African press review 11 November 2017

President Mugabe's party launches purge of his axed deputy's cronies amid heightened security while Bujumbura warns the Hague-based ICC, it has no business in Burundi.

We begin in Zimbabwe where President Mugabe's government has placed security forces on high alert  after threats by the exiled former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa that he will be back in the country in a few weeks to seize power.

Daily News reports that Mnangagwa who was hounded out of the government and the ZANU/PF on a string of charges accuses the 93 year-old Mugabe of "privatizing and commercializing the party along with his wife Grace".

The publication says that in South Africa where the axed Zimbabwean vice President had sought refuge, the government has made know its position that it is not expecting a coup, but is nonetheless watching its northern neighbour for any signs of instability.

Meanwhile, the state-owned Herald says that three ZANU-PF MPs and five Central Committee members in Masvingo province are among almost 30 senior party members suspended for being part of a cabal that was working with ousted Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa to undermine President Mugabe.

Newsday Zimbabwe claims that the former ZANU/PF party heavyweights, who include several cabinet ministers could soon be in the political wasteland after the politburo barred them from seeking re-election to the party's central committee.

Kenya's Daily Nation takes up Burundi's decision to shut its doors on to the International Criminal Court, seeking to probe alleged crimes committed after the country spiraled into political turmoil in 2015.

At least 1,200 people killed and thousands reportedly missing, when President Pierre Nkurunziza sought and won a third term of office in elections boycotted by the opposition, according to ICC judges.

The paper quotes the country's Justice Minister Aimee Laurentine Kanyana as saying that it had since withdrawn from the Rome Statute setting up the Hague-based court because of its bias against Africa.

However the Nation says the ICC is sticking with its point that it notified Burundi on October 26, 2017, which is the day before the country's exit from the court.