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African press review 26 April 2017

Why do African countries that criticise the ICC continue to refer cases to the international tribunal? Why has Tanzania expelled the local director of the United Nations Development Programme? And why are Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni's buttocks back in the news?

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The International Criminal Court is not unfair to Africa.

That's on the front page of this morning's edition of the East African.

The regional daily says the sustained attack on the ICC by the African Union was a key point of debate at the 2017 Mo Ibrahim Foundation annual Governance Weekend in Marrakech, Morocco, earlier this month.

The foundation chairman, Sudanese telecoms multi-millionaire Mohammed Ibrahim, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, all put up a strong defence of the Hague-based tribunal that has become the object of harsh criticism from several African Union member states.

The claim that the ICC targets Africans unfairly should be rejected out of hand, according to Bensouda.

She pointed out that seven of the cases currently before the court had been referred to the ICC by various African governments, including the authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Mali and the Central African Republic.

Tanzania expells top United Nations diplomat

The Tanzanian government’s expulsion of a top UN diplomat continues to raise questions and criticism.

This is the top story in the East African.

The Tanzanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said Awa Dabo had been expelled because of her poor relations with members of staff of the United Nations Development Programme, for which she was the country director.

According to the government, Dabo’s continued stay in Tanzania would have adversely affected the work of UNDP.

There was no immediate reaction from the UNDP.

Media reports suggest Dabo was given 24 hours to leave the country.

According to the East African, critics in some quarters have been quick to link the move to the UNDP’s role in the Zanzibar political impasse since the botched general election in 2015 and the subsequent rerun that was boycotted by the main opposition party, the Civic United Front.

The government’s relations with development partners have reportedly deteriorated since the elections, with several Western countries openly criticising the manner in which the polls were handled.

Fake news of a coup causes panic in South Sudan

Fake news originating in Khartoum is causing panic in South Sudan.

South Sudanese authorities have blamed media in Sudan for causing panic in Juba through what has been called "warmongering reporting".

The South Sudan presidential press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny told the media in Juba yesterday that the Sudanese media had reported that President Salva Kiir was stepping down from office, hence causing panic in Juba.

The South Sudan security forces have been put on high alert since Saturday following rumours of a coup attempt and Kiir’s resignation.

A South Sudan police spokesman confirmed the deployment of the security forces in Juba since Saturday but did not provide any explanation for the move.

All major roads in the southern capital, especially those around the presidential palace and the National Assembly, remain heavily guarded.

Further remand in Ugandan presidential buttocks case

A court in Kampala yesterday further remanded Ugandan university teacher Stella Nyanzi until 10 May after a hearing of the case in which she is accused of cyberharassment.

Nyanzi faces the change of offensive communication for a Facebook post in which she is alleged to have referred to President Yoweri Museveni as a “pair of buttocks”.

For the second time, the court refused pleas from Nyanzi's lawyers for her to be allowed to apply for bail.

The chief magistrate said that the extension of the hearing date was necessary to allow the court time to review the file.

The state wants the controversial academic subjected to a sanity test.

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