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Ogiek get court
date
by Jennifer Wanjiru, Rights Features Service
(April 9,
2001) The case in which the Ogiek Community wants the High Court
to stop the intended excision of the East Mau forest land will
be heard in Nairobi on April 30.
In a notice
of motion addressed to the Minister for Environment, Francis Nyenze,
and filed at the Court Registry by a Nairobi law firm, Kamau Kuria
& Kiraitu Advocates, the Ogiek ask the High Court to quash Gazette
Notice No. 889 of February 16, 2001 seeking to alter the boundaries
of Eastern Mau Forest and to excise therefrom approximately 35,301.01
hectares.
Ogiek spokesperson
Joseph Kimaiyo Towett has already deposited a verifying affidavit
on behalf of the community.
Meanwhile,
five non-governmental organizations in Kenya on April 5 moved
to the High Court seeking to block the planned excision of an
approximated 167,000 acres of forest by the government.
The applicants
include the Green Belt Movement, Mazingira Institute, Kenya Human
Rights Commission, the Forest Action Network, the National Council
of Churches of Kenya, and Prof. Wangari Maathai.
The applicants,
represented by Nairobi lawyer Pheroze Norwojee, claim that the
statutory environmental impact assessment and inter-ministerial
consultations that precede excisions were not carried out.
The new application
brings to three the number of suits filed in Kenya High Courts
seeking to stop the excision of Kenyan forests.
The applicants
warn that the intended excision would lead to massive destruction
of Kenya forests once placed in private hands.
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