"Kenya’s Kakuzi avocado farm linked to ‘abuse’ abandons lawsuit"

A British-owned avocado farm in Kenya has backed down after being accused of using the law to silence its critics by suing charities that supported alleged victims of abuse. Kakuzi, a vast avocado farm near Nairobi that supplied major British supermarkets, said on Friday it was withdrawing a lawsuit lodged in Kenya’s high court in March.British supermarkets stopped selling the farm’s avocados after The Sunday Times reported in October allegations that its security guards regularly attacked villagers and workers.

In February the farm’s British owners, Camellia, paid £4.6 million to settle a case brought in the UK by 85 alleged victims of abuses by its security guards. However, it did not admit liability....

Kakuzi said it had agreed to withdraw its case and hoped to “collectively explore how the details of these human rights allegations can be shared with the proper authorities and investigated for the benefit of the whole community”.