African press review 27 February 2015

SA’s budget ruffles few feathers. Al-Shebab brags about attacking Somalia’s presidential palace and threaten more violence in Kenya. Boko Haram violence seems to come second after corruption to some Nigerian politicians.

It was budget day on Wednesday in the South African parliament. So, naturally, the papers there have a lot to say about the measures unveiled by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.

BusinessDay tells us that anyone expecting drama was disappointed. The economic environment may be the most challenging of the democratic era, says the paper, but the fiscal measures Nene proposed are hardly radical. Even the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters MPs behaved themselves yesterday.

The headline news was higher taxes, cutbacks in spending and three more years of power cuts.

Nene was fairly honest about why the economy is not growing, including “factors of our own making” such as the electricity crisis. But, BusinessDay complains, he did not mention how two huge future financial commitments by the government - national health insurance and nuclear procurement - will be funded.

The best, opines the paper, is that tax, spending and deficits increased at slower rates than expected.

The worst is that it increases the likelihood of prolonged stagnation, along with the world’s highest sustained unemployment rate, extreme welfare dependency and a business-unfriendly environment.

Needless to say, there is drama aplenty elsewhere on the African continent. In Somalia the online news-site Jowhar.com leads with the claim from the al-Shebab armed Islamists that they carried out a mortar attack on the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday.

“We attacked the palace with mortar shells today. Several landed inside the palace,” al-Shebab’s military spokesperson is quoted as saying. Jowhar.com tells readers that "Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment." Which is interesting. Evidently, the insurgents are more media-savvy that the authorities.

Mareeg Media, another online news site, tells a different story. It says two government soldiers and one civilian were slightly wounded following a mortar shell falling near the presidential palace.

The shell fell near the Djibouti embassy building and Somali finance ministry building. But no damage was reported

It is still unclear who is responsible for the shelling, says Mareeg.

Take your pick.

In neighbouring Kenya the Daily Nation reports that Kenyan troops will remain in Somalia for one more year after the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the African Union Mission to Somalia.

Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said the country welcomed the extension and appealed for more help to defeat “terrorism”.

The Kenya Defence Forces have been helping to liberate Somalia, which has been the theatre and launchpad of al-Shebab attacks.

The paper notes that al-Shebab has published a new video on its website, threatening to carry out more attacks on Kenyan towns.

This may not be an empty threat. From Mogadishu, Jowhar.com reminds readers that Islamist extremists killed 173 people in Kenya last year, the highest number in the three years that Kenya has suffered violence blamed on al-Shebab.

The 2014 death toll is even higher than that of 2013 when 67 people were killed in the assault on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall.

On the other side of the continent, Nigeria has its own headaches, including an insurgency that has claimed even more innocent victims.

It is intriguing that prominent Nigerians often choose to address the country's pressing issue at events in London staged by the venerable thinktank Chatham House. Yesterday it was the turn of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retired). And, the Guardian reports his address in full.

Anyone looking for clues on the priorities of Nigerian politicians, or perhaps what they imagine are the main concerns of a foreign audience, can find them in Buhari's speech.

First off he assured his audience that any person found indulging in corrupt practises would not be tolerated in his administration.

Seemingly, the insurgency by Boko Haram, in which more than 13,000 Nigerians have died, is the second major concern.

Buhari said that it was unfortunate that the menace had put Nigeria on the terrorism map. President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, he said, had done little to contain the armed Islamist group. Under his Buhari’s presidency, Nigeria would not only be a secure place, it would regain its stabilising role in Africa, he claimed. The Guardian does not tell us if his London audience, or Nigerians, were reassured.