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Eviction: Security forces move into Mau
Forest rangers with a cache of arms after arriving in South Western Mau where a 14-day notice for thousands of settlers to quit ended on Tuesday. Although the government has maintained that no force will be used to evict the settlers, there was palpable tension among the locals as they watched the trucks arrive. Photo/GEORGE SAYAGIE
The government will start evicting millions of squatters in Mau Forest any time from Wednesday.
Hundreds of security officers have been sent to South Western Mau, the first part of the 400,000 hectare forest to be cleared of settlers.
The government had given the settlers a deadline of Tuesday to leave peacefully.
To show the government’s determination to rehabilitate the Mau, two press conferences announcing the evictions were held in Nairobi and Nakuru, but senior officials were silent on the role of the security officers marshalled in the complex.
The government has promised not to use force, as it has done in the past, to clear out the settlers. In Nairobi, Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa said they would first evict 16,000 families in South Western Mau, an area of 19,000 hectares (46,930 acres) in a “humane” way.
Dr Wekesa declined to give details of how and when it would begin. Asked if the government would use force if the settlers resisted, he said they would be “persuaded” to move.
It’s up to them
“The encroachers are from various districts and we can’t be sure where they’re going to end up. It’s up to them to state where they want to relocate. A lot of them are good Kenyans and have started moving,” he said.
In Nakuru, Mau Forest restoration secretariat boss Hassan Noor Hassan repeated the same message and also claimed to be optimistic the families would leave voluntarily.
“The eviction notice expires today (Tuesday) and we are sure that the settlers will move out on their own will. The secretariat will continue persuading the people to peacefully move out,” he said.
No documents
Kenya Forest Service (KFS) director David Mbugua said settlers in the targeted area had no documents to support their presence in Mau.
Some 300 security officers has been deployed in the area which is a 42-kilometre stretch.
Some 100 forest rangers have been deployed in the first 15-kilometre strip.
One hundred Administration Police officers were in the second part, while another 100 rangers were spread out over the rest of the area.
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I truly pray to God to show justice in this Mau forest eviction situation.
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I agree with njengah,start with the corrupt warmongers first because they are the ones who incite ahoi to stay put,so they can hide behind them to protect their ill gotten wealth.let 1000s acres of land owned by athomi in Mau be taken first , whether it belongs to MOI.
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Experiences from other countries shows that this is not an issue to argue about. It is not about weakness or strength or about the poor and the rich. It is about our environment and our future. People must get out of Mau. Compensation is a secondary and diversionary issue. If you expect donors to give you money to compensate rogues, think again; even in their countries they do not do that!
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