African press review 14 August 2018

Zimbabwe's president wants the country to move on from post-election violence. The South Sudan peace negotiations enter their final and most delicate stage. Muhammadu Buhari is well-placed to win next year's presidential elections in Nigeria.

Emmerson Mnangagwa wants Zimbabwe to move on from last month's disputed election, accoding to regional paper the East African.

Yesterday Mnangagwa spoke on the national day, honouring Zimbabwe's independence heroes. He said it was time "to put the election period behind us and embrace the future".

His narrow victory in the July vote was followed by violent protests, allegations of vote-rigging and a crackdown on opposition activists.

Mnangagwa, a former long-term ally of ousted president Robert Mugabe, repeated his accusation that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party was responsible for violence at an anti-fraud protest when soldiers opened fire killing six people.

The MDC last Friday lodged a Constitutional Court appeal against the election result, forcing Mnangagwa's inauguration, which had been scheduled for Sunday, to be postponed.

The court must make its ruling within 14 days.

Difficult days for South Sudan peace talks

The South Sudan peace negotiations have entered their final phase, the Sudan Tribune tells us.

Discussions have to be concluded by 19 August.

According to the agenda seen by the Sudan Tribune, the parties will concentrate on Article 4 of the section on governance. That covers the number and boundaries of states, the creation of five new ministries, judicial reforms, the composition of the National Constitutional Amendment Committee, and the roles and responsibilities of the presidency.

Signing the global peace agreement earlier this month, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance specified its objection to several of the governance provisions.

Monk murder suspect fails to kill himself

The headline-of-the-day award goes to the Cairo-based Egypt Independent for their top story this morning. "Police arrest suicidal monk for involvement in Egyptian Bishop Epiphanius’s murder".

The monk is Faltaous al-Makary and a court yesterday ordered that he be detained for four days pending investigation of the murder of Bishop Epiphanius, head of the St Macarius Monastery.

The monk is currently in the Anglo-American Hospital in Zamalek where he is being treated after his attempted suicide last week, which involved slicing his arteries and throwing himself off the monastery’s tallest building.

Bishop Epiphanius of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church was found dead outside his monastic cell at the end of last month, the victim of a blow to the back of the head, suggestive, according to the Egypt Independent, of foul play.

By-election gains good news for Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari will win next year's presidential elections in Nigeria.

That confident prediction dominates the front page of this morning's Punch newspaper.

According to the report, the presidency yesterday said the victories recorded by the ruling All Progressives Congress in legislative elections held in some states over the weekend had further confirmed that Buhari would win the next presidential election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the ruling party the winner of by-elections held in Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi states.

Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress also won the recent state governorship election in Ekiti.