KENYA: Bag a farm

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=88150

Photo: Salla Himberg/IRIN

Vegetables planted in a sack at a demonstration plot. Hundreds of residents of Mathare have taken up this type of farming to combat food insecurity

NAIROBI, 18 February 2010 (IRIN) – Faced with high food prices, low income and barely a patch of arable land, hundreds of residents of Nairobi’s densely populated slums have adopted a novel form of intensive agriculture: a farm in a sack.

Ex-convict John King’ori is hoping the project, run by Italian NGO COOPI, will help him go straight after eight years behind bars for a violent robbery.

King’ori chairs the Juja Road Self-Help Group, whose 76 members, also mostly former prisoners, are among the 1,000 households in Mathare and Huruma hoping their sacks will provide a sustainable source of vegetables such as kale, spinach, capsicum and onions.

«We can plant over 40 seedlings in each sack; each household is responsible for watering and maintaining their sack. We hope the vegetables will be ready for consumption in a few weeks’ time,» said King’ori at a demonstration plot. COOPI fenced the plot, improved water storage and provided the top soil, sand, manure and seedlings.

“The aim of the urban farming project is to empower the people to have better food purchasing power,» its manager, Claudio Torres, told IRIN.

Photo: Salla Himberg/IRIN

Stephen Ajengo explains how a sack is prepared. COOPI provided the top soil, sand, manure and seedlings for the project targeting 1,000 households in Mathare

«We contracted an agronomist to train the beneficiaries of the six bases on the soil content and ratio, management of the sacks and how they could undertake the urban farming in a sustainable manner,» he said. «I believe that such projects encourage the interest of other groups, such as banks, to invest in these people, thus enriching their life in general.»

Simon Kokoyo, director of Ongoza Njia – a network of at least 150 community-based-organizations – told IRIN most of the groups working with COOPI on the urban farming project were identified through the network.

«When ready for consumption, a sack containing vegetables such as sukuma wiki [kale], spinach and capsicum can feed one household for at least two months,» Kokoyo said. «Right now water is the biggest challenge for this project… sometimes the water is scarce and this can be a problem.»

Learning by doing

Stephen Ajengo, secretary of the Juja Self-Help Group, is one of the group’s members who received a month’s training in urban farming at an environmental and farming institute in Nairobi.

«I learnt how to take care of the plants, the spacing required while planting and the layering of the various types of soil required per sack,» Ajengo said. «One has to know even the amount of water required by the plants; during the initial period after planting, one needs at least 40 litres per day; this amount reduces as the plants take root until watering is just about once per week.»

Susan Wanjiru, a member of Vision Sisters, another of the bases identified by COOPI for the urban farming project, said this was the first time she had tried planting in a sack.

«Previously, our women’s group has been involved in urban farming but we mostly planted vegetables on small plots of land; now we are trying out planting in sacks. I hope I will be able to plant up to three sacks outside my house once this project is completed,» Wanjiru said.

Photo: Salla Himberg/IRIN

Some of the beneficiaries of the COOPI project at a demonstration plot in Mathare

She said the project had helped her group expand the number of those engaged in urban farming. «Previously we were just 14 members; because sacks take up little space, we have extended invitations to other women and school-children to join us, this way many families have access to affordable vegetables.

«You know there are times one does not have even a shilling in the pocket but with a sack of vegetables one’s family does not need to sleep hungry; all you do is just pluck a few leaves of spinach, get a capsicum and even coriander and you have something to go with ugali [maizemeal].»

KENYA: Waste site under the spotlight

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=8748

Photo: Caterina Pino/IRIN

A truck delivers waste at the Dandora rubbish dump

NAIROBI, 18 December 2009 (IRIN) – Eight years after Dandora, the site of Nairobi’s only rubbish dump, was declared full and a health hazard, tons of fuming waste from more than four million city dwellers continue to be added daily, exposing local residents to illness but also profiting a few.

