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Authorities in South Sudan's Warrap State on Monday confirmed that 18 government soldiers and seven armed youth were killed in clashes between the two groups in Rualbet Payam of Tonj North County on Saturday.

According to Warrap state officials, the SSPDF soldiers deployed to recover stolen cattle clashed with youth from the Awan Parek clan in Rualbet Payam.

The youths had radied 125 cattle from the Konggor section in Aliek Payam.

Among those killed were the Military Chief of Intelligence Division 11, Lt. Col. Akec Ciman Paac, SSPDF Division 11 Military Chief for Operations Maj. Santino Kuot Kuotdit and the former Mayen Jur County Commissioner Kuol Agok.

"It was on Thursday last week that criminals from Rualbet and Akop payams ganged up and went to Aliek payam of Konggor community and raided over 100 cattle and divided among themselves. So the acting commissioner of Tonj North county ordered Major Gen. of Disarmament forces to recover cattle and when soldiers confiscated cattle and brought them to their base, they (SSPDF) were attacked and overrun," Warrap State Information minister Riing Deng Adiing.

He added, "18 both senior and junior officers were killed and some are missing and seven armed youth also confirmed dead. We don't know the number of those wounded, we have to confirm."

Meanwhile, Bak Ajuot, acting commissioner of Tonj North County confirmed the incident but said the casualty numbers are still unclear as soldiers were scattered in the bushes. 

Ajuot said the clashes lasted for about six hours. He also pointed out that Rualdit Payam has no telephone network and they only get information from people travelling to and from the area. - Radio Tamazuj

By PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for urgent global action to address challenges facing oceans, seas and the marine environment, saying the world needed to upgrade from proposals on the subject to tangible interventions. 

“We expect this conference to shift gear from proposals to action. Action that is driven by science, technology, and innovation. We expect to hear about sustainable examples of nature-based solutions. We expect to understand the linkages between the ocean, climate change and land- based actions, such as pollution,” the President said.

President Kenyatta spoke on Monday in Lisbon, Portugal where he co-chaired the opening plenary session of the second United Nations Ocean Conference with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of the Portuguese Republic and UN Secretary General António Guterres.

The Kenyan leader said time had come for world leaders to work together in the scaling up of conservation action “driven by science and innovation” to help solve challenges facing sustainability and health of global maritime resources.

“Our actions are not commensurate with the threat that faces the ocean. We urgently need to build an ocean-based economy where effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand-in-hand. These actions must be taken collectively because the ocean is a global common good,” President Kenyatta said.

He pointed out that two-thirds of global waters lie in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) of Economic Exclusive Zones noting that inaction in one sea affects other seas, adding that oceans were the most under-appreciated resource in the world despite their centrality to human existence.

“The ocean covers 70 per cent of the global surface and 3 billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity. The ocean is home to up to 80 percent of all life in the world; it supplies nearly half the oxygen we breathe; and around 90 percent of the world’s goods are traded across the ocean. The list goes on and on,” the President said.

Once again, President Kenyatta said that human action continue to put ocean systems under immense stress especially from indiscriminate dumping of plastic waste, pointing out that more than eight million tons of plastics are thrown into oceans each year.

On Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, the President said the crime was threatening the stability of fish populations while dumping of toxic waste into the water was altering and destroying marine ecosystems.

“Poor management of the ocean has reduced the ocean’s natural ability to restore itself. I find it quite surprising that we would put such a critical resource at risk,” he said.

“We need to build political momentum towards ocean climate action as we head for the 27th Session of the UN Climate Conference in Sharma-Al-Sheikh, in Egypt in November. We can no longer continue to make commitments that we cannot honour,” the President added.

President Kenyatta noted that l solutions to the challenges facing oceans lie with the people, saying that if managed sustainably marine resources able to produce as much as six times more food and generate 40 times more renewable energy.

“In the ocean lies great risk as well as great opportunity. The burden of choice lies with us. Over the last decade, we have accumulated sufficient knowledge of the risks and opportunities, and deepened our understanding of actions we should take,” he said.

On this year’s UN Ocean Conference, the President said the meeting should yield a clear financing mechanisms and regretted that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 is the most underfunded of all the 17 SDGs.

In his opening remarks, UN Secretary General Antonio Guteress said it was time to “turn the tide” in conservation of oceans.

“We have taken the ocean for granted, and now we must face an ocean emergency. I am urging all participants at the UN Ocean Conference to right these wrongs and do our part for the ocean. We must take action and turn the tide,” Guteress said.

On his part, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the UN Ocean Conference was held at an appropriate time “because the oceans are central to geopolitical power, health, economic resources, mobility, migrations, scientific and technological development”.

“This is the right time, the right place, the right approach. The urgency of the pandemic or war cannot be an excuse to forget about structural challenges and their effects on our daily lives,” President de Sousa said.

About two dozen heads of state and government were present at the opening session conference that was attended by delegates from more than 120 countries.

 

  • Rwandan President Paul Kagame (left) and BBC journalist, Anne Soy at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held on Saturday, June 25, 2022.
    YOUTUBE 
  • BBC Senior Africa Correspondent Anne Soy raised the ire of Rwandan president, Paul Kagame during the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held on Saturday, June 25. 

    Soy put to task Kagame, who doubles up as the chairperson of the Commonwealth group, over his actions in the recent past in terms of governing Rwanda. 

    She questioned his character and values, wondering what his priorities would be considering some of his critiques and opposition leaders in Rwanda were allegedly behind bars.  

    "As chair of the commonwealth, what are your priorities in terms of upholding the values of democracy and human rights given that there's been scrutiny on your country and the record of your government and critics have been pointing out the number of opposition leaders and journalists who are in prison. What type of leadership will this organisation have?" she asked. 

    Kagame, who took issue with the question, went on a 15-minute rant of how the foreign media such as the BBC, portrays Africans in a bad light.  

    "I think checking of facts is a serious problem with the very institutions we should have relied on to inform the general public about some of the facts or the interpretations of things that happened," Kagame stated. 

    "Who doesn't have values? I want to put this case clearly. Those from the North where BBC comes from, who always think that they are the face of values and the rest have to follow is a big mistake. We have values here in Africa and Rwanda."

    "Those from the North who accuse you of not having values have been part and parcel of the problems such as genocide that happened in Rwanda," he added. 

    The Rwandan president, who has been in power since 2000, also pointed an accusing finger at foreign countries who allegedly create a recipe for disaster by causing divisions among Africans.

    He posed a question to the Kenyan journalist as to the values and integrity upheld by BBC. 

    "You had savages coming and taking over the country and killing each other and the others assume higher ground and keep pointing fingers and think that we don't respect human rights." 

    "BBC you think so? You take time to broadcast from morning to evening, this is literally abusing people, Rwandans, and Africans talking about values, values, values. What values do you know my dear sister on behalf of BBC?" 

    "I want to assure you, there's nobody in BBC or anywhere else thereabout who would be holding values better than we do here in Rwanda. As far as I'm concerned, we don't need any lessons from BBC or from anyone. I tell you this with firm conviction," Kagame asserted. 

    The president also refuted allegations that he had imprisoned his fierce critics, noting that his country had an impartial judicial system that would only jail perpetrators and offenders of the law. 

    He gave examples of offenders who were on trial but were perceived as victims by the media due to the fact that they were critiques of the president's reign.  

    "So, the basis on which the judgments are made are not necessarily right. So, I'll let you make a decision at some point on what to believe or what you should be making other people believe. I know you may already be framing a completely different story about what I said or giving it a frame in which I didn't put it but that's okay," he concluded. 

    Soy, a former KTN journalist, remained mum during the 15-minute rant alongside other heads of government who did not interrupt Kagame's speech.

