African press review 7 October 2017

Monkey pox breaks out in Nigeria, 37 years after the eradiction of the deadly smallpox by the WHO while international stakeholders mobilize in a fresh push a peaceful re-run of Kenya's Presidential poll.

We begin in Nigeria, where officials have launched an emergency plan to halt the spread of Monkey pox which hit the region affecting at least 50 people in a single week.

The rare virus transmitted to humans from animalr is similar to the deadly smallpox which the WHO declared as "eradicated" in 1980.

The Sun reports that new cases are being diagnosed "almost every day" in Yenagoa and the suburbs, which is suspected to be the epicenter of the outbreak.

According to the paper, the Bayelsa State government has set up a 12-man rapid response team to comb the area and evacuate suspected cases to an isolation facility set up at the Delta University Teaching Hospital.

In Kenya, the papers are monitoring a fresh push by national and international stakeholders to get incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga to drop their hardline stance overt the re-run of the Presidential elections scheduled on October 26.

Daily Nation reports that the UN, the EU, envoys of key foreign countries and Kenyan religious leaders are all worried as the clock ticks on.

The paper adds that there is no letup to political grand-standing and observers fear that the stalemate is threatening the stability of the country and the credibility of the repeat election.

The Nation adds  that the mediators want Odinga to suspend protests by his supporters to press the meeting of his demands and Kenyatta to drop plans to amend the election law, at such a late stage before the re-run vote.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Sowetan is happy to announce that the country's Al Capone is at last to face music for decade old escape.

The paper reports that the flamboyant Samuel Maluleka‚ charged for dozens of violent robberies and who escaped from a police station in 2003, was arrested at his home in Atteridgeville‚ west of Pretoria‚ this week after posting pictures and videos of himself with wads of cash on social media.

The Sowetan says the Magistrate’s Court in Moutse Mpumalanga was locked down on Friday, as the 36-year-old walked in under heavy escort by seven members of the elite police unit the Hawks.