BREAKING NEWS

Update: 05.04.2005

OGIEK LEADER FACES MASSIVE PERSECUTION & DEATH THREATS

Nairobi, 31.03.2005 (WTN) - Since the beginning of 2005 there has been hardly a week in which the co-founder and leader of the Ogiek Welfare Council (OWC), Mr. J.K. Towett, has not been subject to direct harassment, attempts to intimidate him or serious threats to his life and personal safety.

Towett, who also co-chairs the Ogiek Peoples National Assembly (OPN), is a stout defender of the rights of the Ogiek, an indigenous people of forest dwellers and one of the last few surviving hunter-gatherer cultures in Kenya. Standing and fighting for the rights of his people and the protection their Mau Forest homeland, North-West of Nairobi in Kenya, he is what the worldwide networks of organized crime usually call “a stone in the shoe, which must be removed in order to walk on”.

Powerful individuals, companies, organizations and corporations, who all are interested to grab the Ogiek’s land and resources, are behind front-line skirmishes, which often are camouflaged as struggle for land to settle the poor from other impoverished areas of Kenya.

Having suffered from various acts of sabotage of his means of communication, Mr. Towett is now subjected to persistent anonymous death threats, which are not only a reminder of  the dark days under the former regime in Kenya, but resemble the pattern of the persistent worldwide genocide against minority indigenous peoples, who stand up against the resource hungry developers and their private armies, which often are backstopped by illegal or unconstitutional governmental action enabled by corrupt officials. Already last year, another Ogiek leader, Mr. Sena of ORIP, who is well known also in UN circles, faced a similar situation and even one where already a gun was pointing at him.

Because he just filed another legal suit on behalf of his people against the forces, which want to rob the Ogiek of their homeland and natural resources, Mr. Towett is seen as one of the key obstacles by those, who want to dispossess and evict the Ogiek for their own private or corporate gains.

Based on the official reports, which were filed yesterday and today with the relevant authorities and security bodies in Kenya, ECOTERRA Intl. has urged the Kenya Government to ensure the safety of Mr. Towett and all Ogiek as well as to guarantee that the persistent harassment, persecution and threats to the life of these people stops once and for all.

“It is a shame for any country to disregard the rights of its aboriginal peoples and to disrespect their legitimate interests and needs, but it is horrendous neglect and criminal, if governmental security agencies are reluctant to ensure the personal safety of the spokespeople of indigenous minorities or do nothing to apprehend the aggressors and real culprits”, the ECOTERRA statement concluded.

Though just recently more than ten international Human-Rights bodies and organisations had filed their individual complaints with the Government of Kenya and urged President Kibaki to ensure the safety and well-being of the Ogiek, there has been so far not one case of the many serious transgressions on the rights, livelihoods or the safety of the Ogiek people, in which the criminals were prosecuted.

- further info - see: http://www.ogiek.org

French version:

Un leader Ogiek fait face à d'énormes persécutions et à des menaces de mort 

31/03/05 

Nairobi, 31 mars 2005 (WTN) – Depuis le début de 2005, il n'y quasi pas eu une semaine sans que le co-fondateur de l'Ogiek Welfare Council (OWC), M. J.K. Towett, n'ait été sujet à du harcèlement direct, à des essais d'intimidation ou à des menaces sérieuses à sa vie et à sa sécurité personnelle. 

Towett, qui co-préside également l'Ogiek People National Assembly (OPN), est un défensseur inconditionnel des droits des Ogiek, un peuple autochtone d'habitants de la forêt et une des quelques cultures de chasseur-ceuilleurs survivant au Kenya. Supportant et se battant pour les droits de son peuple et la protection de son territoire d'origine, la Forêt de Mau, au nord-ouest de Nairobi au Kenya, il est ce que les réseaux internationaux de crime organisé appellent habituellement « un cailloux dans la chaussure, qui doit être retiré pour pouvoir continuer à marcher ». 

Des personnes, sociétés, organisations et grandes sociétés puissantes, qui sont toutes intérressée de faire main-basse sur les terres et les ressources des Ogiek, se retrouvent dans les premières lignes des d'accrochages, qui sont souvant camouflés en des combats pour la terre pour installer les pauvres des autres régions pauvres du Kenya. 

Ayant souffert de divers actes de sabotage de ses moyens de communication, M. Towett est maintenant sujet à des menaces de mort anonymes continuelles qui ne font pas que rappeler les jours sombres sous l'ancien régime au Kenya mais qui ressemblent aussi au modèle de génocide continu des peuples autochtones minoritaires qui s'opposent aux promoteurs gourmands de ressources et à leurs armées privées qui sont souvent protégées par des actions gouvernementales illégales ou inconstitutionnelles permises par des officiels corrompus. Déjà l'année dernière, un autre leader Ogiek, M. Sena de l'ORIP, qui est aussi bien connu dans les cercles de l'ONU, faisait face à des situations similaires et on avait même pointé un révolver sur lui. 

