African press review 9 February 2016

The African press is talking about Zika this morning and its consequences when it comes to the Olympic.  There is also more about the bizarre story of a man who was sucked out of a plane in Somalia.

DR

Regional paper The East African has news on the passenger who was sucked out of a plane last year in Somalia. You'll remember that bizarre story of "a suspected suicide bomber who blew a hole in the fuselage" of a Djibouti bound flight last week.

The explosion forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Mogadishu, but no else was seriously harmed. It now appears, according to the paper, that the man was originally meant to be on a Turkish Airlines flight.

That was apparently the case of most of the passengers onboard, but their flight had been canceled due to "bad weather conditions".

"We still don't know anything about the identity of the suspect and no group has so far taken responsibility for the attack. However, "a US government source said the United States suspects Islamist militant group Al Shabaab, which is aligned to Al Qaeda" explains The East African.

The paper also wonders how the security breach was made possible, explaining that "Mogadishu's heavily guarded airport, which is often compared to the Green Zone in Baghdad, has several safety perimeter fences and checkpoints".

Kenya could skip this year Olympics in Rio "should Zika virus be declared serious" explains The Standard.

The comments came from a Kenyan athletics official and come amid anxiety over the risks of the rapidly spreading virus.

"If the Zika virus is serious, then we will not attend the games. We will not expose our youths. The health of our people is more important than the games" Dr Keino, the National Olympic Committe of Kenya chariman told the newspaper.

Such a decision would be taken at the last minute .

Most Kenyan athletes, however, are not aware of the virus. For example four-time world 3,000m steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi said he has never heard of the virus or even read about it, explains The Standard.

Although the symptoms associated with Zika virus are relatively mild, the scourge currently sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean is beleived to be the cause of severe birth defects in newborns.

All of this makes The Standard hopes no one's plan to "sunbath on the famous Copacabana beach" will have to be canceled.

The Egypt Independent ithis morning focuses on the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian student who was found dead in Egypt last week. According to the paper, " a second autopsy said that he suffered "inhumane, animal-like violence".

The second autopsy was performed by Italian services, and found that "Regeni's neck was twisted, the vertebra was broken and he was left unable to breathe".

As the Egypt Independent explains, "The 28-year-old PhD student was reported missing on the fifth anniversary of January 25 Revolution. Regeni was on his way to meet a friend to join a birthday party ".

His corpse was found at the beginning of the month. The circumstances of his death are unclear, but reports indicates it was "a criminal act".

"He had written numerous articles criticizing the Egyptian regime, while Il Manifesto, a left-wing newspaper based in Rome" explains the paper.