Hundreds of Ogiek women and children have taken refuge at a catholic mission in Enoosupukia since being evicted from the Mau Forest in western Kenya, reported the Ogiek Rural Integral Projects on March 2.
In a report issued March 7, the national coordinator of the Ogiek Welfare Council, a tribal government body, said that "Tensions are high, with the Ogiek situation worsening day after day … The affected families are not even allowed access to water outside the church as torching and demolition of houses goes on." With their crops and belongings destroyed, the displaced families are also facing starvation.
Evictions began in early February in what the government has deemed an effort to prevent the destruction of Mau Forest. Cabinet members have blamed illegal settlements, logging, and charcoal burning for the continuing deforestation of the Mau Forest despite a ban on logging in forests and government trust land.
On February 14, Amos Kimunya, Kenya's minister of Lands, Settlement and Housing cancelled over 10,000 title deeds issued for Mau Forest residents. However, in their report, the Ogiek Welfare Council states that the cancellation of deeds was an effort to evict 100,000 people, Ogiek and non-Ogiek alike, from the forest.
The Ogiek Peoples National Assembly, Ogiek Rural Integral Projects, Ogiek Welfare Council, and Ogiek Peoples Development Program issued a joint press release on February 22 supporting the government's efforts to preserve the Mau forest but asking the government to recognize their rights to land within the forest. In the statement, the organizations assert that the Ogiek have lived in the forest and conserved its resources for hundreds of years.
Indigenous hunter-gatherers, the Ogiek are considered to be the original inhabitants of central Kenya’s highland area. The loss of their ancestral lands would endanger the survival of Ogiek culture and leave thousands of Ogiek with no place to go.
The Ogiek statement said deforestation is being caused by government officials and their relatives who profit from logging in the forest. In the statement, the organizations "appeal to the government to spare the Ogiek people further harassment as they are just victims of capitalistic interest in the Mau forest complex."
On March 3, Kenyan High Court Judge Milton Makhandia granted an order to stop the evictions from the Mau Forest in western Kenya. The order came after seven non-Ogiek men who hold title deeds in the forest, represented by lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, appealed to the High Court to reverse the cancellation of land deeds.
According to the Ogiek Welfare Council report issued on March 7, the government has yet to obey the order.
