African press review 02 May 2011

A mixed bag in the African papers today

The Star in South Africa says that, in local government elections later this month, the ruling African National Congress may have to face the fact that its dwindling support among the total voting-age population has been pushed below the one-third margin.

Since 1994, the ruling party’s support among all eligible voters has dropped steeply, from 54 percent to just 39 percent in 2009.

Although the ANC has won all national elections with a convincing two-thirds majority, those who become disaffected tend to stay at home rather than vote for another party, according to Collette Herzenberg, political analyst for the Institute for Security Studies.

The declining popularity of the ANC is further amplified by the fact that between 4.5 and 9 million South Africans have simply not bothered to register as voters over the past 15 years.

In Uganda, The Daily Monitor reports that Kizza Besigye is recovering in hospital in Kenya from injuries received during his arrest on Friday.

The opposition leader urged his supporters not to avenge his arrest, but he vowed that peaceful walk-to-work protests against the rising cost of living would continue.

Television coverage showed Dr Besigye being beaten by police officers who apparently drenched him repeatedly with pepper-spray before bundling him onto a police pick-up truck. The brutal nature of Dr Besigye’s arrest angered many of his supporters who later took to the streets in protest on Friday. There were widespread riots. At least five people were shot dead . . . bringing the death toll to 10 since the start of the opposition walk-to-work protests on April 11.

Doctors say the opposition leader should be discharged from hospital within four or five days depending on the progress of his recovery.

On Saturday President Museveni defended the actions of the police and accused Dr Besigye of attacking the officers with a hammer and pepper spray, after defying their orders.

Dr Besigye yesterday denied those allegations.

Kenya was sucked into the escalating crisis over rising food prices in Uganda after the two main players arrived in Nairobi within hours of each other. This according to the Daily Nation in Nairobi, incidentally, the first African paper to react to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden, their web site carrying the news within the past few hours.

There were fears that the visit to the country by both President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader Kizza Besigye would trigger a diplomatic incident after young Kenyans unhappy with the Uganda leader’s treatment of protesters in Kampala threatened to mobilise anti-Museveni protests.

A ring of security was thrown around the Intercontinental Hotel where the Ugandan leader addressed business leaders.

As Museveni arrived in the country to a red carpet reception at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Dr Besigye was being treated at a Nairobi Hospital, having arrived late on Friday night.

The visit by the two leaders, one for business and the other for treatment would have acquired more political overtones had Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited him at the Nairobi Hospital’s exclusive North Wing as had been earlier arranged.

The planned hospital visit by Raila Odinga was called off at the eleventh hour after doctors advised that Dr Besigye was not in a position to receive visitors.

According to The Standard in Nairobi, Kenyan workers, suffering under the weight of rising cost of living and especially burdened by skyrocketing prices of food and fuel, expected a 60 per cent wage rise. But all they got yesterday to mark International Labour Day was a 12.5 per cent increase in the minimum wage and zero in terms of a general increment.

Trade union leaders declared the increase a drop in the ocean and vowed to continue pressure to get more from the government.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is expected to make another peace negotiation trip to Côte d'Ivoire in a bid to secure the release of former President Laurent Gbagbo.

Raila, who was the African Union-appointed peace mediator in the Ivorian crisis, said he would head back to seek amnesty for the deposed leader.

The Kenyan Prime Minister said it would be important to allow Gbagbo to go into exile to a country of his choice, instead of prosecuting him, as this would open the way to real reconciliation in Côte d'Ivoire.

The Liberian Inquirer in Monrovia reports that 88 Ivorian nationals are currently detained at the Harper Correction Center, just across the Cavally River from Côte d'Ivoire. They are being held on suspicion of involvement in mercenary activities. Reports say they were arrested at the height of the recent fighting in neighboring Côte d'Ivoire. According to reports from the county, those held were arrested by the Liberian security forces with six vehicles and an unspecified amount of ammunition.