African press review 10 October 2017

The men who run the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission get off the hook, again. A South African mother who killed her daughter's rapist gets off without charge. And Sudan could be facing a separatist crisis of its own.

There'll be no sackings at the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Not yet, anyway, according to the front page of regional paper the East African.

The report says the Kenyan High Court has dismissed an application seeking the removal of electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebutaki and seven other officials.

Last August's presidential election was annulled by the Supreme Court on grounds that the poll had not been conducted in accordance to the constitution and electoral law.

Yesterday's case was bought by three voters who argued that, having bungled the elections, the commission officials no longer merited public confidence and should be dismissed.

The case was thrown out on the grounds that the Supreme Court had accepted that errors had been made by commission employees after the August poll but that no one at the commission was guilty of criminal dishonesty.

Put up or shut up, Kenyatta tells Odinga

President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga to withdraw from the repeat presidential poll if he is not interested in playing by the rules.

According to the Nairobi-based Standard, Uhuru pointed out that Kenyans are tired of politics and should be allowed to move on with their normal lives.

The president also asked the National Super Alliance candidate to stop destroying Kenya’s economy by staging violent demonstrations for his selfish gain.

Uhuru said that such moves by the opposition jeopardise the country’s economy, destroy infrastructure, derail development and spread insecurity.

No murder charge for South African "warrior woman"

Charges have been dropped against a South African woman who killed her daughter's rapist, the Mail & Guardian tells us.

According to the report, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided not to prosecute a mother accused of murdering and attempting to murder three men who allegedly raped her daughter in Qumbu village in the Eastern Cape. A police spokesman said the charges had been dropped.

In September 2017 the mother, known as the “warrior woman” in her community, was told that her daughter was being raped by three men.

She called the police but, when they did not answer, she took a kitchen knife and went to the house where her daughter was being raped. She stabbed the three men and one of them died.

In a community meeting shortly after the incident, 100 women shared their stories of rape and sexual violence at the hands of men in the village.

Rwigara defence team denied prosecution files

A court in the Rwandan capital Kigali has adjourned “for the last time” the pre-trial hearing of government critic Diane Rwigara, who is facing charges of forgery and attempted insurrection.

This comes after the prosecution declined to provide details of the case to the defendants' legal team, citing the need to protect state witnesses.

The defendants’ lawyer told the court his clients were not well acquainted with the case. The prosecution contended that they had been told “everything they needed to know”.

Rwigara is on trial alongside her mother Adeline Rwigara and sister Anne.

Their lawyers requested five days to prepare on the grounds that they had not been provided with a complete file of charges against their clients but this was also denied.

Sudan region catches a touch of the Catalans

Sudan could be facing a separatist crisis of its own.

According to this morning's Sudan Tribune, the Nuba Mountains body of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu has demanded self-determination for the southern part of Sudan.

The SPLM-North held an extraordinary conference in the rebel-controlled area of Heiban in South Kordofan earlier this month.

The three-day meeting was attended by 475 delegates representing all the districts of the Nuba Mountains.

Among the items agreed was the right of self-determination for the people of the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan.

The meeting elected 110 members to the Nuba Mountains Liberation Council (NMLC).

Last April the NMLC decided to suspend peace talks and sacked SPLM-North Secretary-General and Chief Negotiator Yasir Arman because he refused to include the question of self-determination in the position paper of the rebel group ahead of peace negotiations with the Khartoum government.