African press review 26 September 2013

Kenyans start a post-mortem of the Westgate mall siege. Nairobi's dispute with the ICC continues. Charles Taylor appeals against his 50-year sentence. SA petrol pump attendants may soon be back at work but households seem loath to spend their cash.

The Kenyan dailies continue to be dominated by the Westgate tragedy, with 71 people still unaccounted for as the police sift through the debris inside the Nairobi shopping centre.

The Standard says apparent contradictions in official accounts of the four-day siege have put authorities on the spot. Confusion still surrounds the number of suspected terrorists arrested and the cause of the explosions and fire which marked the final day of the siege.

In a separate story the Standard reports that the Nairobi government has defended the National Intelligence Service over accusations of intelligence failures in relation to the terror attack. Yesterday an interior ministry spokesperson declined to say whether the government had received any specific intelligence on the Westgate attack from Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko, who has claimed that he forwarded the information to the National Intelligence Service and that it refused to act on it.

The Daily Nation reports that Kenya's attorney general has asked to be allowed to address the International Criminal Court in order to explain the recent decision by the Kenyan National Assembly to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the ICC.

The ICC prosecution has used the motions passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate to suggest that Kenya's proposed withdrawal posed a threat to witnesses in the current case against Deputy President William Ruto.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s trial is due to open on 12 November.

The Trial Chamber presiding over Kenyatta’s case yesterday rejected a request by his defence team to push the commencement date to January next year, arguing that nothing new had arisen to necessitate the change of date.

In Liberia the New Dawn daily gives pride of place to the fact that judges at the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone will this morning at 9.00 hours Universal Time begin the reading of the judgement in the appeal filed by former president Charles Taylor against his 50-year jail sentence.

Taylor was found guilty on all 11 charges related to crimes committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone during that country's civil war.

The former president's defense team has appealed against the judgment and sentence on 42 grounds, arguing that the trial chamber made systematic errors in the evaluation of evidence. The defense also argue that the 50-year sentence was unreasonable.

This is a double appeal since the prosecution were also dissatisfied with the original decision and want Taylor to be held individually criminally responsible for ordering and instigating crimes committed by rebels in Sierra Leone. They want his sentence increased to 80 years.

In South Africa, BusinessDay reports that an end to the petrol pump attendants' strike appears to be in sight, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Fuel Retailers’ Association having reached an agreement in wage talks after a three-week dispute. No details will be released until the union informs its members.

Less promising is the news that the confidence of South African households has slumped to its lowest level in 10 years, suggesting a further slowdown in spending.

If the low consumer confidence levels do translate into weaker spending, says BusinessDay, it bodes ill for economic growth as spending by households accounts for more than 60 per cent of South Africa's gross domestic product.

The past three months have been characterised by strikes in the gold mining, vehicle manufacturing, construction and airline industries as workers under pressure from the rising cost of living and high debt levels demand above-inflation wage settlements.

Strikes, rising inflation and moderate wage growth have dragged consumer confidence lower in this quarter.

In ironic contrast the Johannesburg Stock Exchange pushed to a record high on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong performance by banking, financial and industrial stocks.