African press review 16 August 2016

The reelection of incumbent Zambian President Edgar Lungu amid accusations of vote-rigging, a hunt for suspects linked to the Boko Haram Chibok schoolgirl hostages and reforestation in Mali are among the main stories in the African dailies. 

Zambia's The Post reports that reelected President Edgar Lungu now says "he's ready to accept whatever results" in the final breakdown but "won’t allow cadres", that is activists, on the streets.

Addressing congregants at a church service in Bauleni, a township of the capital Lusaka, Lungu said the election results are the will of Zambians and thus “the will of God”.

Lungu arrived at the church in a private Range Rover without the presidential motorcade or usual heavy security the paper notes.

DR Congo machete attacks

Meanwhile Kenya's Daily Nation reports that civil society groups put the death tolls from machete attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo at 51.

The army has blamed Saturday night's attacks in Beni in North Kivu on the Allied Democratic Forces, a coalition of armed groups, most of them Islamist, of Ugandan origin.

The attacks have allegedly been carried out in revenge for military operations targeting the movement in the area.

Three days of national mourning have been declared and officials believe the death toll could rise to 75 as more bodies are found.

Hunt for Boko Haram kidnapping suspects

The Daily Nation also reports that Nigerian police are seeking three suspects, including a journalist, accused of being  close to the armed Islamist movement Boko Haram, after the group released a video of the Chibok schoolgirl hostages.

The video, aired on Sunday, shows 50 of the schoolgirls abducted from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria two years ago.

According to the paper, Nigeria’s army is seeking the trio for allegedly concealing information on the April 2014 abduction.

Police say there is no doubt the three had been contact with the Islamists and that they must come forward with information on their whereabouts to assist rescue efforts.

Army spokesman colonel Sani Usman said the military would work with other security agencies to bring in the suspects “if they fail to turn up”.

King Rudisha rules in Rio

For the Kenyan paper however the best news today is simply that "King Rudisha" has successfuly defended his title at the Rio Olympics - after Kenyan world champion and world record holder David Rudisha won the 800 meters in Rio.

Rudisha, deprived of his usual gun-to-tape approach to racing, writes the paper, sat in second as teammate Alfred Kipketer "shot off like a pacemaker". But in the last 300 metres Rudisha moved to his shoulder and into the lead.

More trees for Mali

And finally in environmental news, Mali's Info Matin reports on a national reforestation campaign being carried out by the Mali Vert (Green Mali) foundation thanks to 300,000 seedlings donated by the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development. 400 plants were planted yesterday in the forest of Tienfala on the Niger River in south-western Mali, just one area suffering from degradation and desertification.