More than 100,000 people live around the dumpsite, a 13-hectare grey zone in the eastern Korogocho slum area of Nairobi, where children grow up deprived of basic services such as water and electricity and play on smelly waste ground, around rotting food, broken bottles, medical waste and much more.

“Because of the toxic fumes, every day people come to the Catholic Dispensary with chest pain and breathing problems,” said Father Paolo, from the Comboni missionary in Korogocho.

A 2007 UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) report highlighted the prevalence of respiratory and gastro-intestinal problems, skin infections and different kinds of cancer among residents living close to the dumpsite. UNEP called for immediate action in either regulating waste collection or relocating the dump.

“Little progress has been made on the recommendations and people keep on getting sick,” Comboni’s Father John told IRIN.

However, Michael Njoroge, 26, who works at the dumpsite collecting paper and steel to sell, did not want the dumpsite relocated, despite experiencing chest pain and breathing problems for the past three years. “This is my only source of income,” he told IRIN. “If the dumpsite moves, I will follow it.”

Cash from rubbish

Recyclable waste is a profitable business: every day, children from slums around Dandora go to the dumpsite in search of food, recyclables and other valuables they can sell.
With 1kg of plastic selling for KSh2 (about US$0.03), in a day one can earn an average KSh50 ($0.67), John Webootsa, a Catholic priest and coordinator of Kutoka Network, which is lobbying for the closure of the dumpsite, told IRIN.
Webootsa said whatever is collected is then sold off to middlemen, the “scavengers”, who sell it to companies for recycling.

The poor are the best recyclers in the world. Nothing gets wasted but they should have an alternative to earn an income without having to put their health and lives in danger.

“If a controlled and well-managed waste-processing system is established, the health and environmental impact would be reduced while generating jobs and income for the local community,” he told IRIN.

Medical records collected by the Kutoka Network show that between 2004 and 2009 there was a 44 percent increase in the number of patients treated at the Catholic Dispensary. Respiratory cases went up from 765 to 3,356 in the period.

In the UNEP study, samples taken from 328 children aged two to 18 living around the dumpsite showed low haemoglobin, and iron deficiency anaemia, which are symptoms of lead poisoning, according to experts. Some of the children were also suffering from chronic bronchitis and asthma.

Soil samples from the site showed dangerously high levels of lead, mercury and cadmium.

Half the children tested had concentrations of lead in their blood exceeding internationally accepted levels, while 42 percent of the soil samples recorded lead levels almost 10 times higher than what is considered unpolluted soil (over 400 parts per million against 50).

A cleaner Dandora

On 10 December, Kutoka launched a “Stop Dumping Death on Us” campaign to lobby stakeholders for the closure of Dandora, its relocation to a non-residential area and the creation of a recycling plant. They are also advocating for alternative jobs for those living off the dumpsite.

The campaign brought together government representatives and is aimed at improving the livelihoods of the people living in the Korogocho area. At present, children are still going to the dump to collect trash, putting their health at risk, said Kadija Juma, a representative of the Korogocho Slum Upgrading Programme, a joint initiative of the governments of Kenya and Italy.

An Integrated Solid Waste Management plan for Nairobi is being developed and UNEP is supporting the City Council of Nairobi, the National Environment Management Authority and relevant government ministries in developing it.

It will incorporate waste minimization, segregation, collection, transportation, reuse/recycle, resource recovery, treatment and disposal to maximize resource efficiency, Annemarie Kinyanjui from the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics at UNEP, told IRIN.

A sanitary landfill for the city is also expected to be established.

Kinyanjui added that the plan would incorporate awareness raising and capacity building on proper waste management.

UNEP plans to launch it in early 2010 at a national workshop, for replication in other East African cities. “The hourglass for Dandora is flowing and people at Korogocho will get back their right to health and life,” said Kinyanjui.

KENYA: What drives conflict in northern Kenya

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=87450

Photo: Anthony Morland/IRIN

Turkana youths in northern Kenya, near the Sudanese border.Increasingly severe and unpredictable drought has contributed to an increase in conflict between different groups competing for dwindling resources of pasture and water

MARSABIT, 18 December 2009 (IRIN) – Cattle raids, inter-communal resource conflicts and banditry are common across much of the arid lands of northern Kenya, where firearms are increasingly common among pastoralist communities. In 2009 alone, such violence claimed more than 354 lives, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Kenya.

