African press review 21 August 2013

African newspapers are looking into the reports of Abubakar Shekau’s death, as there is as yet no proof that the Boko Haram leader is actually dead.

The Nigerian daily the Vanguard reports on Captain Umar Ali, a security analyst, who says that the timeline used by the Joint Task Force in deciding that Shekau was dead is strongly plausible.

He made the claim to a Nigerian TV programme yesterday, says the Vanguard, but added that there was still some “room for doubt”. The JTF said on Monday that Abubakar Shekau may have died from injuries sustained during a recent military onslaught on his group.

According to Ali, the information is all the more plausible given the time lapse before it was released, which left time for a thorough verification process. 

This type of sensitive information is usually passed through an “intelligence cycle” before it is released, explains the daily, concluding that there’s little doubt about the report.
 

“What happened to the body?” is the remaining question.

The South African daily Leadership reports on the Nigerian military’s ongoing search for Shekau’s corpse.

The Nigerian Defence Headquarters has maintained silence over the JTF’s claim, says the paper, but a top military source told Leadership that the search had begun for Shekau’s corpse and that the Boko Haram leader’s remains will be “exhumed and presented to the whole world who are eagerly waiting for the good news”.

Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court confirmed President Robert Mugabe’s victory in last month's election, dismissing a challenge by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwean Herald reports on Tsvangirai's failed petition to challenge Mugabe’s reelection and says that Tsvangirai’s lawyers may now be facing arrest. They were found in contempt of court for criticising the judiciary, says the Herald.

The court also blasted Tsvangirai, describing his conduct as “symptomatic of an unbalanced, convoluted mindset unbefitting a man of his stature and station”. In its final analysis, the Zimbabwean court concluded that Tsvangirai’s demand was inadmissible, reports the paper, and that his legal team’s conduct “soiled the dignity and integrity of [the] court”.

Reports that Nigeria was preparing to detain Sudan’s President Omer al-Bashir during his visit to Abuja last month may well cripple the relationship between the two countries.

The Sudan Tribune reports that, according to recently published official documents, the Nigerian government was deliberating on whether or not to arrest Bashir when he attended the summit organised by the African Union (AU) last month.

Bashir is subject to two arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and genocide committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

As a member of the Hague-based court, Nigeria was theoretically obliged to apprehend the Sudanese leader during his stay, reports the paper, but officials in Abuja explained they would stick to AU resolutions not to execute the warrants against Bashir.

The visit had angered rights groups inside and outside Nigeria. They argued that the country was in breach of its international obligations under the Rome Statute.

But the Nigeria Coalition on the International Criminal Court (NCICC) filed a motion during Bashir’s short stay with the federal high court in Abuja seeking a domestic arrest warrant for him.