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Ogiek to go to court
by John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(February
8, 2001) The Ogiek Welfare Council (OWC) today protested the continued
presence of surveyors on their land and denounced the continued
settlement of outsiders on their ancestral land.
In a statement
released today and signed by OWC spokesperson J. K. Towett, the
council said they will move to court in case the government decides
to de-gazette the land.
"At the moment
there are three groups of surveyors on the ground who are completing
the demarcation of our land to give it out. They are being protected
by the administration police," said the statement. "We plead to
our brothers and sisters out there to help us live in our ancestral
land and by doing so you will help us preserve our humane, cultural
identity as the true Ogiek of Kenya."
The presence
of police officers in the East Mau area and the surveyors has
raised tension and fear of confrontation.
The police
moved in a fortnight ago after members of the Ogiek community
took
some surveyors' equipment in protest over continued
demarcation of the forestland.
One Ogiek
youth was arrested and charged with a capital offense. He is still
held in custody.
In the statement
made available to Nairobi-based Rights Features Service, the Ogiek
Welfare Council said the administration has started listing names
of the beneficiaries of the exercise in an attempt to frustrate
the Ogiek cases pending in court.
"This to
us equals to a denial to a fair trial," said the organization.
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