Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for December 2, 2014

Continue reading for a summary of recent news stories relating to some of the most pressing issues on the continent. We draw on a wide range of respected news sources, both from Africa itself and around the world. The themes of today's In the News post are: replacement of high level security officials in Kenya following al-Shabab massacre, elections in Namibia, the rise of Grace Mugabe in Zimbabwe, urban planning in Cameroon, emerging African market hubs and continuing violence by Boko Haram.

Kenya al-Shabab massacre: Kenyatta replaces security chiefs

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has replaced his interior minister and police chief following a massacre by Islamist group al-Shabab.

The president asked Kenyans to unite, and said: "We will not flinch in war against terrorists."

Kenya's police chief David Kimayo stood down, while Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku was dismissed.

Earlier, al-Shabab killed 36 quarry workers in the Mandera region near the Somali border.

The group attacked the workers around midnight on Monday while they were asleep in tents at the quarry in Kormey, 15km (9 miles) from the north-eastern town of Mandera.

Non-Muslim workers were shot dead after being separated from the Muslims.

"This is a war against Kenya and Kenyans," Mr Kenyatta said on national TV on Monday. "It is a war that every one of us must fight."

To read more from the BBC, click here.

Namibia's ruling party wins presidential poll with landslide

Namibia's ruling SWAPO party cruised to victory in the 2014 presidential election with Prime Minister Hage Geingob taking 86.73 percent of all declared votes, the southern African country's electoral commission said on Monday.

Second placed presidential candidate McHenry Venaani of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance limped in with 4.97 percent. SWAPO also consolidated its power in parliament, retaining a two-third majority with 80 percent of the national assembly ballot.

Friday's election was Africa's first electronic ballot and SWAPO had been widely expected to extend its 24-year rule with people in the mineral-rich state seeing stability as their priority in the face of a global commodities downturn.

To read more from France 24, click here.

In Zimbabwe, the route to power is called Mugabe

(Reuters) - Ninety-year-old Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is - quite literally - paving the way for his wife's ascent to power.

In another sign of the First Lady's growing clout, Harare residents awoke on Tuesday to a new street, Dr Grace Mugabe Way, leading to the conference center where Africa's oldest leader may this week anoint his chosen political successor.

The veteran former guerrilla leader, who has manned the helm of the southern African country since the end of British rule in 1980, has never said whom he would prefer to take over when he retires or dies.

What little certainty there was has been blown apart this year by the meteoric political rise of his wife, a 49-year-old one-time government typist nicknamed 'Gucci Grace' for her reputed shopping skills.

To read more from Reuters, click here.

Cameroon: Taming Waters for Health, Jobs in Yaounde

More than half the world's eight billion people will be living in cities within five years, demographers predict – and Africa is at the forefront of that transition.

The west African nation of Cameroon has been leading the trend. By 2010, the majority of its people already were living in urban areas, putting pressure on infrastructure and city services.

National and local officials decided something had to be done. With the help of the African Development Bank (AfDB), planners studied the problem and developed the Yaoundé City Sanitation Master Plan. The first phase, over was a U.S.$38 million project for cleaning drainage ditches, installing canals to handle larger amounts of waste water and improve the quality of water sources. The Bank contributed funds to launch the initiative, along with the government of Cameroon.

By its scheduled completion in December 2017, the project will directly benefit 1.8 million people – three-quarters of the capital's population – if it meets its targets. In addition to enhancing the sanitation infrastructure, the associated public works projects are expected to create jobs, both through hiring laborers from local neighborhoods and by engaging small and medium-sized businesses in sub-contracting and consulting. Seven district governance councils and local non-governmental organizations will be involved, according to the plan.

To read more from allAfrica, click here.

Gauteng fast losing status as gateway to Africa

WITH Nigeria leapfrogging SA as the largest economy in Africa earlier this year, along with pedestrian rates of economic growth, the role of SA in the "Africa rising" narrative is up for debate. If we are no longer the biggest economy and our economic growth is well below par, is SA a springboard to new African markets? How do our commercial centres compare with others vying to be the gateway to Africa?

Gauteng has been described as the Gateway to Africa. At its centre is Johannesburg, which this year's MasterCard global destination cities index ranked as the most popular destination city in Africa. It also ranks as the top African city for doing business by various surveys of African companies.

But things are changing fast. Other fast growing cities, from Lagos to Nairobi, are positioning themselves as emerging African hubs. The new reality is that the locomotive driving African markets has clearly shifted from the south, with investors now seeking new entry points and direct access to Africa's high-growth markets. Johannesburg does still have the most advanced financial services, and is well ahead of most other African markets on measures of competitiveness. But the window is closing quickly as other locations — including non-African — present themselves as a potential gateway to the continent. Dubai has emerged as one such example, leveraging world-class competitive services and connectedness.

To read more from Business Day, click here.

Boko Haram Attacks With Ease, Causing Death and Mayhem in Nigeria's Provinces

DAKAR, Senegal — A wave of attacks across northern Nigeria, including two on Monday — a suicide bombing at a market and an assault on security facilities — showed that the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram remained able to strike at will in the region, especially against civilian targets.

The most recent attacks attributed to the group occurred in Maiduguri and Damaturu, state capitals in the northeast. Boko Haram, which has its roots in the area, has struck those cities repeatedly over the past five years.

The attacks followed a bombing on Friday in a central mosque in Kano, the principal city of northern Nigeria; 120 people were killed in that attack.

It was not clear yet on Monday evening how many people were killed in Maiduguri, where women detonated suicide bombs in the city's biggest market. A similar bombing by two women last Tuesday killed at least 45 people.

To read more from the New York Times, click here.