Kenya: Threat of demolition looms in "Africa's largest slum”

When the World Social Forum took place in India during January, Kenyan activists who attended the event pledged to highlight their country's housing crisis. This issue has hit the headlines again now, with the planned demolition of buildings in one of Nairobi's poorest areas. Since last December, authorities have been pulling down structures built along railway and power lines, on the grounds that this property was illegally allocated for development. Some of the first structures to go were mansions worth millions of Kenyan shillings - many of them owned by key members of the government under former President Daniel arap Moi.