African press review 3 July 2015

South Africa takes an interest in Lesotho's security. Boko Haram allegedly murders Muslims in north-east Nigeria. Burundi's election commission refuses to recognise an opposition boycott of polls. Egypt's army kills armed Islamists in Sinai.

Lesotho's Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili will meet members of the South African Development Community (SADC) Double Troika later today, according to a report in Johannesburg-based financial paper, BusinessDay.

This follows South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit this week to Lesotho, a visit ordered by President Jacob Zuma‚ the chairman of SADC’s peace and security council.

The presidency said Zuma was concerned about the explosive security situation in Lesotho following the flight of the three opposition leaders and the killing of Maaparankoe Mahao‚ former commander of the Lesotho Defence Force.

Mahao was shot dead on 25 June by members of the Lesotho Defence Force during an operation to arrest suspected coup plotters, according to the defence ministry.

Lesotho has been in turmoil since then-prime minister Tom Thabane dismissed Tlali Kamoli as army commander for alleged coup plotting and replaced him with Mahao in August. After the 28 February elections produced no clear winner, a coalition government led by the Democratic Congress named Pakalitha Mosisili as premier and Kamoli was reinstated. Analysts say the authorities have failed to end politically inspired violence.

The Guardian in Nigeria gives front-page coverage to the latest killings in the country's north-east. The Lagos-based daily reports that at least 40 people have been killed by armed Islamists in the town of Monguno in Borno State.

The killings are said to have happened two days ago but details are only now emerging.

Separately, military and police sources in Maiduguri yesterday said a further 97 people were killed in a series of attacks on Kukawa town also in Borno State by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

A member of the Civilian Joint Task Force told The Guardian that the attacks coincided with the dusk end of the Ramadan fast. He said the insurgents rounded up many residents, most of them Muslims, and shot them in two separate mosques.

The main story in regional paper The East African reports that the Burundi Independent Electoral Commission has refused to recognise that the opposition boycotted recent parliamentary and communal elections. The ruling party is expected to win practically all seats.

The commission chairman said the letter informing the commission of the boycott had been signed by unregistered representatives.

Opposition leader Agathon Rwasa has described the elections as a total fraud, saying he will not recognise the results of the current electoral process because the government had rejected calls from the East African Community and the African Union to postpone the elections.

Also in The East African, news that six people, including a police officer, were killed in recent violence in Bujumbura.

Five civilians and one police officer were killed in an operation to disarm those in illegal possession of firearms, according to a Burundi police spokesman.

Residents in Mutakura and Cibitoke, the two suburbs of the capital at the centre of the violence alleged the number of civilians killed was higher than that confirmed by the police.

The deaths come in the wake of heavy gunfire and grenade explosions that lasted for more than nine hours in the two Bujumbura suburbs that are believed to be the stronghold of opposition to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in presidential elections due to be held on 15 July.

The main story in The Egypt Independent reports that Egypt's military killed 35 armed Islamists in North Sinai yesterday, following some of the deadliest clashes in the region in years.

The sources said those killed yesterday had taken part in Wednesday's fighting in which the army said 100 rebels and 17 soldiers had been killed.

The Egypt Independent also says that the Israeli army has agreed to Egypt's request for a strengthening of security and the deployment of more Egyptian forces to the Sinai Peninsula.

Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post says the latest security agreement is based on the peace deal signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979, which requires the approval of the two countries on the deployment of additional military forces in the border area.