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Kenyan government
summons Ogiek elders to drop case
by John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(October
3, 2001) A day before the Ogiek were to appear in a Kenyan court,
the provincial commissioner of the Rift Valley province, Peter
Raburu, summoned elders from the community and demanded that they
withdraw the case.
The Ogiek
will on October 4 appear at the
High Court in Nairobi in a case in which they have sued the
government over its intent to de-gazette part of the ancestral
Ogiek land in Mau Forest and open it for occupation by other communities.
Sources who
attended the three hour meeting say that Raburu, who
had threatened to evict the Ogiek some few months ago from the
forest, had collected Ogiek elders with the help of the provincial
administration in a bid to coax them to abandon the case.
The meeting
was also attended by seven District Commissioners from Nakuru
District and the area District Commissioner Ole Serian.
"The
elders were being asked to drop the case if they want the government
to listen to them and address their plight," said Ogiek Welfare
Council spokesman, Joseph Towett, "but we feel this was an
attempt to intimidate the community."
The elders
told the provincial administration to wait for the conclusion
of the court case and reminded Raburu that they went to court
after the government threatened to take their land by force.
Raburu in
turn said he will meet Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi on Saturday,
October 13, and brief him on the community's stand.
"The
government knows that they have brought people to destroy our
cultural land and all we want them to do is to leave us in peace
and we manage our own land," said Towett.
The Ogiek
Welfare Council (OWC) which has been lobbying for the legal establishment
of an Ogiek trustland within Mau Forest was not invited for the
meeting.
"What
they do not know is that OWC is not the one that went to court,
it is the elders and there is no way the elders can withdraw that
case. At this point we are ready to continue," said Towett.
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