The Forest Peoples Programme has reported that the the European Union has suspended a multi-million euro project in the face of mounting evidence that its funds were being used to carry out violent human rights abuses. FPP states that “the news came less than 24 hours after guards working from the EU-funded Kenya Forestry Service mounted a raid in Embobut Forest, where the Sengwer indigenous people live, shooting and killing 41-year-old Robert Kirotich and wounding another.”
The EU Ambassador to Kenya, Stefano A. Dejak, has condemned the news, saying: “Yesterday’s shooting took place after we had formally alerted Kenya’s Government that the use of force by Kenya Forest Service guards in the Embobut Forest or elsewhere against innocent locals would lead the EU to suspend its financial support for conservation work on the country’s water towers. Accordingly we are now suspending the support to the Water Towers Programme with the Government of Kenya.”
For more on the latest details of the story and some background, please see the following:
