African press review 15 June 2015

Will South Africa have the political courage to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court? Probably not. Were two Britons among the Al-Shebab terrorists killed in an attack in Kenya? Probably. And will Egypt continue to try civilians before military courts? Certainly. 

The judicial fate of Sudan's president is the main story in South Africa this morning.

According to financial paper BusinessDay, the High Court in Pretoria yesterday extended an order preventing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from leaving South Africa until a final legal decision is made on calls for al-Bashir's arrest on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.

The judge postponed the hearing until 11.30 this morning and urged the government to take "all necessary steps" to prevent Bashir, who is in Johannesburg for an African Union (AU) summit, from leaving the country. The African National Congress (ANC) said on Sunday the ICC was "no longer useful for the purposes for which it was intended". South Africa is a full member of the ICC and is legally obliged to arrest the Sudanese leader, who is accused of war crimes in the western region of Darfour.

However, Bashir is unlikely to be arrested, says BusinessDay, because the ANC-led government granted immunity to all attending the AU summit.

Kenya's daily Standard reports that the arrest warrant for the Sudanese leader overshadowed the summit, saying leaders were yesterday poised to back a resolution supporting Bashir and Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, also accused by the ICC in a separate case.

Although Ruto's trial was not initially on the agenda of the 25th AU Summit in South Africa, the Kenyan delegation successfully pushed for its inclusion in talks on Saturday evening involving ministers tasked with determining the issues to be submitted to the national assembly for decision.

The executive council adopted the motion for the AU Commission to protest the application under which ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda hopes to be allowed to rely on prior recorded testimony of witnesses who have since died, disowned their testimony or refused to testify in court.

In Kenya itself the Daily Nation reports that Kenyan soldiers killed 11 Al-Shebab members who attacked a military camp in Lamu early on Sunday morning. Lamu is a coastal town less than 100 kilometres from the border with Somalia.

Two soldiers died in the attack, which coincided with the first anniversary of the Mpeketoni attack in which 70 people were killed.

A police spokesperson said at least two of the terrorists killed were of Caucasian ethnicity.

Intelligence sources told another Kenyan daily paper, The Standard, that the two Caucasians are believed to be Britons who converted to Islam and who have been in Somalia since last year's raid on Mpeketoni.

Police say the bodies have been taken to Mpeketoni District Hospital for the lifting of fingerprints and other biometric data.

The main story in the Cairo-based Egypt Independent reports that Egypt's public prosecutor yesterday referred the case of 58 suspected Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused of committing "terrorist acts" to the military prosecutor, a step that could lead to a military trial even though the accused are civilians.

Thousands of Islamists have been jailed and hundreds sentenced to death since the government launched a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, saying they pose a threat to Egypt's national security.

Regional newspaper The East African reports that the government of South Sudan is working on a deal that could lead to rebel leader Riek Machar’s reinstatement to the position of vice-president.

The move, aimed at saving the South Sudan peace process, would see James Wani Igga, who currently holds the position from which Machar was sacked, become second vice-president.

Igga is reportedly willing to step down from his position on condition that the Greater Equatorial region   where he comes from   gets the position of National Assembly Speaker. This would be the third most powerful position in a transitional government of national unity.

President Salva Kiir is understood to support the compromises on condition that Machar does not enjoy any more powers than those stipulated under the current constitution. The president is not, however, ready to entertain the idea of two armies under two different commands during the transition as proposed by Machar.