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African press review 16 September 2016

African press says the damning British MPs' report on the 2011 invasion of Libya comes too late to repair devastation of Africa's richest country. There are also questions about Idriss Deby's credentials to mediate the Gabonese crisis.

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Libya: failed calamity

Vanguard highlights the conclusions reached by British Parliament's Foreign affair Commission about the London-backed French-led operation that toppled Muammar Gadhafi’s administration and transformed Libya into a failed state. It was "based on erroneous assumptions and poor intelligence writes the Nigerian newspaper.

The  excerpts are culled directly from the MPs' final report which accuses Downing Street, and her Western allies of drifting from its goal of ‘protecting civilians’ in Benghazi to regime change"and of failing in its follow-up moral responsibility to help reconstruct the country.

The AU mediation in Gabon: Questions of credibility.

Daily Nation

Meanwhile, focuses incumbent President Ali Bongo and his -re-election for a second 7-year term amid suspicions of massive  vote rigging in his home constituency where he swept more than 99.5 percent of the vote to win re-election by 6000 ballots.

The paper sums up the Gabonese crisis in a single question:, “are elections worth it in Africa?” As the country awaits a ruling by the Supreme Court which international observers expect could avert a deep crisis, the Daily Nation doesn't sound hopeful.

"No court in Africa has ever overturned an election in which the incumbent was declared winner" argues the publication. Furthermore it questions the decision by the African Union to send its chairman, Chadian president Idriss Deby, to deal with the dispute.

It observes that "the polygamous Deby who was re-elected in April, for a fifth term is facing accusations from his most serious opposition challenger, Ngarlejy Yorongar, of having rigged the ballot". According to Daily Nation, "maybe Bongo could have used some lessons about how to deal with opposition leader Jean Ping from Deby".

Winnie Mandela in birthday magic

The Citizen

The South African publication reports that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's 80th brithday celebration on Wednesday saw what seemed to be the unification of political “enemies” - Economic Freedom Fighters' leader Julius Malema and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The paper carries an enlarged photograph of Malema and Ramaphosa shaking hands with big smiles on their faces, with Madikizela-Mandela between them which it claims really got people talking on social media.

As it explains, enmity between the two men dates back to 2012 when Malema was expelled from the ANC by the party’s disciplinary committee, which was chaired by Ramaphosa. Citizen reports that since then, the two politicians from different generations of South African politics have never drunk from the same well.

Broke man turns anger on bank

Times Live

The South African paper leads with the story of an apparently "livid man" who crashed his car on the glass doors of a Johannesburg bank on Thursday. Times Live says the family man who allegedly was already going through a divorce with his wife was infuriated by news that "his house and vehicle would be repossessed by the bank".

 

 

 

 

 

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