Kenya: A glimmer of hope for the Ogiek

About 20,000 Ogiek live in the Mau Forest in Kenya's Rift Valley province, and also in Mount Elgon Forest in the western part of the country. Authorities sought to remove the Ogiek from their ancestral lands, on the grounds that the community was responsible for environmental degradation. Many viewed this as an attempt to provide land to members of the neighbouring Nandi community in a bid to gain support for government.