African press review 17 October 2015

President Buhari says he is willing to negotiate the release of the Chibok girls with Boko Haram insurgents. South Africa is under pressure from the International Criminal Court for refusing to arrest Sudan's Omar al-Beshir during visit to South Africa. And Kenyan farmers show peoples power by setting up the first banana wine and beer factory.

We begin with an exclusive interview of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, making a buzz on social media in the country. Buhari, who spoke to Al Jazeera English service discussing a wide-range of issues including his pledge to defeat Boko Haram by December.

The national dailies are taken aback by his expression of willingness to negotiate with the group to secure the release of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. Vanguard, reports that the President challenged Boko Haram "to prove that the girls are alive and well, before he can…negotiate with them”

When asked whether he would offer financial payments, or a prisoner release, to Boko Haram in return for the girls, Buhari did not rule out either option stating that "it depends on the negotiations with the leadership of Boko Haram.”

The President has pledged to defeat Boko Haram by the end of 2015 and has said, “as soon as the rainy season comes, which is by the end of the year […] Boko Haram will virtually be out of their main stronghold and that will be the end of it [….] Attacks by Boko Haram on townships, on military installations, will certainly stop." If Boko Haram isn’t defeated by December, however, Buhari said he “will not resign.”

In South Africa, the press is contemplating South Africa’s options as the ICC piles pressure on the rainbow nation to explain why the government did not arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country despite an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed in Darfur.

Mail and Guardian reports that the ICC wanted an explanation, by no later than October 5, but the date has come and gone. According to the paper, while the court is not beyond criticism, pulling out would betray South Africa’s commitment to human rights.

And The Standard digital pays tribute to a group of Kenyan farmers who have teamed up to form the country’s first ever banana wine and beer factory. The newspaper says that farmers become wise the day they realise that selling raw products fetched them a raw deal.

The Standard reports that the 5,000-member Imenti Central Community have built a factory at Katheri location where everything derived from the banana plant is utilised -- from banana crisps, flour and animal feeds. One of the group’s leaders speaks to the paper about the good business they are making from crisps of banana flour used to flavour foods such as githeri, chapatti, and porridge.

Their products packaged in 20, 50 and 100gm packets are now reportedly sold in supermarkets and other outlets at Sh50, Sh100 and Sh150 respectively, alongside bags of animal feed for pigs, chicken and cattle made from the banana peelings, according to the Imenti cooperative leader

And in South Africa, a 19-month-old toddler is under the custody of social workers in Pietermaritzburg after his mother was arrested for allegedly trying to sell him for R5 000 on Thursday.

City Press reports that police arrested the 20-year-old woman after she allegedly posted an advert on online classifieds website Gumtree. A tip-off from a Gumtree user led to a sting operation that led to the woman’s arrest.

Pietermaritzburg police spokesperson Constable Mthokozisi Ngobese told City Press that a female officer was tasked with contacting the mother on Saturday and set up the deal.