In the northeastern Isiolo region, drought management officer Paul Kimeu told IRIN: “People are no longer attacked using spears and arrows. Sometimes very sophisticated guns are used, increasing fatalities.”

According to OCHA, the onset of the short rains, from mid-October to December, tends to increase the likelihood of cattle raids and thus conflict, because this is when pastoralists restock their herds and it also when rites of passage take place, increasing the demand for livestock.

In Samburu district, morans, or young warriors, frequently target livestock traders and passenger cars on main roads.

“People are not able to take their livestock to the market in Dagoretti [in Nairobi about 350km south],” said Peter Emanman, a resident of the Samburu town of Maralal. “If security were improved, people could be self-reliant,” he said.

Umuro Roba Godana, executive director of the Marsabit-based Pastoralists Integrated Support Programme (PISP), a national NGO supporting pastoral livelihoods in the north, is worried there may be even more conflict now that the rains have come. “If you steal during the drought, where do you take stunted animals?” he asked. “People fight when there is plenty, not a lack.”

Conflict over water and pasture

Livestock movement in search of water and pasture remains a driver of conflict. “Competition for scarce natural resources is widely understood to be a primary cause of conflict in the region,” notes UK think-tank, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), in a November report, Pastoralists’ vulnerability in the Horn of Africa, Exploring political marginalisation, donors’ policies and cross-border issues.

“The movement of livestock and herders often transcends national borders and pastoralist groups across the region depend on the same communal pool of natural resources. Endemic conflict represents one major obstacle to the free movement of pastoralists and their livestock, and therefore greatly contributes to pastoralists’ chronic vulnerability in the region.”

Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

A young Turkana man armed with an AK-47 rifle, Oropoi, northwestern Kenya. Conflicts involving pastoralists associated with resource competition, cattle rustling and arms are widespread and of increasing concern in the region

Pastoralist communities across the Horn of Africa frequently cross national borders in search of pasture and water. Although neighbouring states often share ethnic groupings, such migrations can be problematic.

“Sometimes there are cross-border attacks,” Rashid Osman, an assistant chief in the town of Moyale, told IRIN, adding that these were especially frequent during the rains.

“During the drought, the police are sent to seal the wells, but during the rains it is less secure,” he said. “Rainfall is an indicator of conflict.»

Land demarcation is also presenting a problem, Godana of PISP told IRIN. “Communities are claiming ownership of territories and regions yet … the boundaries are not clear,” he said.

The loss of communal grazing land to farming and environmental degradation has also fuelled conflicts in a number of pastoral areas across the Horn of Africa region, states ODI, noting that freedom of movement over large areas was a crucial element of the pastoralists’ dry lands resource management system.

“Competition for scarce natural resources is widely understood to be a primary cause of conflict in the region and is in part related to the inability of pastoralists to assert their land rights,” ODI adds.

“The absence of the government in some parts makes people take the law into their own hands,” said PISP’s Godana. Poor leadership and a breakdown in community values also help to foster insecurity, he said, adding: “The role of elders is fast diminishing and people are [instead] operating in cliques.

“Nowadays, even the elders cannot sanction raids.”

Remote areas in the north rely on community-organized security groups such as home guards and police reservists to maintain law and order. This has in part led to the proliferation of weapons in the north – as has the proximity to unstable neighbours such as Somalia.

According to one Marsabit resident, the availability of weapons was to some extent a deterrent to petty crime. “Here, even if you leave the door to your house open no one will come in. You never know what kind of weapon your neighbour may have.”

Involvement in wider conflict

According to the ODI, politics can be a driver of conflict in pastoralist areas.

