African press review 14 June 2012

The aviation business in Africa and drugs for Aids/HIV are big stories in the African press today.

We’ll start of in East Africa where low-cost company Fly 540 has new owners as Lonrho sold the aviation business to Rubicon. Shareholders will have to approve this move by the 29th of June, writes the East African before explaining that "Lonrho's aviation business will now be rebranded ‘FastJet’ under a brand-licensing agreement with Stelious Haji-Loannou, the founder of EasyJet and the incoming CEO of the new company."

This means that Fly 540, whose current hubs include Kenya, Ghana and Angola, will contribute to making FastJet a bigger competitor for Kenya Airways. The latter is planning to launch its own low-cost carrier by the end of 2012. "Kenya Airways through its low-cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet, will be seeking to make headway in the fast-growing domestic and regional flying markets, where smaller airlines mostly operating as low-cost carriers have posed a serious challenge".

It isn't just flights around the African continent that are set to change - indeed Kenya airways announced it was adding extra flights to Dubai, Mumbai, and Jeddah as well to Kyushu, Kenya’s third largest City.

Uganda's government is reminding its citizens that there isn't an HIV vaccine yet and the people shouldn't rush to get so called breakthrough drugs as reported in some media, that’s according to the national paper the Daily Monitor.

"There are, however, ongoing studies and efforts to discover an HIV vaccine.” explains the Director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute. He recommends that people continue to use old methods such as condoms, abstinence and being faithful to protect themselves.

The East African reminds us that HIV/Aids has killed millions of Ugandans. At least 1.3 million Ugandans are reportedly infected with HIV. Anti-retroviral drugs are available for people living with HIV/Aids, but of the 570,000 people eligible for the drugs, only 320,000 access it according to a 2010-2011 Aids Indicator Survey.

Over in Nigeria, The Guardian is reporting on a new phenomenon which has affected the Opi community of Enugu State, where, the paper says, it has become the "norm" for young men to rape elderly women. "The pains and agonies the victims go through at the hands of these rapists dominated a meeting of stakeholders in women's reproductive health and care for the aged" explains the paper. "Representatives charged the state government, the House of Assembly and security agencies to take immediate steps to arrest the situation".

Reasons for these attacks put forward suggest the youths who carried out the attacks on women in their 60s and even their 80s "belonged to a cult that demands that every member must rape 25 old women as pre-condition for benefit." 

And finally, if you were considering taking a trip round Port Elizabeth's salt pans in South Africa, then think again. According to the Sowetan, residents are too afraid to go to sleep at night because rats «as big as cats" infest their homes and bite them. They are calling on the municipality to rid the salt lake area of the plague of rats, mice, snakes and frogs.  Authorities say they will investigate the infestation.