African press review 27 May 2016
Chevron grounds onshore operations in Nigeria as Niger Delta militants step up sabotage campaign reportedly in demand for fairer share of national cake. The opposition in DR Congo launches national protests against President Kabila's reported plan to stay in office beyond a 2-term limit.
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We begin in Nigeria where the papers take up the reported grounding by Oil giant Chevron of its onshore operations in the oil-rich Niger Delta following a series of attacks on its main crude oil facility.
According to the paper, members of a militant group, allegedly known as the Niger Delta Avengers claimed responsibility in a tweet for the latest attack on the plant in the South West of Warri..The Nation says the sabotage of the main electricity line feeding the Escravos terminal will impact oil production and, in effect, Nigeria’s revenue.
The paper notes that the attack followed previous attacks on three other Chevron platforms in the same Warri South-West area, resulting in the loss of over 40,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Nation also claims that the sabotage could affect electricity supply as most of Nigeria’s power plants use gas.
The paper reports that the militants launched the campaign of sabotage to press demands for an amnesty package for the region and the improvement of the infrastructural needs of the Niger Delta.
Ijaw youths are quoted by several papers as saying that the first condition for peace to return to the Niger Delta region was the opening of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko in Delta State for academic activities, adding that it was the basis for further discussions with the federal government on the cessation of hostility.
According to the paper, the campaign has reportedly cut off Nigeria’s oil output by nearly 700,000 barrels per day.
The Zambian newspaper takes a look at the violent crackdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo on opposition protests called by three opposition groups in defiance of government bans.
According to the paper, the violence erupted in the north of Kinshasa, where about 5,000 demonstrators turned out to "oppose moves to keep Kabila in power beyond the expiry of his second term in December".
The Post quotes witnesses as saying that police fired tear gas against stone-throwing protesters and then charged them to break up the demonstration.
According to the paper, tensions have been soaring in the country where Kabila, in power since his father’s assassination in 2001, is widely thought to be preparing to remain in office beyond the two terms allowed under the constitution.
Opposition groups are reportedly also angry that Kabila’s powerful rival, football magnate Moise Katumbi, was all but pushed into exile in South Africa last Friday.
The Ugandan paper takes up the reported opening of proceedings by French prosecutors to determine if the French courts are competent to try the son of Equatorial Guinea's veteran ruler Teodorin Obiang for ill-gotten wealth.
The paper quotes a judicial source in Paris as saying that Obiang, who is one of the country's vice presidents, is accused by Transparency International and the anti-graft watchdog Sherpa of" looting state coffers to fund his lavish tastes", including the purchase of pop star Michael Jackson's famous white glove.
The journal reports that French prosecutors had earlier ordered the seizure of the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on Avenue Foch -- as well as several luxury cars.
The watchdogs said in a joint statement that "it will be the first time in France, and even in Europe that such a high-ranking official from a country stands in the dock for ill-gotten wealth," if the go ahead is given" according to the Monitor.
The Kenyan daily shares the grief of a Nairobi couple who lost all their three children in a road accident as their mother drove them home from a thankgiving church service.
According to the paper the children aged 25, 10 and eight and a 3 year old relative were crushed to death on Sunday evening by the "reckless lorry driver speeding on the wrong lane along Nairobi's Eastern By-pass.
The paper reports that their mother who suffered broken ribs in the crash received the news "which shook her to the very core of her existence in a hospital bed as she came out of a coma. Standard says the woman's husband was abroad at the time of the accident and had to fly home after receiving the sad news.
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