A section of houses ablaze on January 16, 2014, in Kamoyokwo village in
Embobut Forest, Kenya. The country came under pressure on January 24,
2018 to halt security operations in the forest where a man was killed
last week. FILE PHOTO
Kenya came under pressure on Wednesday to halt security
operations in a forest where a man was killed last week, as activists
called on Finland follow the European Union in suspending aid they said
was fuelling the land conflict.
A court in the western
town of Eldoret on Monday ordered forest guards and the police to stop
evicting the Sengwer from Embobut forest, which they claim as their
ancestral land, until February 27 when it will hear their case.
Eviction
More
than 100 armed Kenya Forest Service (KFS) guards entered the forest on
December 25, firing gunshots, burning homes and killing livestock, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
“Most
of the members of the Sengwer community are hiding in the forest,
staying in caves and other highly vulnerable places exposed to the
dangers of wild animals and vagaries of the weather,” 21 Sengwer
petitioners said in court documents.
“The assault, burning and destruction of their properties is a violation or threat of violation to their right to life.”
Their battle illustrates global tension between indigenous
peoples and conservation policies excluding them from protected forests.
Land is an explosive political issue in Kenya.
Conservation scheme
The
European Union (EU) shelved a $35 million water conservation scheme in
the forest on January 17 after Kenya Forest Service (KFS) guards killed a
man belonging to the hunter-gatherer community, which opposes the aid
project.
The EU and Amnesty International will visit the forest on Thursday, activists said.
The
Sengwer petition, seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said they
went to court after hearing local media report on January 19 that “the
government would undertake air and ground operation to evict all persons
in Embobut Forest”.
Police and county officials were
not immediately available to comment. Environment minister, Judi
Wakhungu, said last week that security forces were flushing criminals
out of the forest.
Funding
Almost
a dozen international rights groups called on Finland on Wednesday to
suspend a $12 million project, working with KFS to support the forestry
sector.
“This is funding the ongoing human rights
abuses by KFS that involve the burning of homes, forced evictions, and
now their killing of a Sengwer community member,” the groups, including
the UK-based Forest Peoples Programme, said in an open letter.
The
Sengwer have fought for more than five decades 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.
“It’s
our call to the Finnish government to suspend this project just like
the EU,” Sengwer activist Yator Kiptum said on Wednesday. “KFS just
continued burning homes today.”
Dedan Ndiritu, KFS's
head of conservancy in the region, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation
by phone on Wednesday, that the situation in Embobut forest was "normal"
and "not much is happening there".
—Thomson Reuters Foundation
No comments :
Post a Comment