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African press review 18 July 2014 [Radio France Internationale]
[July 18, 2014]

African press review 18 July 2014 [Radio France Internationale]


(Radio France Internationale Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The African papers lead with the Malaysia Airlines crash in east Ukraine. Nigeria's government brings in PR experts after the abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram.

In South Africa the Johannesburg Star reports that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 disappeared from radar contact around 1415 GMT as it was flying over eastern Ukraine with 295 people on board.

The paper posts a statement by France's transport minister Frederic Cuvillier ordering all "French airlines to avoid Ukraine's air space as long as the reasons behind this catastrophe are not known." The Mail and Guardian quotes a Ukrainian interior ministry official as saying that Flight MH-17 was brought down by a ground to-air missile fired by pro-Russian rebels.



Nigeria's Punch recalls that prior to Thursday's Malaysian Airlines crash a Ukrainian SU-25 attack plane was taken down by an air-to-air missile in the same area controlled byt the pro-Russian rebels. The paper says the investigations into the cause of the crash would be very difficult, given that the area is controlled by the rebels.

Activists are taking to Twitter in Nigeria to condemn a public relations contract signed by the federal government to repair its image in the aftermath of the perceived mishandling of the abduction of more than 200 girls by the Islamist Boko Haram.


The activists, led by former minister of education Oby Ezekwesili, chided the international public relations firm, Levick Strategic Communications, for valuing money more than the lives of the abducted girls.

The contract, which is said to cost the federal government a minimum of 90,000 euros monthly, besides running costs, is to run for 12 months starting from 16 June, according to the paper.

The Nigerian Tribune reports that Senate failed to deliberate on the request by President Goodluck Jonathan for a one-billion-dollar loan request to fight terrorism and train military personnel.

According to the paper, lawmakers adjourned a sitting on Thursday for the annual recess, without debating the letter presented to the Senate on Wednesday. The Tribune claims that the development means the loan request will have to wait till 16 September when the senators resume plenary.

Punch is monitoring a spirited campaign by National Conference delegate Femi Falana to get the National Assembly to reject the request.

Falana wants the president to explain what he had been doing with the 4.5-billion-euro budget assigned to defence in the past few years, according to the paper.

In Kenya the Daily Nation is reporting that the government cannot confirm whether 2.8 billion euros spent in 2013 was used lawfully as required by the constitution. The paper says the question mark is in the conclusions of the auditor general's new report that paints a grim picture of how taxpayers' money is used.

According to the Nation, the report, tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday by majority leader Aden Duale, underlined that the Sh337 billion came from 130 financial statements with adverse and disclaimed opinions out of 343 statements scrutinised.

Standard Digital highlights portions of the report noting that State House failed to make available documents in support of various expenditures totalling over 1.2 million euros.

The auditor general cast doubt on the spending and said that, in the absence of supporting documents, his office could not vouch for the proper use of the funds. Other ministries that could not produce records to back huge expenditures include education, higher education, defence, foreign affairs and the commission on administrative justice.

South Africa's Mail and Guardian takes a long look at the Economic Freedom Fighters of firebrand former ANC youth leader Julius Malema as they celebrate the first anniversary of the party's creation.

It has been a year of vocal opposition to everything for the red berets, says the paper.

The Sowetan newspaper tells the disgusting story of a Bloemfontein man sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping a three-year-old girl with a live snake.

Magistrate Jan Greyvenstein, who handed down the verdict on 27-year-old Martin Jozana, said he had presided over almost 2,000 sexual crimes cases but never imagined he would run into such an offence in his lifetime.

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