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Background and Ethnic Overview

In 2004, IPACC’s General Assembly voted to create one region out of East and Horn of Africa.
The indigenous peoples of East Africa are hunter-gatherers and pastoralists who predate the Bantu migration into this region. Groups claiming indigenous identity are hunting-gathering and fishing peoples, including the Ogiek, Sengwer, Dahalo, Elmolo, Yaaku, Waata, and so called ‘Dorobo’. Transhumant pastoralists include Maasai, Samburu, Rendille, Pokot, Pokomo and Borana. In Tanzania, groups include the Hadzabe, Dorobo, Aasax and Akie hunter-gatherers, Sandawe farmers, Maasai and Datoga (including Barabaig) pastoralists.

Other indigenous peoples include Nuer people from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan; Beja and Afar camel herders, and other nomadic and transhumant herders and hunters. There are indigenous peoples in northern Uganda, including the Ik hunters and Karamojong herders. IPACC does not currently have members in Ethiopia, Sudan, northern Uganda or Eritrea.
Update

A major event for Kenya in 2005 was the referendum on the draft Constitution. The draft Constitution that was put in front of the Kenyan public bore little resemblance to the negotiated version which indigenous peoples had struggled to influence over the past two years. The draft Constitution centralised powers in the President and did not recognise the situation of indigenous peoples. Some indigenous activists wanted to protect draft clauses that would have seen a decentralisation of environmental decision making, but overall the Constitution was not acceptable and was defeated.

Prior to the referendum the government attempted to win over woe communities to support the draft Constitution. The state down-graded the Amboseli wildlife sanctuary from a National Park managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service into a Game Sanctuary managed by a local authority - the Olkehuado County Council- on behalf of the local Maasai community of Kajiado district. It also issued Ogiek in Nakuru District with title deeds to certain parcels of land. Though it is alleged that over 10, 000 title deeds were issued to Ogieks, no vetting process was put in place and most of the title deeds allegedly ended up in non Ogiek hands. The government created and gazetted the subdivision of some indigenous districts ostensibly “to bring development closer to the people.”

Indigenous activists became active in the ‘No’ campaign, identified by their use of the orange theme. The No vote was a success and showed the growing power of previously marginalised groups in Kenya. The referendum sharply divided the country along ethnic lines and resulted in dramatic shifts in political alliances. Cabinet members who were opposed to the draft were sacked and new appointments made. In a bid to heal the nation, the President appointed almost half the Parliament into the Cabinet with a good number of the appointees coming from opposition parties and indigenous communities. Unfortunately, the indigenous Cabinet appointees have lost popularity on the ground and cannot be said to be representing their communities effectively.

Conflicts in indigenous peoples’ territories have not waned. Long-term treaties between Britain and the Maasai came to an end in 2004 sparking conflicts over land in the northern parts of central Kenya. In 2004, 22 people were killed in conflicts between pastoralists and encroaching agricultural communities in the Rift Valley. New violence in 2005 involved allegations of government troops killing herders. In 2006, violence has erupted again in parts of Rift Valley and among pastoralist communities in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The causes of these new conflicts in the north are grazing rights and restocking needs after a devastating drought left thousands of pastoralist families without livestock. Conflicts in northern Kenya resulted in the deaths of six pastoralist Members of Parliament in a plane crash in April 2006. The MPs were on a mission to reconcile warring Rendille, Borana and Gabra pastoralist communities.

The government together with a number of NGOs are at advanced stages of coming up with a conflict policy. IPACC member organisations got involved in the peace process and participated in dialogue with government about sustainable land reform.

IPACC Deputy Chairperson, Mrs Mary Simat joined the Government’s advisory group on land reform, as the only pastoralist representative. Mrs Simat’s life as a gender activist in traditional Maasai culture was recently featured in a national newspaper. It emphasised the decisions that she and her mother took to ensure that Maasai girl children would get access to education.

Enrolment in primary education has increased in Kenya after the current government introduced free primary education when it came to power in January 2003. However, due to lack of infrastructure, too few teachers, constant evictions from their lands and nomadism, children from pastoralist and hunter-gatherer groups are finding it difficult to participate fully in this free primary education initiative.

With the support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), hunter-gatherers and pastoralists co-ordinated the Pastoralist and Hunter-Gatherer Network of Kenya, PHGEN. IPACC further sponsored a meeting of the hunter-gatherer network which is trying to strengthen alliances and strategy in lobbying. UN agencies have agreed to an indigenous advisory body, the United Nation Indigenous Peoples Advisory Committee of Kenya (UNIPACK).

