African press review 28 November 2016

A Ugandan traditional king is in jail in Kampala following bloody clashes in the west of the country. Sudan's civil disobedience campaign against price increases meets a mixed reaction. And Jacob Zuma's future as president of South Africa is being considered by the ruling ANC.

A Ugandan traditional king is in police custody in Kampala following fatal clashes in the west of the country.

This is the main story in regional paper the East African. The report says King Omusinga wa Rwenzururu Charles Wesley Mumbere was arrested yesterday following clashes in the Rwenzori region.

He was reportedly arrested at his palace in Kasese town by the Uganda People's Defence Forces in a joint operation with police.

Mumbere was later airlifted to Kampala.

The king's arrest came just hours after police said at least 55 people had been killed in fierce fighting that erupted in western Uganda between security forces and a separatist militia.

A police spokesman said 14 police officers and 41 militants had died in the clashes on Saturday, when fighters linked to the royal guard of the Rwenzururu kingdom attacked patrolling security forces.

The Monitor in Kampala reports the same story, saying that Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni phoned King Charles Wesley Mumbere on Sunday morning and ordered him to disband the palace guards, who are believed to be part of a militia allegedly agitating for the creation of an independent republic straddling Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mixed reaction to call for civil disobedience in Sudan

Yesterday saw the start of a three-day civil disobedience campaign in Sudan. The Sudan Tribune says public response has been varied.

On Thursday political activists launched a social media campaign calling on the Sudanese people to engage in civil obedience 27-29 November in protest at the recent government decision to increase fuel, electricity and drug prices.

Several opposition parties and rebel movements declared support for the campaign and called on their members to join the protest.

Yesterday, according to the Sudan Tribune, some neighbourhoods in the capital saw limited movement of vehicles and pedestrians, which is unusual according to the Khartoum-based daily, which goes on to note that crowding on public transport in downtown Khartoum was at its usual chaotic levels.

South Sudan accepts UN Regional Protection Force

Also in the Sudan Tribune, news that the head of the African Union commission yesterday welcomed the South Sudanese government’s unconditional decision to authorise the deployment of the Regional Protection Force.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was reacting to an earlier decision by South Sudan's Council of Ministers to accept the force mandated by the United Nations Security Council

Zuma went on to say that the deployment of the 4,000 troops will create a conducive political environment for the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan signed in August 2015.

ANC top brass discuss Zuma's presidential future

There's another Zuma in the news at the top of the front page of South Africa's BusinessDay.

According to the Johannesburg-based financial paper, Jacob Zuma’s future as president of South Africa hung in the balance yesterday as the ruling party’s top decision-makers debated whether he should step down in order to prevent a further decline in the party’s electoral support.

By Sunday evening the ANC’s national executive committee was still locked in discussions that took place in Zuma’s presence.

The meeting is expected to continue today.

The talks began on Saturday when Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom proposed that Zuma step aside as president of the country, citing negative publicity that was harming the ANC.

According to BusinessDay's analysis, these talks reflect a considerable shift by the ruling party that has until now defended the president steadfastly despite the damaging Constitutional Court judgment on his improper use of public funds in the Nkandla case and the party’s humiliating loss of support in local government elections last August.

More support for Ramaphosa

Meanwhile, according to a separate story in BusinessDay, South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has received endorsement from an unlikely source: ANC branches seeking the nullification of the result of the 2015 provincial conference in KwaZulu-Natal also want him to succeed Zuma.

Last week the trade union federation Cosatu came out in support of Ramaphosa’s candidacy and said it would lobby ANC branches to support him. Cosatu describes Ramaphosa as a "unifier" who had the necessary capability to lead the ANC out of its current political deadlock.

Now it seems that Ramaphosa may need all his negotiating skills, especially in a province that is the home of another contender for the ANC presidency, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.