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A
plea to the international community
by
Rights Features Service
 (December
1, 2000) Some 120 miles northwest of Nairobi lies the Tinet forest,
a part of Mau East block of indigenous forest. This is the home
of one of the world's last hunting and gathering community, known
as the Ogiek.
Although
the Tinet forest has been gazetted as government land since Kenya
was a British colony, thus barring people from living live in
it, the Ogiek have continued to live in Tinet as far as anyone
can remember.
For years
the Kenya government had always wanted the Ogiek to leave and
be settled out of the forest. Based on research carried out in
the field, information from historical works, and interviews,
we have stitched together the genesis
of the Ogiek land crisis. It is a sad story of an indigenous
community on the verge of losing its homeland.
The Ogiek
are bitter about what is happening and are now clinging on a final
hope that an appeal they have lodged at Kenya's Supreme Court
will succeed.
We feel that
the international community has an obligation to pressure the
Kenyan government to take concrete steps that will assure the
Ogiek a right to livelihood.
We have talked
to Ogiek in the field and they say:
"They want
to take our land so we can be slaves, but let them know this will
never be. We will fight until the last Ogiek drops dead before
they take this land," vows 70-year old Kipsang Kaliaisoi, who
was born in Tinet Forest.
Since April,
armed police have been barring a team from the Kenya Human Rights
Commission (KHRC), a Kenyan rights lobby group, from entering
Tinet Forest to conduct civic education.
Kenyan President
Daniel arap Moi has publicly stated that the human rights body
and other civil organizations "are the ones inciting the Ogiek."
But the Kenya
Human Rights Commission has vowed to continue with their crusade
for the Ogiek.
"No amount
of police presence will deter us from educating the Ogiek about
their land rights," says Lumumba Odenda, the KHRC land rights
project officer. "We will go on regardless of the severe opposition
from the government through the use of riot police."
The Ogiek
at first inhabited Keringet and Olenguruone forests deep in Kenya's
Rift Valley. But the British colonial government evicted them
in 1903 to pave way to commercial farmers who grew tea. Although
they moved to Tinet Forest in Mau East, the forest was gazetted
as government forest, meaning that no one was allowed to stay
inside the forest perimeter. But the Ogiek stayed.
In 1941 the
colonial government tried to evict the Ogiek from Tinet by razing
down their shelters. But they moved deep into the forest where
they have continued to collect rich honey, hunt and gather wild
fruits.
In 1977 the
government issued a similar eviction order. The Ogiek refused
to budge and government officers torched their huts.
Eighty-year
old Chepkurui Sang recalls the time: "We fought hard and resisted
any attempt to move out of Tinet. Our children will follow our
footsteps and they will fight. Perhaps some other people will
come to our aid."
Government
officials insist that Tinet is a gazetted forest conservation
and water catchment area. But what is happening today at Mau East
is a wanton destruction of Ogiek homeland, where timber interests
have taken control.
The Ogiek
have tried both diplomacy and legal process but none of those
has helped them get back their forestland. The High Court in Nairobi
recently gave the government a green light to evict the Ogiek.
But a stay was granted pending appeal.
Even as that
stay is in operation we have witnessed continued destruction of
Ogiek forest by three Timber companies.
At the High
Court the judges sarcastically said that "there is no reason why
the Ogiek should be the only favored community to own and exploit
our natural resources, a privilege not enjoyed or extended to
other Kenyans." High Court Judges Samuel Oguk and Richard Kuloba
delivered the judgment.
The judges
said that the Ogiek had been allocated land elsewhere "but had
instead decided to occupy the forest."
But the Ogiek
insists that they have never been allocated any land and that
the government wanted them assimilated into other tribes.
"Although
the Ogiek are numerically a small group who constitute no political
threat; they have been subjected to negative stereotypes, to denial
of rights and to segregation. They have also been victims of conflict,
competition, and rivalry between Kenyan communities jockeying
for power and control of resources," says Joseph Towett, chair
of the Ogiek Welfare Council, an Ogiek advocacy organization.
Lawyers for
the Ogiek community say that the Ogiek are entitled to the Mau
East land as part of their cultural heritage.
"Ogiek have
a right to life and the forest is their livelihood. If they are
moved out they have nowhere to go, and nowhere to settle," says
human rights lawyer Mirugi Kariuki who has appealed on their behalf.
