"Kenya forest death: activists blame EU for ignoring human rights warnings", 19 Jan 2018

The European Union has been accused of a fatally slow response to human rights warnings after the killing of an indigenous man at one of the projects it funds in Kenya. Robert Kirotich of the Sengwer – one of the country’s last forest peoples – was reportedly shot by the Kenya Forest Service during a forced eviction for the EU-funded €31m water conservation project in the Mount Elgon and Cherangani Hills.

Members of his community said the forestry guards sprayed bullets at a group of 15 men who had been herding cattle in Kapkot Glade. The attackers reportedly burned homes, injured another man – David Kipkosgei Kiptilkesi – and killed Kirotich. “We have been trying all along to avoid such a bad situation, but the European Union and the government have ignored our cries,” Sengwer activist Elias Kimaiyo wrote in an email to the Forest Protection Programme NGO. Stefano Dejak, the EU ambassador to Kenya, has condemned the killing and followed through on a warning to the Kenyan government that the use of force would result in a suspension of funding. The project will only resume “if guarantees are provided that it benefits and respects all Kenyans, indigenous communities included,” Dejak told the Guardian.