African press review 9 June 2014

Kings, crown princes and ministers turn out for al-Sisi’s swearing-in. Nigeria’s Kano has a new emir. Doctors order Zuma to rest. Settle or I give up, mediating minister tells sides in SA platinum strike. A Ugandan academic tells ICC to drop Kenyatta case.

Egypt's seventh president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was sworn in yesterday, describing his inauguration as the first peaceful transition in the country's history.

The Cairo-based Egypt Independent newspaper notes that the Qatari news agency QNA is reporting that the Emir of Qatar Hamad ben Khalifa al-Thani and Qatari Interior Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani yesterday sent a congratulatory message to Egypt's new president.

Egypt severed relations with Qatar last year after the Gulf state refused to recognise the transitional authorities following the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi. Qatar currently hosts a number of fugitive Egyptian Islamist leaders.

The guest list at yesterday's ceremony was strong on Arab dignitaries with kings, emirs and crown princes a-plenty. The presidents of Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Eritrea and Mali showed up, along with the prime ministers of Swaziland and Liberia.

At the broader international level, the president of Cyprus was there. Greece sent a deputy premier, there was the speaker of the Russian parliament, the deputy secretary general of the United Nations, the Chinese minister of industry and information technology, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Middle East affairs and an adviser to the US secretary of state.

The head of the Jewish community in Egypt, quoted in the same Egypt Independent, said they had not received an invitation to the inauguration.

Magda Haroun denied a statement published by a local news agency to the effect that the Jewish community has no future in Egypt.

The Egyptian cabinet will meet briefly this Monday morning, before Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb heads to the presidential palace to submit the government's resignation to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The Nigerian state of Kano has a new emir. He's Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the very same man who, just last week, lost his job as director of Nigeria's central bank.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the decision to appoint Sanusi was taken following hours of consultation between the four Kano traditional leaders. The announcement reversed a rumour spreading in the state since Saturday that the eldest son of the previous emir would take over from his father.

The former emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero, died on Friday at the age of 83, having spent 50 years on the throne.

Despite security measures, angry youths took over major streets in Kano yesterday shortly after the announcement. The protestors were said to be supporters of the Bayero family. Calm had returned to the streets of the northern city by the time the Guardian went to press.

The main story in South African financial paper BusinessDay confirms that President Jacob Zuma was discharged from hospital on Sunday night.

Doctors are reported to be happy with the results of Zuma's "thorough check-up following a demanding schedule". The president is to rest for a "few days" but will continue to work from home.

Also in BusinessDay, a report that Mineral Resources Minister Ngo-a-ko Ramatlhodi said he had "done enough work" in mediating between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the world’s top three platinum firms. The minister says he believes the two sides will resolve the five-month dispute in talks due later today.

Ramatlhodi added that the government will pull out of mediation if the two sides do not reach an agreement.

The Daily Nation in Kenya reports that a Ugandan academic will be allowed to make observations to the International Criminal Court in the Dutch city of The Hague in the cases involving President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. Both are accused of complicity in the violence which followed the 2007 presidential election.

David Matsanga is scheduled to appear before the Hague-based court next month.

He said he wants the case against Kenyatta to be dropped because the prosecutor’s office had resorted to examining the president's financial records after key witnesses pulled out.

Matsanga said he will seek to show how the court had been misled by the office of the prosecutor on several occasions.

In applying to address the ICC, Matsanga said he was motivated by a desire to preserve the court’s time, credibility and money.

Matsanga is a publisher, a harsh critic of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, and has acted as spokesperson for the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony.