Summary
- Kenya Forest Service (KFS) guards are said to have used excessive force during the evictions intended to pave the way for a European Union-funded project seeking to protect water catchment areas in the Western Kenya region.
- The EU had warned the government that continued use of force by KFS against innocent locals would lead to suspension of its financial support for conservation work on the country’s water towers.
The European Union has suspended Sh3.6 billion funding for a
water tower conservation programme following death of a herder in
forceful eviction of the Sengwer, a tribe living in Embobut forest in
Western Kenya.
Kenya Forest Service (KFS) guards are
said to have used excessive force during the evictions intended to pave
the way for a European Union-funded project seeking to protect water
catchment areas in the Western Kenya region.
The EU had
warned the government that continued use of force by KFS against
innocent locals would lead to suspension of its financial support for
conservation work on the country’s water towers.
“Accordingly,
we are now suspending the support to the Water Towers Programme with
the Government of Kenya,” said Stephano Dejak, head of EU delegation in
Kenya.
On Monday, United Nations experts called on Kenyan authorities to halt the fresh wave of forceful evictions of the Sengwer that started late December.
On Monday, United Nations experts called on Kenyan authorities to halt the fresh wave of forceful evictions of the Sengwer that started late December.
The UN noted more than 100
armed forest service guards had invaded traditional lands of the Sengwer
in the Embobut forest, firing gunshots, burning at least 15 homes and
killing their livestock.
Following
the forceful eviction of the Sengwer, the UN experts had recommended
that the EU suspends funding of the Water Towers Protection and Climate
Change Mitigation and Adaptation launched in mid-2016.
The six-year programme seeks to end poverty through enhancing
the productivity of ecosystem services in two of Kenya’s five water
towers – Mt Elgon and Cherangany and its ecosystems covering eleven
counties.
The Sengwer hunter-gatherers have for five
decades fought with the government for the right to live in the Embobut
forest in the Cherengany Hills from where they were first evicted by
British colonialists in the 19th century.
The community is reported to have moved back into the forest after they were evicted and compensated in 2014.
“The
EU insists on full respect for the rights of indigenous people, and the
conservation work on the water towers was never expected to involve any
evictions or use of violence,” said Mr Dejak.
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