World Cup matches distract Muslims from performing their [religious] duties. The matches also encourage wasting time.

Several islamic teachers have criticised the ruling, saying there is nothing to prevent Muslims from watching football.

Also on the front-page of the Egypt Independent, news that the defeated presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi has called for a new law regulating public protest.

Sabbahi’s message follows the 15-year sentence given to prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and others for demonstrating illegally outside the Shura Council (the upper house of the Egyptian parliament) in November.

The law, issued by Egypt's interim authorities after the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi, was criticized by human rights groups. The regulations impose sanctions and fines on protesters who demonstrate without prior permission from the Interior Ministry.

There's good news and bad news on the front page of South African financial paper, BusinessDay.

The bad news is that the international financial ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, has downgraded South Africa’s sovereign credit rating by a notch to BBB negative.

Analysts are warning that further downgrades are possible if sluggish economic growth reduces tax income, making it harder for the country to cut the budget deficit.

BusinessDay says Standard & Poor’s decision was South Africa’s first credit-rating downgrade in nearly two years, and puts its foreign debt rating at the lowest investment grade - just one notch above “junk” status, shunned by many investors.

Credit ratings determine the cost of borrowing on international markets, and influence investor appetite for a country's debt and equities. This affects how much capital flows into the country and the value of the rand.

Standard & Poor’s said the downgrade was motivated by doubts over the government’s ability to tackle South Africa’s deeply rooted structural problems.

Rival agency Fitch simply changed its BBB rating from stable to negative, making a further downgrade likely. Analysts at Fitch said they were disappointed by the new cabinet, criticising the track record of some key ministerial appointees and shortcomings in administrative capacity.

The good news is that South Africa's platinum mining companies are preparing to return to normal operations, with a pay deal to end the 21-week strike now looking likely.

The latest proposal is for entry-level workers to get increases of 13% in the first year, up from the previous offer of 10%. Officials, artisans and miners will get an increase of 8%, while management will get no increase in the first year.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, which represents 70,000 striking platinum workers, has accepted the five-year wage deal “in principle” even though it falls short of their demand for basic pay of 850 euros monthly.