Photo: Kenya Humanitarian Update

Reported killings in pastoral areas for the years 2008 – 2009

“Since the second half of the last century, pastoralists have also been involved in larger conflicts in the region and many have joined armed opposition groups. For example, the presence of the Oromo Liberation Front [OLF] in northern Kenya has provoked several Ethiopian military incursions into Kenya,” it said.

This is true in Moyale, where the District Commissioner, Joshua Nkanatha, confirmed that there were “occasional incursions by the Ethiopian army” in search of OLF forces. “We tell them [the Ethiopian forces] to inform us of impending incursions,” he said.

Some residents see the cattle raids as a ploy to drive away specific communities ahead of 2012 national polls, Samburu DMO, Samuel Lempushuna told IRIN. New election constituencies are likely to be created before the polls and ethnically dominant communities stand a better chance of electing a leader from among their own.

Already, a new district, Baragoi, has been carved out of Samburu, north of the main town of Maralal. It borders the Turkana region, and is mainly occupied by the Samburu and Turkana, who clash from time to time, which could result in the Samburu being marginalised.

KENYA: Meeting Muslim leaders halfway on HIV education

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=87367

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

The new strategy encourages Imams to spread HIV messages while remaining true to their religious beliefs

GARISSA, 8 December 2009 (PlusNews) – «Desist from engaging in adultery, go for HIV tests, do not allow your sons and daughters to marry before they are tested… if you are positive go to the hospital and get free drugs.» 

The address could be mistaken for an HIV awareness lecture, but is part of a sermon being delivered by Sheikh Harun Rashid, a Muslim scholar at the Isiolo Jamia Mosque in Kenya’s Eastern Province. 

Muslim leaders in Kenya have often found themselves at odds with HIV campaigners and their messages, with some evendeclaring «war» on the condom at one point. But a new strategy, dubbed «Twaweza», Swahili for «We Can», aims to bring influential religious leaders into the fight against HIV by encouraging them to spread HIV messages while remaining true to their religious beliefs. 

«The Twaweza project engages influential religious leaders, teachers and community elders; all segments of the population are involved in the programme, which seeks to change behavioural risks and apply effective channels of communication,» said Ibrahim Mohamed, programme coordinator for the AIDS Population and Health Integrated Assistance in Kenya’s North Eastern Province (APHIA II-NEP), a joint initiative by the government and USAID. 

Twaweza – which has been running since August – is part of a wider HIV prevention effort in the region that seeks to spread the word about HIV in culturally sensitive ways. Muslim clerics, for instance, are not expected to preach about condom use, but can speak about aspects of HIV prevention that are in line with Islamic teachings. The programme uses some Islamic texts to encourage the community not to take sexual risks. 

Compromise 

«The Quran – holy book of Islam – and the Hadiths – the practices of the Prophet Mohammed – are both clear about the need to show compassion to people who are unwell and to seek treatment for health conditions,» said Abdullahi Mahat Daud, deputy director of APHIA II-NEP. «Abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage are also required. 

A Sheikh will be considered a mad person or even risk being killed if he promotes the use of condoms inside a mosque

«The issue of condom use is very sensitive among religious leaders and the community at large, so it is not an issue we put emphasis on,» he added. «Although within Islam condom use is acceptable under certain circumstances – such as within [certain contexts of] marriage – widespread use outside of acceptable conditions makes religious leaders unwilling to discuss them.» 

Muslim leaders in the region say they appreciate the fact that new efforts to include them in the fight against HIV are not pressuring them to promote behaviour with which they disagree. «A sheikh will be considered a mad person or even risk being killed if he promotes the use of condoms inside a mosque… it was impossible to get our support with this style of campaign,» said Sheikh Hussein Mahat, an official of the National Muslim Leaders’ Forum in the province. 

Several imams told IRIN/PlusNews they were now actively involved in informing the community about HIV transmission, protection, acceptance of the existence of the pandemic and seeking assistance for those infected or affected. 

Campaign message 

The campaign uses T-shirts printed only on the front due to fears that in the mosque, messages printed on the back of T-shirts could distract people from the sermon. Women are given printed bags and umbrellas rather than T-shirts, which would be covered up by the traditional Muslim dress. 

