Zebra, Black Rhino - or People? (Video)

Native people are being displaced in Kenya to make way for a conservation project.

The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists allegedly being driven from their lands to make way for a park by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

The land is owned by former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and is known for its links to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement on a safari ranch in the area.

The indigenous peoples’ NGO Survival International contend that the Samburu are being brutally evicted, with villages being burned, killing and stealing of their animals and assaults on men, women and children. Survival International has recently received reports of an elder being shot ‘in cold blood.’

At least 2,000 Samburu families now live in makeshift squats on the edge of the land and 1,000 others have been forced to relocate entirely.

Conditions are appalling, and resources scarce. A Channel 4 documentary (see below) caught on camera the extreme nature of these evictions in the Eland Downs area of North-East Kenya.

Jo Woodman, a campaigner for Survival, said they suffered constant harassment from police with women allegedly raped, animals seized and an elder shot.

“There has been an ongoing, constant level of fear, intimidation and violence towards the community, which has been devastating,” Woodman said.

Following waves of violence from the police, the Samburu began legal proceedings against AWF and ex-President Moi, to plead for their rights to the land. A subsequent court demand for no further harassment of the Samburu has been ignored. Survival has recently received reports that women and children have been sleeping in the bush, despite heavy rains, terrified of police violence.

Although the case is still underway, AWF has recently gave the land to the Kenyan government in a move described by the Samburu as an “affront to the justice system.”

The Minister for Forestry and Wildlife said in Parliament, “this piece of land was donated to us … we accepted the donation. This is in keeping with the need to preserve our wildlife which is an economic cash cow to us.”

Lawyer Korir Sing’Oei told the Guardian that a local court had confirmed that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had secured registration of the land.

“The court has turned a blind eye to the pleas of the Samburu community and allowed these illegalities to subsist,” he said. “The transfer [of the land to the KWS] is totally unlawful and it’s in flagrant violation of the interests of the Samburu community.”

The land supports a wide variety of species, including rare zebras and black rhinos, and the head of AWF has described Laikipia’s protection as the perfect way to “stimulate tourism.”

One community leader said AWF’s actions go “against the very interests of Kenya’s children” who, Survival International say, remain the best wildlife conservationists.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said:

That the Samburu have been driven from their homes in the name of conservation should be vigorously opposed by all who believe in fairness and justice. They simply want to live on and protect this land.

Survival has written to the UN appealing for urgent action to be taken to put an end to the violence and provide assistance to the Samburu.

John Butler, director of marketing for the AWF, told the Guardian:

The African Wildlife Foundation does not condone violence. AWF has a longstanding history of working closely with local communities to ensure that conservation solutions benefit both people and wildlife. Unfortunately, we cannot comment at length on this issue due to a pending court case in Kenya.

Korir Sing’Oei said:

Given the powerful actors who have vested interests in the land, this issue has been really hushed up in the local media.

Watch: Clip from ‘Conservation’s Dirty Secrets.’

Clip from ‘Conservation’s Dirty Secrets’ – Channel 4 from Samburu Film on Vimeo.

Related stories:

5 Things You Need to Know About Wildlife Corridors

Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct

Legalize The Trade In Rhino Horns?

Picture: Survival International

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ans W.

9:20AM PST on Feb 27, 2012

‎"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be determined by the ways it treats it's animals." and humans
Mahatma Gandhi

send a green star

sharon b.

10:54PM PST on Jan 22, 2012

This is horrible. There must be some way to compromise to the benefit of both nature and the people.

pam w.

3:57PM PST on Jan 20, 2012

"Racist doubletalk?" LOL....all I can say to that is read it again, bob m! And then again.

bob m.

9:27AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

@no Pam..where are you going?.. sounds like a garden varity C2 dump on whitey; simple minded finger point to me.
This is a mess in making a long time but one which most conscienciously hope to find solutions to .These creatures are creatures of the WORLD ..A world heritage. We all loose.
Your racist doubletalk doesn't add much in terms of help.

Andrea A.

11:53AM PST on Jan 19, 2012

Thanks for sharing.

jackie w.

7:55PM PST on Jan 8, 2012

Yet more land taken from wildlife - Google :
"Leopard sparks panic in Indian city"

AND

"Karuturi and Ethiopia The Fire Next Time"

Jean W.

5:47AM PST on Jan 6, 2012

Would want to see lots more info about the overall situation.
Africa is a continent of Catch 22's. There is endemic poverty (of the 20 poorest nations on earth, 16 of them are in Africa), in some areas, water is so scarce that attempts at economic development in one country that entails more water usage can push the next country down stream over the edge from subsistence to starvation. The idea that these small remote cultures are "natural enviromnmentalists" is to misstate what the above link is saying. The link indicates that preserving the rights of indigenous peoples to occupy traditional lands helps to limit wholesale destruction by commercial interests. While there are certainly examples of indigenous cultures that thrive in balance with their environs, there are also examples of cultures who's traditional methods degrade the environment, who have recurrent or ongoing resource wars with other cultures in the same area (in Darfur, just such a situation allowed the Sudaneese gvt. to carry out a genocide while insisting that it was really the mechanations of a tradititonal tribal resource war) .
None of this excuses the brutality shown to these people. Political corruption,inter- tribal and intra- tribal caste systems,grave inequality of women, general absence of secure human rights, resource competition, a dirth of education, recurrent famines ,maldistribution of resources, chronic public health issues, epidemic levels of HIV infection, international apathy are

colleen p.

4:30AM PST on Jan 6, 2012

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-ever-increasing-human-population/ happy happy.

4:23AM PST on Jan 6, 2012

pam w. it's the Animal rights people too. a 400th generation feral dog should have more rights than any human. just spend time reading what those users say. they would be happy to be kicked out of their own homes to have them plowed over and have trees planted for the animals re claim "what is rightfully theirs"

4:20AM PST on Jan 6, 2012

oh, well everything is differnt now. that we know their culture of masculinity to sire many children, it's time to destroy their culture with integration and displacement. maybe being rich and not having many offspring? sucess and wealth and "stuff". so they will want more stuff and money than children.

ohh. the plot thickens and is tricker. it's a shame "human rights" involves letting people have a culture as long as there is no human sacrfice and child harming.