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African press review 3 June 2017

Equatorial Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire win seats on the UN Security Council. An untrained vaccination team kills 15 children in South Sudan. And a 13-storey building in Egypt gently collapses, coming to rest against a tower block on the opposite side of a busy street.

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Equatorial Guinea has won a seat on the UN Security Council for the first time ever.

Yesterday's election also saw Côte d'Ivoire win a place at what regional paper the East African describes as "the world's top table".

The Security Council is made up of 10 non-permanent members elected to two-year terms and five permanent powers: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The independent organisation Human Rights Watch said it had concerns over Equatorial Guinea's role at the council, given that the country has been ruled by Teodoro Obiang Nguema for nearly four decades. The authorities have a long history of harassing, arbitrarily detaining and interfering with the work of human rights defenders, according to the New York-based watchdog.

Untrained vaccination team kills children in South Sudan

The East African also reports that at least 15 children died in South Sudan early last month after health workers vaccinating them against measles used the same syringe without sterilising it, the health minister in Juba announced yesterday.

Three hundred children were vaccinated in a village in Eastern Equatoria state, with several dozen becoming ill.

The minister admitted that the team involved in vaccinating the children was neither qualified nor trained for the immunisation campaign.

Katumbi asks UN to act against Kabila in the DRC

Exiled Democratic Republic of Congo opposition politician Moise Katumbi yesterday filed a complaint with the United Nations in Geneva against the government of President Joseph Kabila.

Katumbi, a powerful businessman and former governor of the mineral-rich Katanga province, alleges "arbitrary" trials, police harassment and the arrest of his supporters.

He maintains that he has been forced into exile in a bid to keep him out of the presidential election.

Katumbi is a former Kabila ally who broke with the ruling party in September 2015. Last year he was named as a presidential candidate by the G7 group of opposition parties.

He is awaiting trial for the alleged recruitment of mercenaries and has already been sentenced to three years in jail for seizing a building belonging to a Greek citizen.

The authorities in Kinshasa have ordered him arrested if he returns from abroad.

Political instability continues to hamper South African economy

South Africa got a reprieve from an international credit ratings agency yesterday, but the news is not all good.

According to financial paper BusinessDay, Standard & Poor's confirmed its junk status  on South Africa’s foreign currency rating but held back from downgrading the local currency rating to junk status. The agency has, however, warned of political risks to growth and has maintained its negative outlook for the South African economy in general.

Another agency, Fitch, confirmed its junk ratings on both foreign and local currency ratings on Thursday, citing this year’s elevated level of political risk and the effect it could have on investor confidence and economic growth.

A third agency, Moody’s, which has South Africa on review for a downgrade, has not yet announced its decision.

The leaning tower-block of Alexandria

And there's a remarkable story, complete with a picture, on the front page of this morning's Egypt Independent. The picture shows a recently constructed 13-floor building in eastern Alexandria which gently toppled over and is now leaning against a housing block on the opposite side of the street.

The Alexandria tramway network in the area has been halted to prevent vibrations that might cause the leaning building to disintegrate.

An investigation have been opened to find the cause of the collapse. An internet comment in the Egypt Independent suggests calling it the Leaning Tower of Sisi, after the Egyptian president, but there's no danger of the Alexandria structure coming to rival Italian city Pisa's famous landmark. The Egyptian building will have to be demolished.

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