African press review 3 November 2011

Hellzapoppin' in Harare, despite the presence of Jacob Zuma and his facitlitators. Uganda's opposition claims that an assassination plot is afoot. Who's arming al Shebab? And all you ever wanted to know about Somalia's Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

The main headline in Zimbabwe's privately owned Newsday reads "All hell breaks loose in Harare".

The paper reports an orgy of violence in the capital on Tuesday as heavily armed police fought running battles with vendors and MDC-T activists at the party’s headquarters, Harvest House.

Police fired teargas into Harvest House and at crowds on the streets, before sealing off several roads near the MDC-T headquarters.

The police assaulted people indiscriminately, says Newsday, triggering a stampede which saw the public running into nearby business premises to seek refuge.

Many shops, including banks along Nelson Mandela Avenue, shut their doors fearing the clashes could degenerate into looting.

The drama in the capital follows a rise in tensions in the coalition government after the police blocked weekend rallies meant to be addressed by Prime Minister and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Permission to hold the rallies had been granted by the High Court.

The chaos in Harare took place as South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team jetted into the country to hold negotiations with parties in the inclusive government. The team’s visit was scheduled, according to Newsday, and was not in response to the banning of the MDC-T rallies and subsequent violence.

The government-sponsored Herald in Harare makes no mention at all of yesterday's violence around Harvest House.

The Herald does, however, say that Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF has lost faith with the Global Political Agreement forum of negotiators, calling for the establishment of other platforms to deal with outstanding issues.

At the meeting with the South African facilitation team yesterday, Zanu-PF negotiators made it clear that the forum for negotiations to resolve outstanding issues had failed. They claim that the MDC-T has withdrawn co-operation and is no longer implementing negotiated and agreed positions.

The home news pages of Uganda's Daily Monitor report that opposition leader Kizza Besigye is not safe.

Yesterday the leader of opposition, Nandala Mafabi, told parliament that Besigye's life was in danger and that there was a conspiracy to kill him in a fracas managed by state agents.

Yesterday Mafabi and other opposition figures yesterday presented a petition demanding an explanation from the government of what they describe as a conspiracy to liquidate Besigye.

Mafabi also told parliament that the government had hired goons from different parts of Kampala to cause commotion at Besigye’s residence in Kasangati.

The opposition leader added, "They are also planning that in case Dr Besigye is harmed and is being evacuated, he would be injected with a poisonous substance leading to his death."

The House Speaker has ordered the government to bring a statement to parliament reacting to the petition.

Besigye has been in dispute with the government since he attempted to organise a walk-to-work campaign in protest against official failure to control the price of essential commodities.

Kenya's Daily Nation reports that a third shipment of arms has been delivered to the Somali Islamic group al Shebab.

The arms are believed to have originated in Eritrea, which the United Nations and the international community have accused of arming the group.

On Wednesday, Eritrea issued a statement denying arming al Shebab and accused Ethiopia of fabricating the reports.

“The Government of Eritrea states categorically that these accusations are pure fabrications and outright lies as Eritrea has not sent any arms to Somalia,” the statement read.

“Tuesday’s baseless accusations are the latest product of a disinformation campaign orchestrated to undermine Eritrea and frustrate its constructive regional and international engagement. Chief among the authors of this campaign is Ethiopia, which is not only occupying sovereign Eritrean territory in violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, but is also the main cause of destabilisation in the Horn of Africa,” the statement added.

Regional newspaper The East African carries a profile of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Somalia’s 47-year-old president. The paper presents Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as a media savvy politician who has polished a sophisticated image on the global media scene as a moderate reformist who is doing the most difficult job on earth   trying to bring peace to his country.

To Ethiopia and Kenya, who helped him get elected the president of the Transition Federal Government in Somalia, Sheikh Sharif is the man of the struggle, a former schoolteacher who was drawn to fight al Shebab after his pupils were kidnapped by the terrorists.

On Monday, however, he shocked regional security specialists when he withdrew his support for Kenya’s military incursion into Somalia.

The Kenyan authorities, who claimed to have involved him in the planning of the onslaught, demanded clarifications, while his own prime minister protested against his statement against the Kenyan action.

Even though Sharif later expressed his readiness to work with Kenya, his earlier denunciation of Kenya’s military campaign revealed that he is under some sort of pressure, either from forces within his government or within al Shebab itself, says The East African.

In particular, Sharif is opposed to Kenya’s stated mission to carve out a section of Somalia to create an autonomous region of Jubaland to act as a “buffer zone”.