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African press review 11 September 2017

There's more confusion in Kenya as presidential contender Raila Odinga says the rerun election cannot be managed by the team that bungled the last one. South Africa's rulling party denies any witch-hunt in the wake of the Zuma confidence vote. And some Sudanese officials believe US sanctions will soon be lifted.

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There is confusion in Kenya as the nation counts down to next month's rerun of the second round of the presidential election.

According to this morning's Daily Nation newspaper, opposition leader Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance yesterday insisted that the election must be managed by a different team from the one accused of bungling the previous poll.

Odinga said it would be ridiculous for him to participate in an election overseen by the officials who are currently accused of mismanagement.

The presidential election was nullified by the Supreme Court on 1 September, following opposition accusations of fraud.

The chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has raised questions about the acquisition of satellite phones, result transmission failures, the creation of an illegal internet account in the chairman's name and why 595 polling stations failed or refused to send results following the presidential poll.

The illegal account was the source of nearly 10,000 manipulations of the commission's computer servers.

The Kenyan opposition has launched legal proceedings against the two French firms, Safran and Morpho, which supplied election materials to the IEBC.

No witch-hunt at the ANC in the wake of Zuma vote

There will be no witch hunt in South Africa's ruling party in the wake of the recent vote on the future of President Jacob Zuma.

According to financial paper BusinessDay, MPs from the African National Congress who voted for the recent motion of no confidence in Zuma will not be disciplined by the party.

This is according to party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe‚ who repeated that the ANC was not interested in finding out who voted with the opposition in the secret ballot on 8 August which saw Zuma narrowly survive.

Mantashe yesterday told hundreds of ANC activists that members must abide by what the party stands for‚ no matter how hurtful it may be.

He said that even if members disagree with certain decisions taken by the leadership‚ they should‚ at all times‚ vote with the ANC, even if they have to do so "with heavy hearts".

Khartoum hopes to see an end to US sanctions

There's hope in Sudan that US sanctions could soon be lifted.

According to the front page of the Sudan Tribune, a number of Sudanese officials have expressed optimism that more than 20 years of US sanctions against Khartoum could soon come to an end.

Last January then US president Barack Obama issued an executive order easing the Sudan sanctions on a probationary basis. The relief was to become permanent on 12 July unless the US administration acted to stop it.

President Donald Trump, in a new executive order issued on 11 July, moved that deadline back by three months, while keeping the temporary sanctions relief in place, citing the need to take more time to assess the process.

Washington's decision will be based on the maintenance of peace, Sudan's place in the fight against terrorism, action against Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army, Khartoum’s role in the peace process in South Sudan, and the humanitarian situation in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

A Sudanese presidential assistant says recent statements by some US officials indicate that they don’t see any reason for maintaining the sanctions.

Giza police raid leads to deaths, injuries

The Cairo-based Egypt Independent reports that eight "militants" were killed in a police raid in the Cairo suburb of Giza yesterday morning. The report says security forces were engaged in a protracted gun battle with several men trapped in a hideout. One of them exploded a suicide vest, injuring two police officers.

The Interior Ministry had released no official statement nor suggested to which group the alleged militants were affiliated.

Since the ousting of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 , the Egyptian armed forces have been involved in violent confrontations with several armed groups.

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