Saturday Links: Yasir Arman, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal, Moussa Dadis Camara, and Other Personalities That Shaped the Week

The SPLM announces its candidate for the Sudanese presidential elections: Yasir Arman, “a top party official in the north.” South Sudanese President Salva Kiir will run for re-election there. The Financial Times concludes that Yasir’s candidacy is “a sign [SPLM leaders] are more focused on running the south in advance of possible independence.” This quote is also worth thinking about:

On the SPLM’s choice, John Ashworth of IKV Pax Christi, a Christian campaign group, said: “They know they’ve got no chance in the north. But the idea is that , whereas a southerner would get no votes at all, a northerner would get some. So they’re at least trying to show they’re serious.”

Al Jazeera English and The Economist have more.

In Kenya, tensions around the planned deportation of Jamaican-born Muslim preacher Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal caused protests in Nairobi, which turned violent. The protests also revealed deep strains in Kenyan society regarding the presence of Somalis in the country.

After nightfall, Somalis in Nairobi ran the gauntlet of mob justice. A Reuters witness saw a Somali man being dragged from his car not far from the mosque and beaten by an angry mob.

While the leaders of the protest were Kenyan Muslims, many of the demonstrators from the mosque were Somalis and this perception was fuelling the attacks.

Residents said groups of men were also stopping cars along the two main roads heading to Eastleigh, the eastern suburb of the capital where many Somalis live.

[...]Kenya hosts some 300,000 Somali refugees in camps and there is a large community in the capital. Some Somalis who fled the war say they fear Islamists are snatching or luring their children away from their new life in Kenya.

Al Shabaab is battling to overthrow the Somali government and impose its own harsh version of sharia, Islamic law.

While there are frequent reports of al Shabaab sympathisers being seen in Eastleigh, the appearance of their flags on the capital’s streets is new.

Big news on Guinea: former military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, recently arrived in Burkina Faso, “has agreed to remain outside the country, continuing his recovery from being shot more than one month ago while a transitional government takes charge in Guinea to organize new elections.” International pressure appears to have succeeded in preventing Camara’s return to power.

IRIN and the International Crisis Group give us updates on situations in the Central African Republic.

Christian Science Monitor looks at pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.

And finally, to end on a positive note, VOA calls the resolution of the Cameroon-Nigeria border dispute “a model for the world.”

Feel free to post interesting links in the comments section.