In 1996 the
government had appeared to have changed its stance on the Ogiek
and allotted each family five acres of land in the forest on condition
they do not tamper with the trees. The Ogiek established schools
and a trading center inside the forest but were apprehensive that
if they take the five-acres the rest would be dished out to other
tribes.
They petitioned
President Moi to intervene but this was interpreted to mean that
the Ogiek had refused to be settled.
We see the
main aim as to alienate the Ogiek land and give it to agricultural
developers. The Ogiek community lawyer Joseph Sergon says the
alleged developers want to plant tea "and make a lot of money
in disregard of the rights of the Ogiek community."
The general
feeling among the Ogiek is that the government is not sincere
when it says it wants to preserve the forest. Geoffrey Tesot,
an Ogiek-trained teacher says, "they assume they can use the ignorance
of our people to manipulate us. You can see some of us are teachers
and we know our rights. We can be able to read between the lines
of the actual government intention."
And we also
witnessed desperation:
Grace Sang,
50, told us: "Where will I take my six children if they evict
us? I do not know anywhere to go. I depend on this land to feed
my children and educate them. If they so wish let them kill us."
Stories from
the grapevine say that the forest land has already been allocated
to officers of the presidential security escort and state house
staff. Although no documents have been tabled, Samson Birir, a
close aide of President Moi who manages Moi's Kiptagich Tea Estate,
has been named as one of the beneficiaries. The High Court last
year barred another Moi-aide, Isaiah Cheluget, from evicting some
Ogiek from a 4,000-acre chunk of the forest and restrained him
from felling trees and burning charcoal.
As the Ogiek
prepare to confront the government to protect their last chunk
of the homeland, pundits say that the government is preparing
to settle Moi's Tugen tribe after the Ogiek leave.
Recommendations
Kenya has
signed several international treaties and declarations but is
not fulfilling the obligations set forth. In the final document
we have put the several clauses that Kenya has flouted. We have
put the relevant statutes at the appendix as an annex. Similarly
we have published the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
in its entirety hoping that it will give the reader a chance to
know the African states stand on human rights.
Kenya is
also a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) which is a legally binding covenant. Article 27
of the Covenant states:
"In those
States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exists,
persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right
in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their
own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to
use their own language."
The Covenant
thus grants persons belonging to the minority the right to preserve
characteristics which they wish to maintain and develop. The United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has made it clear that
the applicability of article 27 "is not subject to official recognition
of a minority by a state."
States that
have ratified the ICCPR are thus obliged to ensure that all individuals
under their jurisdiction enjoy their rights and this may require
specific action to correct inequalities to which minorities are
subjected.
United Nations
clauses accord indigenous communities and minorities, such as
the Ogiek, special rights. These special rights are not privileges
but are normally granted to make it possible for minorities to
preserve their identity, characteristics, and traditions.
Conclusions
After surveying
and speaking to Ogiek sources in the Rift Valley we have found
out that:
1. The Kenyan
government, from colonial times, has consistently disregarded
the rights of the Ogiek as a minority group. The Ogiek have since
1903 faced constant harassment and this continues up to date.
They have lost most of their lands and are now on the verge of
losing the balance.
2. The wanton
destruction of Ogiek forests is a bid to kick them out of their
land and give it out to other tribes. This is a clear violation
of Ogiek right to their ancestral land.
3. The Ogiek
children have suffered great injustice and are being denied a
chance to grow within their culture, contrary to accepted international
standards.
4. The recent
Ogiek judgement could not have been fair in the context of President
Moi's comments to the Ogiek elders that he is "also that court."
5. Kenya
has broken international law on minority and indigenous groups
and ought to live within its obligations to international treaties
that it has signed.
Recommendations
We recommend
the following to the Kenyan government:
1. Give legal
and concrete undertakings that the Ogiek will no longer be harassed
and that their right to the ancestral land will be respected.
2. Enact
an Ogiek Land Act that will give the Ogiek the right to inhabit
the forests in the Central Rift Valley and traditionally conserve
them on behalf of their children and in line with the Forest Act
of Kenya.
3. Degazette
the Mau Forest as a forest and set it aside as a habitation zone
of the Ogiek. The said forest should be preserved under the Ogiek
Land Act. The government should thus stop the enforced assimilation
of the Ogiek.
4. Prosecute
those behind the destruction of Mau Forest and take positive measures
that will allow the Ogiek to contribute to a multicultural nation,
including the rehabilitation of the Mau Forest.
5. Boycott
timber harvested at the Mau Forest until the Ogiek's right to
livelihood is restored and respected.
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