Curtsey of rfi
The
storming of Kenya's controversial Masjid Musa Mosque and in South Africa, the
collapse of the merger of the Democratic Alliance and Agang opposition parties
- all in today's papers..
There's a lot of confusion in the
Kenyan papers as to what exactly happened in the coastal city of Mombasa on
Sunday.
The Nairobi-based Standard
daily reports that human rights activists say at least
six militant youths were killed in the storming of the controversial
Masjid Musa Mosque.
Police put the death toll at two,
saying one youth was shot after he stabbed an officer and attempted to steal
his rifle.
According to the authorities, the
order to storm the mosque was given only after shots were fired at police
officers from inside the compound.
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Police reports, confirmed by
independent eyewitnesses, indicated that the militants, who barricaded
themselves in bathrooms, toilets and minarets fought back with guns, machetes,
meat cleavers, scissors and iron bars.
Hussein Khalid, the Executive
Director of Haki Africa human rights group, told the Standard that four
bodies had been recovered at the Coast General Hospital. He claims that all
four died from bullet wounds sustained in shooting at the mosque. It is alleged
that two other bodies were taken from the hospital morgue for burial on Sunday
night.
The police claim the mosque is a
centre for militant Islamic youth, including returnees from Somalia who have
trained with the al-Shebab militia group.
One hundred and twenty-five people
appeared in court yesterday, accused of various public order offences in
connection with the mosque violence.
The other big story in Kenya this
morning concerns the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, who will find out tomorrow if
he has to stand trial before the International Criminal Court in the Dutch city
of The Hague.
Kenyatta faces charges of complicity
in the violence which followed the presidential election in December, 2007.
The President’s lawyers are expected
to argue for the charges to be dropped. The prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, will be
asking for more time to get fresh witnesses and evidence.
Bensouda needs extra time to carry
out further investigations since her case has been weakened by the withdrawal
of key witnesses.
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There's a heart-warming story on the
front page of this morning's Ugandan Daily Monitor. Under the headline
"Kayihura rebukes spies over Besigye
escape," we learn that the Inspector General of Police, Kalé
Kayihura, has lashed out at intelligence officers for failing to detect
movements of the opposition figure and former Forum for Democratic Change
president, Kizza Besigye.
The police chief observed that it
was embarrassing for officers to keep vigil at Dr Besigye’s home thinking he
had been confined, when he suddenly appeared in central Kampala after beating
the security cordon.
If intelligence officers were doing
their jobs, said the police chief, Besigye would not be able to escape from his
home and cause chaos in the city centre. The Inspector General of Uganda's
Police was addressing the passing out ceremony for new intelligence officers at
Masindi Police Training School.
On its news analysis pages, South
African financial paper BusinessDay looks at the collapse of the merger of
opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and Agang.
According to BusinessDay, the
potential for opposition parties to provide a credible alternative to the
African National Congress fell under the spotlight on Monday as the Democratic
Alliance (DA) and Agang traded barbs on who was responsible for the mess their
failed merger had created.
In a flurry of publicity and
enthusiasm, Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele agreed to represent the DA as its
presidential candidate. Five days later, the deal was off. This, says the
Johannesburg-based paper, is a setback at a time when opposition politics in
South Africa desperately need credibility.
In parachuting in a non-member as
its presidential candidate, the DA had tacitly admitted that it lacked internal
capacity.
One political commentator points out
that opposition politics is more complex than having a black or a white leader.
But this débacle reinforces the perception that a viable opposition leader
should be black.
The Democratic Alliance will have a
tough job finding another figure of Ramphele's standing.
And where the whole shambles leaves
the struggling Agang is anybody's guess.