African press review 8 January 2015

Papers from Egypt to South Africa comment on yesterday's murderous attack on French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo.

In Algeria El Watan devotes its front page to the Charlie Hebdo attack.

If you find a copy of the Algerian newspaper, you'll be able to see what they did: the cover is almost entirely black.

The only thing written on it is Charlie Hebdo, the font is white and the O is replaced by a wreath.

El Watan has extensive coverage of the attack.

And, according to one of their articles, Algeria is among the countries that condemned the terrorist attack.

"Algeria strongly condemns the terrorist attack that nothing can justify," said a foreign ministry statement.

The statement, reports the newspaper, recalls that "Algeria has also paid a heavy price to terrorism and extremism" so the country "expresses its solidarity with the people and the French government".

Like other Arab states, the Algerian government warns against amalgams and stigmatisation of Muslim communities in Europe.

The Egypt Independent is reporting that a fighter of the Islamic State (IS) armed grouped praised the attack.

Abu Massad, an IS member, said the raid was "a revenge for insults against Islam".

"The lions of Islam have avenged our Prophet," he says, adding "This is just the first drop - more will follow"

So far there is no known link between the Charlie Hebdo attack and the IS.

"No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack," the Egyptian Independent points out.

The newspaper talks about reactions on Twitter.

But I think what's important to focus on here is that, as the paper puts, it "early reaction from governments in Muslim countries was unreservedly critical".

"Our religion is a religion of peace. We are against all forms of terrorism," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosoglu declared.

The Paris events are also featured a lot in the South African press.

Business Day, Times and the Mail and Guardian all followed the events live.

'‘Rivers of blood after Paris attack," reads the IOL headline.

The Mail and Guardian has interviewed world-famous South African cartoonist Zapiro.

Jonathan Shapiro - his real name - works for the newspaper.

Shapiro told the paper that "the shootings were not only an attack on the media and free press but on French society and secular societies more broadly".

The cartoonist is worried of the consequences this could have on freedom on expression in France and around the world.

Zapiro also notes that "In SA there's some alarming trends among politicians attacking media for all sorts of reasons".

A situation that should make us - all of us - reaffirm the principles of freedom of speech, it says.