«We could not use lesos [shawls] or write the HIV awareness messages on the hijab [traditional Muslim dress for women] as it is not right for people to read what is written on a passing woman’s clothes,» said Ibrahim Hassan Abdi, APHIA II-NEP’s behaviour change communications coordinator. 

Read more:

Muslim opposition to condoms limits distribution

North Eastern Province at higher HIV risk

Muslim women in the north defy custom to fight AIDS

The campaign also uses posters and billboards featuring people the local community can easily identify with – such as young men and women in Muslim dress – as well as radio adverts and car stickers; the messages, originally in Arabic, also appear in the local Somali and Borana languages, as well as English and Swahili. 

Although North Eastern Province has the country’s lowest HIV prevalence at just 1 percent, research in the northeastern town of Garissa and the suburb of Eastleigh in the capital Nairobi – largely populated by people from the northeast – found high levels of risky sexual behaviour; 22 percent of men and 35 percent of women in Garissa had engaged in transactional sex, while 9 percent of men and 14 percent of women had been forced to have sex.

Una misión de la ONU destapa el horror en Kenya

 Joan Canela Barrull

Berria

La fama de Kenya como una de las democracias más estables de África ha quedado hecha añicos. Tras el controvertido proceso electoral de diciembre de 2007, que acabó con fuertes disturbios y más de 1000 muertes, la publicación del informe, aún provisional, del Enviado Especial de la ONU sobre Ejecuciones sumarias y extrajudiciales ha acabado por demoler lo que quedaba del mito.

Philip Alston, expresidente del Comité de las Naciones Unidas sobre Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, visitó Kenya entre el 16 y el 25 de febrero a invitación del propio gobierno. Durante estos diez días se entrevistó con autoridades federales y provinciales, fiscales, policías y militares, así como miembros de ONG y víctimas, y sus familiares, de violaciones de derechos humanos. Tras terminar su gira, Alston aseguraba que “los asesinatos por parte de la policía en Kenya son sistemáticos, extendidos y planeados. Y su impunidad está convenientemente asegurada”. En su revelador informe denuncia la falta de cooperación de las fuerzas de seguridad kenyanas -ni tan siquiera le supieron decir el número de policías que hay en el país- y de la fiscalía, pues el Fiscal General, Amos Wako, no quiso reunirse con él.

A pesar de este boicot, el Enviado especial asegura que se han documentado “centenares de asesinatos anuales en manos de la policía”, sumando los perpetrados por agentes individuales y los de escuadrones de la muerte “organizados por altos mandos”. Estas muertes serían motivadas por la persecución de presuntos delincuentes, pero también por casos de corrupción, venganzas y extorsiones, así como la liquidación física de los seguidores de la secta religiosa de los Mungiki, a la que se culpa de numerosos crímenes, sobretodo en Nairobi.

Otro punto especialmente sensible es la actuación de la policía y el ejército en la represión a la insurgencia en la región del Monte Elgon, que supuso “la retención de numerosos residentes varones”, “torturas sistemáticas” y decenas de muertes extrajudiciales.

Sobre la violencia electoral del año pasado encuentra “probado” la organización de actos violentos por miembros del gobierno y los disparos de la policía contra manifestantes.

En el informe también se destaca la persistente negativa a creer en los informes de las asociaciones de derechos humanos y la “constante descalificación” de las mismas y de sus profesionales; así como el “archivo inmediato” de cualquier denuncia y las amenazas a los denunciantes.

Amplio abanico de medidas

Alston propone una amplia serie de medidas para reducir la incidencia de las ejecuciones arbitrarias. Las propuestas van desde reformar la misma constitución kenyana -que en su artículo 71 permite el uso de fuerza letal para “la defensa de la propiedad” o “suprimir un disturbio”- hasta la creación de una comisión de asuntos internos independiente y “con los recursos y poderes necesarios” para investigar las denuncias de abusos policiales. Pero sus recomendaciones más inmediatas son el relevo del Comisario Superior de la policía y del Fiscal General, a quien califica de “personificación de la impunidad”. En el caso de la violencia postelectoral pide el establecimiento de un Tribunal Especial -paralelo a la actuación del Tribunal Penal Internacional- para evitar que “se reproduzcan los mismos incidentes tras los comicios del 2012”.

