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| Ogiek, Kenya
© Survival |
In an exciting development, 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, Koitamet Ole Kina, has been elected Vice-Chairman.
As the conference debated the issue of community land, Ogiek delegate Ezekiel
Kesendany pointed out that his that his people, the Ogiek hunter-gatherers,
should be allowed to live peacefully in their forest or be resettled on their
original lands. He jokingly attacked the famous environmental campaigner Wangari
Maathai, now Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, for not
sufficiently appreciating the Ogiek as defenders of the forest.
The conference reconvenes on 17 August 2003.