    The journalist is a Deputy Editor and Senior Africa Correspondent at BBC.

    President Uhuru Kenyatta greets his Rwandan Counterpart Paul Kagame at State House
    President Uhuru Kenyatta greets his Rwandan Counterpart Paul Kagame at State House.
    PSCU  By Brian Kimani, Kenyans.co.ke

Photo Courtesy SPS

President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Brahim Ghali, has received Vice-President of the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, Mr. Abderrahmane Omar Kenana.

The meeting took place at the residence of the President of the Republic in Maputo, during which he reviewed the developments of the Saharawi issue, praising the relations between the Polisario Front and the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania, as well as the Sahrawi Republic and Tanzania.

President Brahim Ghali highly valued the continued accompaniment, support and solidarity of the Tanzanian people with the Sahrawi people in its just struggle.

For his part, Abderrahmane Omar Kenana reviewed the relations of cooperation and solidarity between the Polisario Front and the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania, expressing concern over the delay in decolonization of the last African colony.

The meeting was attended on the Sahrawi side by Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nana Labat Rasheed, Adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, Abdati Abreika, Adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, and Wadadi Ahmed Heiba, Ambassador to Mozambique.

The meeting comes as part of the official visit by the President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Brahim Gali, to Mozambique to participate in the celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Frelimo Party. Sahara Press Service

  • Maxine Wahome participates in the WRC Rally in Naivasha.  CAPITAL GROUP 
  • 26-year-old Kenyan rally driver Maxine Wahome emerged victorious on Sunday, June 26, in the ongoing championship in Naivasha.

    Wahome emerged top in the World Rally Championship-3 (WRC-3) category beating her fellow Kenyans Jeremy Wahome and McRae Kimathi to 2nd & 3rd spots respectively.

    The rally driver made her debut in the championship this season and since last week, she topped the all-Ford Fiesta Rally3 field by 25.6sec ahead of Kimathi who is an FIA Junior WRC regular. 

    As of Friday, Wahome had risen up the ranks to the top spot.

    Kenyan rally driver Maxine Wahome
    Kenyan rally driver Maxine Wahome. CAPITAL GROUP

    On the same day,  Jeremy Wahome bowed out of the race after he encountered an engine control unit issue on the Loldia opener. 

    The WRC-3 junior category is the arrive-and-drive still forming part of the World Rally Championship whose participants must be born on or after January 1, 1993, and contest using the Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars.

    Speaking at the Safari Rally final Podium, President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulated Maxine Wahome for her win promising to support her in her future championships.

    "I want to congratulate our very own Maxine Wahome. You have proved that the world of motorsport is not the world of men but mankind.

    "We congratulate you as the WRC category 3 and promise you our continued support as you work your up the ranks not just in the Safari Rally but through the WRC ranks globally. We shall stand with you, keep up the spirit and the encouragement," stated the Head of State.

    In the same sport, Singh Rai emerged as the top Kenyan driver in the WRC-2 category and ranked number 12 overall in the 2022 WRC Safari Rally.

    In the category,  Kajetan Kajetanowic, a Polish national, emerged the winner after claiming the top spot since the opening day. 

    Kalle Rovanperä, 21, was crowned the overall winner of the Safari Rally followed by Welsh rally driver Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta respectively.

    In his closing remarks, Uhuru also hailed the organisers for holding the event in its second year running since it made a comeback in 2021.

    "We are here today to celebrate the second year running that we have hosted the return of the Safari Rally back on the WRC circuit. To say how happy and proud we are to be together with all our partners and racing lovers across the globe.

    "Mine is to congratulate every single participant. As I said when we started, the price is not in winning but in how you win," Uhuru added. 

    Kenya will host the Safari Rally every year until 2026 as per the sealed agreement with the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

    Kenyan Rally driver Maxine Wahome
    Kenyan Rally driver Maxine Wahome. KISS FM  By DERRICK OKUBASU , Kenyans.co.ke

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