African press review 19 August 2013

The Kenyan Daily Nation reports on President Kenyatta’s visit to China and says it's yet another indication that China is set to play a major role in financing infrastructure projects in Kenya. While there are still few details of actual financing, the Daily Nation says it's got clues about future deals between the two countries from minutes of a recent meeting of government officials.

 The paper says the Chinese are angling to play a big role in the mineral sector.

The South African daily Leadership reports that in Nigeria, the Central Bank has announced that from next year small companies will be able to get bank loans by using "movable collateral" -- meaning livestock, crops, equipment, and machinery -- and the paper says it will strengthen the small business sector.

Somalia has executed a man for killing a journalist, reports South Africa's Mail & Guardian. It says this is the first such execution in a country where people who kill journalists often evade justice. The paper explains that a Mogadishu military tribunal last year found Aden Sheikh Abdi guilty of the murder of reporter Hassan Yusuf Absuge -- who worked for Radio Maantain Mogadishu.

During his trial, says the paper, Abdi was accused of belonging to the al-Shabab group. A spokesman for Somalia's military court said the execution by firing squad took place early on Saturday in Mogadishu, adding that the execution was a new chapter for Somalia.

The Sudan Tribune reports that South Sudan’s interior ministry has banned the possession of firearms by unauthorized personnel. Guns and all other types of weapons will have to be approved by the ministry and those guns by police will have to be kept in special stores. South Sudan is still saturated with small arms from decades of civil war. However, critics say that enforcing the ban will be virtually impossible.

And back in Nigeria, the Vanguard reports that three butchers were arrested this weekend for selling beef infected with tuberculosis. The men were arrested by the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences task force, which has been clamping down on illegal slaughterhouses in the state.

The Nigerian government has done a lot to dissuade butchers from slaughtering infected animals, a state official told the paper. It's made trained veterinarians available to examine animals before they are slaughtered, for example. But some butchers still slaughter and sell infected meat in illegal shops, explains the paper. It says people in Lagos should shop at legal butchers, which is the only way to be sure about the safety of the meat.