African press review 24 February 2014

Presidents are making the news this morning in Algeria, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

In Algeria, the main headline in the French-language Quotidien d'Oran, reads "Fourth mandate for a presidency on automatic pilot." The daily paper suggests that, since the official announcement that Abdelaziz Bouteflika will, indeed, run for a fourth time in the May elections, was made, not by the president himself, but by the Prime Minister, Bouteflika is almost the unnecessary element in the equation.

The crucial question concerns the sitting president's health. The announcement assures the Algerian people that Bouteflika is in good health and has the intellectual capacity and vision necessary to continue in the top job.

Two potential candidates, Sofiane Djilali and Ali Benflis, both expected to withdraw their names this week, have criticised the announcement, saying that, if the president really is in good health, he should have told the Algerian nation himself that he would stand for a fourth time. Instead, says Djilali, he is a silent candidate hiding behind the prime minister. Benflis is shocked that the announcement was made by the man who is, in fact, the head of the Algerian electoral commission.

Despite such criticism, and the promise of a boycot by the Islamist Movement for a Society of Peace, the Oran daily says the steam-roller which will assure presidential continuity is already in gear. The only real question is, who's steering?

Abdelaziz Bouteflika is only 76 years old. By Robert Mugabe's standards, the Algerian president is a youngster.

Zimbabwe's president turned 90 on Friday; the official celebrations were yesterday. The President of the People’s Republic of China and Russian leader Vladimir Putin were among those sending their congratulations, according to the front page of this morning's NewsDay.

China and Russia, apart from being the major overseas supporters of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle of the 1960s and '70s, are also important economic partners.

More recently, the two global powers were, says NewsDay, instrumental in thwarting Anglo-French-US attempts to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and pave the way for international military intervention through the United Nations Security Council.

Yesterday's celebrations, attended by more than 40,000 people, are reported to have cost over one million euros. That has prompted criticism in a country suffering from severe economic problems, with nearly two million people at risk of starvation according to the World Food Programme.

Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, is still dithering about whether he will or will not sign the country's anti-homosexuality legislation into law.

According to the main story in this morning's Daily Monitor, the Executive Director of the Uganda Media Centre confirmed earlier this morning that the president will sign the Anti-Homosexuality bill into law today. Media representatives have been invited to witness the signing.

Making the announcement, the Uganda Media Centre chief criticised western media for inaccurate reports over the weekend which suggested that the president had decided to defer signing the bill into law following criticism from the United States and other western governments.

This morning's ceremony is scheduled to take place at the state house in Entebbe at 11.00am.

In Kenya, the Standard reports a further setback for International Criminal Court chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, in her efforts against Uhuru Kenyata and Willian Ruto.

Says the Nairobi-based paper, nearly a half of the witnesses the prosecution had lined up in the two Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court have withdrawn, damaging Fatou Bensouda’s case. The ICC prosecutor intended to call 77 witnesses to testify against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and Kass FM journalist Joshua Arap Sang. Of these, at least 30 have so far left the cases, according to an analysis by the Standard of official ICC records and reports of individuals who have sworn affidavits withdrawing as witnesses.