Parce qu'il a déposé une autre action en justice au nom de son peuple contre les forces qui veulent voler aux Ogiek leur territoire et leurs ressources naturelles, M. Towett est considéré comme un obstacle clef par ceux qui veulent déposséder et expulser les Ogiek de leurs propres acquis privés ou communautaires. 

Se basant sur des rapports officiels qui ont été déposés par les autorités compétantes et les services de sécurité du Kenya, ECOTERRA Intl. a exhorté le gouvernement kenyan d'assurer la sécurité de M. Towett et des tous les Ogiek ainsi que de garantir que le harcèlement continuel, la persécution et les menaces à la vie des ces personnes cessent une fois pour toute. 

« C'est une honte pour tout pays de mépriser les droits des ses peuples aborigènes et de ne pas respecter leurs besoins et intérêts légitimes mais c'est une négligence effroyable et c'est criminel si les agences gouvernementales de sécurité rechignent à assurer la sécurité personnelle des représentants des minorités autochtones ou ne font rien pour arrêter les aggresseurs et des coupables réels », conclut le communiqué d'ECOTERRA. 

Bien que récemment plus de dix organisations et organismes de Droits de l'Homme aient envoyé leurs protestations individuelles au gouvernement kenyan et aient exhorté le Président Kibaki d'assurer la sécurité et le bien-être des Ogiek, il n'y a toujours eu aucun cas des nombreuses transgressions des droits, des moyens d'existence et de la sécurité des Ogiek dans lequel les coupables aient été condamnés. 

Texte original, plus d'info : ECOTERRA International sur www.ogiek.org
Traduction : ICRA International 

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Update: 05.04.2005

OGIEK RURAL INTEGRAL PROJECTS (ORIP)

4th April 2005.

TO
THE POLICE COMMISSIONER,
P O BOX, 
NAIROBI.

Dear Sir,

RE: DEATH THREATS AGAINST OGIEK LEADER JOSEPH K. TOWETT.

We would like to draw your attention on the security concern of the Ogiek leader in Nakuru as above named.

That the Chairman Ogiek Welfare Council now fears for his life after receiving death threats on his cell phone from unknown persons to him. This has continued since the beginning of this year and the same situation aggravated when Towet filed a suit in Nakuru High Court against the government of Kenya to safeguard and protect the Ogiek peoples land.

That most of the Ogiek land has been expropriated to powerful individuals in the former regime rendering the Ogiek people squatters in their land of origin. The same powerful men and women are now serving in the current government and are using the state machinery to harass, intimidate and scare Ogiek leaders from agitating for their land rights.

That in recognizing that Ogiek are Kenyans, his Excellency President Kibaki formed a task force last year in March to facilitate Ogiek land demarcation exercise. However, those who benefited in the illegal allocation of the Mau forest are putting hurdles in the way hence making the whole exercise insurmountable. The Provincial Administration is now dividing the Ogiek people, misleading them and pitting them against their own leaders to create confusion so that they can have an excuse to legalize the allocation.

That despite several complaints from Ogiek leaders to the Police in Nakuru and Narok no action or investigation has ever been conducted. The Provincial administration continues to ignore Ogiek security threats because they are poor, illiterate and have no representation neither in the government nor in any influential position.

That in 2003 an Ogiek elder one Mr. Willa was murdered in his home at Mariashoni. The matter was reported to the Police and no action was taken. He was hacked and stabbed to death and that was the end. His death came shortly after the Ogiek had completed Civic Education, which culminated in "Ogiek Position in the constitutional review process". The elder is captured on video as calling on the government to protect the rights of the Ogiek people and give them back their land. That was his last statement.

That last year in Narok an Ogiek lawyer escaped narrowly when he was almost shot by one powerful individual; a beneficiary of the Mau forest allocation. The culprit was arrested by the police for only 20 minutes and was released. His gun was never confiscated yet he has never been taken to court.

That the latest incident against Mr. Towet is testimony to the persecution the Ogiek leaders are going through in a democratic state 42 years of independence. The Ogiek people would like to remind you that this incident evokes memories of Ogiek killings, evictions from their lands and burning down of their schools in the Mau forest.

We believe that we form part of the bigger nation of Kenya and our minority status does not take away our constitutional rights. The government must live to its constitutional obligation of protecting the rights of all Kenyans and that we are all equal before the eyes of the law.

We are therefore, appealing to you sir, for protection and an immediate investigation on the security issues raised by the Ogiek people. We hope that you can heed our prayers and that your action will not come too late. We know you have brought sanity within the police force and accept our congratulations on that, we now demand that you bring justice to the Ogiek peoples concerns and allow us to have a sense that we are all Kenyans. By his letter if anything happens to our brother, we shall hold the government wholly responsible.

Yours sincerely,

CHARLES SAINA SENA,
CHAIRMAN; OGIEK PEOPLES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (OPNA), AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR; OGIEK RURAL INTERGRAL PROJECTS (ORIP)

HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT KIBAKI,
KIRAITU MURUNGI,
PPO NAKURU,
DIC NAKURU,
OCPD NAROK,
KENYA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION,
KENYA NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION.

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