African press review 31 October 2013

Crime is on hte decline in South Africa. Kenya asks who was responsible for yesterday's bus crash. Uhuru's troubles at the ICC continue. The UN wants more African troops in Somalia. And a Muslim Brothers leader dies in an Egyptian jail.

Crime in South Africa is at a 15-year low, according to financial paper BusinessDay.

Residents of Cape Town are more likely to be victims of crime than those in Johannesburg. According to a crime index published yesterday, violent crime in the country had reached its lowest levels in more than a decade, declining about 40 per cent since a 2002 peak.

Local analysts say they are not convinced of the overall decreasing trend, saying the statistics take no account of population change.

Blouberg in Limpopo is the safest place to live in South Africa according to the report, which is based on police statistics. Beaufort West in the Western Cape has the nation's highest crime levels. 

In Kenya the front pages are dominated by the tragic aftermath of yesterday's Nairobi crash between a bus and a train at a level-crossing in Umoja.

Twelve people lost their lives in the collision and 21 other passengers are still in hospital.

The Standard reports that the bus driver ignored warning signals from the approaching train, which smashed into the vehicle and pushed it along the tracks for nearly 200 metres.

Witnesses said the bus stalled on the tracks and, just before the impact, the driver jumped out and fled. He was arrested hours later and will be charged with causing the deaths of 12 people. 

Also in the Standard, news that two officials who authored a report following a state inquiry into the 2008 post-election violence are likely to testify against President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

This emerged as the African Union delegation lobbying for the deferral of the ICC cases against Kenyan leaders today holds talks with the United Nations Security Council to present its case.

Diplomatic sources say the Security Council will meet next week in closed session to consider Kenya’s petition for the deferral for one year of the cases against Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto. 

The Daily Nation, also published in Nairobi, gives pride of place to a report saying United Nations leaders on Wednesday called for a surge in African Union troop deployments in Somalia, warning that the African Union's military campaign against al-Shebab has "ground to a halt".

In a report to the Security Council, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended an increase of 6,235 uniformed support workers assigned to the AU mission in Somalia.

That would bring the total number of troops and Amisom administrative personnel to nearly 24,000.

Ban also asked UN member-states to act "urgently" to supply Amisom with helicopters and other weapons unavailable to the Kenyan, Ugandan, Burundian and Sierra Leonean troops that make up the current force.

The Cairo-based Egypt Independent reports the death in police custody of Salah Ahmed Youssef, described as a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood.

He had been detained since 18 September, pending investigations into charges of storming the Beni Mazar police department following the dispersal of a sit-in by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Investigator Hisham Nasr said Youssef was suffering from kidney failure and was taken to the local hospital for dialysis where he died.

The pharmacists' union, however, claims he died following torture.