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Hunter-gatherer and pastoralist
peoples are playing an active part
Hunter-gatherer and pastoralist
peoples are playing an active part in the conference which is
debating Kenya's new constitution. That they are able to do so is
a breakthrough and a sign of hope for tribal peoples' rights in
Kenya. The Maa Pastoralists Council and other pastoralists'
organisations have sent delegates, and a pastoralist
representative has been elected Vice-Chairman.
As the conference debated the issue of community land, Ogiek
delegate Ezekiel Kesendany pointed out that his people, the Ogiek
hunter-gatherers, should be allowed to live peacefully in their
forest or be resettled on their original lands.
The Ogiek are one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer peoples of
East Africa. Ever since colonial times there have been attempts to
evict them from their ancestral forest, usually on the pretext
that they are degrading it. But when the Ogiek are removed, their
forest is not protected but rather exploited by logging and tea
plantations--some owned by government officials. In some parts of
the Mau forest, groups of Ogiek are now resisting eviction, while
in others they face influxes of settlers onto their land. The most
serious threat currently facing them all comes from the
government's plan to open up around one tenth of Kenya's
forests--most of it in Ogiek territory --to outsiders. This will
open the way for more settlers, loggers and tea plantations.
The constitutional conference reconvenes on August 17.
Source: Survival
International
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