Biofuels Land Grab in Kenya’s Tana Delta Fuels Talk of War

Business News/Analysis, Kenya, Sustainability

July 5, 2011

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(Guardian News and Mail) Gamba Manyatta village is empty now, weeds already roping around the few skeletal hut frames still standing. The people who were evicted took as much of their building materials as they could carry to start again and the land where their homes stood is now ploughed up.

…The delta’s people are trying to fight their own government over the huge blocks of land being turned over to companies including the Canadian company, Bedford Biofuels, which was this year granted a licence by the Kenyan environmental regulator for a 10 000-hectare jatropha “pilot” project. A UK-based firm, G4 Industries Ltd, has been awarded a licence for 28 000 hectares.

…”This land ownership is giving us a headache. We know there are people who have sold our land when it isn’t theirs to sell. They are criminals and we will fight them, with guns and with sticks,” said Ali Saidi Kichei of Ozi village, which last month sent a delegation to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to demand a meeting with the Kenyan minister for lands. “We lived in paradise, in peace,” he said. “Now what? No water, only salty water, land thieves and water thieves, and children with empty stomachs.”

Kagema says Nature Kenya is trying to support villagers to go to court. READ MORE and MORE (Care2PetitionSite)

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