In Kenya and the region as a whole, there is a serious problem of deforestation fed by corruption and poorly considered forest and agricultural policies. A six year old ban on logging in Kenya has been lifted in 2006 exacerbating the major crisis revolving around the destruction of Mau Forest.

Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia all have similar situations where peoples who collect wild honey and other forest foods are not considered to be owners or even users of the land. Their livelihoods are not seen as productive. The only productive economic activities are those that involve intensive mono-crop agriculture, which is destructive to the environment. In mid 2005, over 4000 Ogiek from Narok South were evicted from their lands ostensibly to conserve the forest. Evictions, agricultural and logging activities are impacting negatively on the biodiversity of the Mau forest and resulting in the extinction of culture and traditional knowledge systems of the Ogiek community.

Ogiek community organisations remain active in trying to restore their tenure over the Mau forest. As with other equatorial forests in East Africa, government has permitted agricultural settlers and logging companies to cut down substantial amounts of forest. This destroys the livelihoods of indigenous hunter-gatherers, as well as causing extreme environmental damage. Lake Nakuru is disappearing due to the destruction of the water-catchments, loss of topsoil and in the increase in algae. The world famous Maasai Mara game reserve is also threatened.

Similarly, Yaaku activists in the Mukogodo Forest have been involved in language revival work and mobilisation of their community around indigenous rights and the protection of the Forest. Yaaku People’s Association is a member of the African Biodiversity Network. There are less than 4000 Yaaku and only seven still speak their ancient Cushitic language. Through the Yaaku, IPACC and ABN have created an alliance to strengthen indigenous civil society and promote sustainable economic development. Yaaku activist Jeniffer Koinante attended the World Social Forum in Bamako, Mali in 2006 and then the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Conference in Brazil.

In 2006, ERMIS Africa (Environmental Research and Mapping Information Systems in Africa) and partners will work with Ogiek activists to map the natural and cultural resources of the Mau Forest. IPACC and ABN will assist other indigenous honey gatherers, such as the Hadzabe, Yaaku and Sengwer to attend and learn new skills and methods. The approach highlights the knowledge held by elders and the intergenerational transmission of tacit environmental and cultural knowledge. The initiative will benefit from the enactment of the Forest Act 2005 in Kenya which allows the creation of community forest associations to manage community forests. An improved Wildlife Act is also under consideration. The event is part of a global programme supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultureal and Rural Cooperation at the University of Wageningen, Netherlands (www.cta.int).

Against the background of a wildlife sale in 2005 in which the Kenyan government sold 275 assorted wildlife to the government of Thailand, IPACC will be involved in the processes leading to the formulation of new wildlife policies and laws in Kenya.

Globalisation, regional integration and trade blocks that focus on free movements of goods and people and a rapidly increasing population are fuelling stiff competition for land and other resources in Indigenous Peoples’ territories. The rapidly expanding boundaries of Nairobi are cutting into the indigenous District of Kajiado. A new extension of the town has been approved for development by Jamii Bora Trust in Kaputei plains, 60 km SE of Nairobi. This will effectively change demographics for the local Maasai population and block the only remaining migration corridor for animals into the Nairobi National Park.

Multinational and national corporations are investing heavily in Indigenous Peoples’ territories. Tourist activities are rapidly increasing in Mara - Serengeti Basin both in and around other protected areas. In Loita Plains in Narok District, a wheat processing plant is increasing wheat farming in the area. Oil, coal and other mineral exploration activities are also on the increase with western and eastern investors especially from China increasingly determining the investment and intellectual property climate not only in Kenya and the region.

Cases of biopiracy and copyright piracy are on the increase not only in the region, without free, prior and informed consent of the knowledge holders. Indigenous peoples are calling for legislated and negotiated benefit sharing settlements. For example, genes of the Maasai red sheep have been patented abroad and a local institution of higher learning is applying for the local patent. There is no consultation or benefit sharing arrangements with the Maasai community. Songs, stories, poems and artworks by indigenous communities are also being copyrighted indiscriminately. Indigenous peoples are also increasingly being used in advertisements to attract huge revenues for companies like a giant mobile phone company in Kenya. IPACC will work with indigenous communities and relevant authorities on ways to protect Intellectual Property Rights of Traditional Knowledge holders in Kenya and in the region.