The European Union (EU) has suspended the Sh3.6 Billion Water Towers project a day after the United Nations (UN) warned Kenya over forceful evictions of members of the Sengwer Community who live in Embobut Forest.
Ambassador Stefano Dejak on Wednesday revealed that the decision to pull the plug on the project came after Kenya Forest Service (KFS) officers ignored repeated requests not to use excessive force against the locals.
A herder was on Tuesday shot dead by KFS officers while another was critically injured when the officers stormed a section of the forest.
The officers were also accused of setting homes ablaze in a bid to force out area residents.
"Yesterday's shooting took place after we had formally alerted Kenya's government.
[caption caption="Members of the Sengwer community"]
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"Accordingly, we are now suspending the support to the Water Towers Program," Dejak stated.
The EU had earlier called for talks to take place to decide the way forward on the evictions issue.
Independent experts working for the UN, on the other hand, had on Tuesday asked the Government to immediately stop evicting members of the Sengwer community from the forest.
“The Sengwer are facing repeated attacks and forced evictions by agents of the Kenya Forest Service, which is an implementing agency in the project financed by the European Union.
“We call on the Kenyan authorities to urgently halt the evictions of the Sengwer community and undertake impartial investigations of these attacks," they stated.
[caption caption="Ambassador Stefano Dejak with DP William Ruto"]
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