A pesar de la fuerte repercusión que el informe ha tenido en la prensa africana, el gobierno de Kenya no ha emitido ninguna valoración.

Despiece

Algunos ejemplos del horror:

James Ng’ang’a Kariuki: Este joven de 29 años, profesor de derecho en Londres e hijo de un exdiputado fue disparado por un policía el 24 de enero, quien previamente le había hecho bajar del coche. Antes había tenido una discusión con el dueño de un hotel. El informe redactado por el mismo agente aseguraba que Ng’ang’a era atracador de bancos y miembro de la secta Mungiki. Este caso es presentado en el informe como “un ejemplo” y reconoce que la existencia de testigos y la posición social de la víctima facilitaron la denuncia.

El policía arrepentido: En el 2008 un agente ofrecía un informe detallado y preciso a la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos de Kenya sobre los escuadrones de la muerte policiales. Él mismo había sido chofer de uno que realizó 58 ejecuciones en 24 ocasiones. En su testimonio aseguraba que recibían órdenes de altos oficiales, incluido el Comisario Superior de Policía. Nadie de los acusados fue investigado, pero el testigo fue asesinado en octubre del mismo año.

Monte Elgon: Desde 2006 existe en esta región del este del país una milicia llamada Fuerza de Defensa de la Tierra Sabaot. Alston les atribuye la mayoría de las violaciones de derechos humanos, incluyendo asesinatos, torturas, agresiones sexuales y robos, aunque explicita que “durante casi dos años las autoridades se inhibieron en la protección de la población”. Cuando el ejército y la policía iniciaron la Operación Okoa Maisha para erradicar la milicia la situación se puso aún peor: “3.265 personas fueron retenidas y la mayoría denuncia haber padecido torturas. Y a pesar de mis esfuerzos para obtener las grabaciones de los interrogatorios, estos han sido, no sorprendentemente, sin éxito hasta hoy”, escribe Alston en su informe.

Roto el alto el fuego en el Congo

De Wikinoticias, la fuente de noticias libre

Versión actual (sin revisar)

8 de noviembre de 2008

Nairobi, Kenia – Ayer, se desataron nuevos combates en el República Democrática del Congo cuando el ejército del país avanzó en dirección a Kibati, al norte de Goma. El avance de las tropas gubernamentales continuaba hoy mientras Kibati, que recogía hace apenas unos días casi 50.000 refugiados, se encontraba desierta.

Se informó, también, de la presencia de soldados con uniforme de Angola apoyando a las tropas gubernamentales, lo que podría extender el conflicto. Según fuentes de Naciones Unidas, podría tratarse de congoleños que vivieron el exilio en Angola y regresaban al país a luchar contra la incursión de los rebeldestutsis.

La confusión surge tras saberse que, hace 11 días, Congo pidió ayuda a Angola para poner fin a la ofensiva rebelde. Angola niega, por su parte, que esté participando.

Mientras tanto, en Kenia, se reunían las partes en conflicto bajo el patrocinio de la ONU y con la presencia de su secretario general, Ban Ki-moon, para estabilizar la situación e impedir nuevos enfrentamientos. La ONU aboga por una ampliación del papel de su misión en el territorio, la MONUC, y Ruanda y Congo siguen acusándose mutuamente.

Naciones Unidas investiga también una matanza de civiles en Kiwandja, a manos de los rebeldes dirigidos por el dirigente Laurent Nkunda. El número de muertos, según varias fuentes, podría ser de medio centenar, aunque la dificultad de acceso a la zona no permite confirmar los datos. Naciones Unidas ha señalado que en Kiwandja han habido «ataques graves contra civiles y ejecuciones sumarias».