- From the ridge that cuts through Loisaba ranch, golden
savannah stretches as far as a shimmering vision of Mount Kenya's jagged,
snow-capped peak.
-
- The rugged bush of this immense plateau, teeming with
every variety of African wildlife, is the setting for a growing
confrontation
between Kenya's last white farmers and thousands of Masai and Samburu
tribesmen
who claim their land.
-
- Clad in blazing red, these tribesmen say Britain cheated
them out of their land in a treaty 100 years ago. They are now mounting
Zimbabwe-style farm invasions.
-
- Last month, Tom Silvester, the farmer of Loisaba ranch,
watched as hundreds of spear-wielding Samburu warriors drove a column of
at least 5,000 cattle on to his land, seeking to reclaim it as their
own.
-
- The tribesmen massed on a large rock beside the Ewaso
Nyiro river and tested the depth of the brown waters before herding their
animals across the narrow channel marking Loisaba's boundary. Mr Silvester,
36, called for police help and, in sharp contrast to the plight of white
farmers in Zimbabwe, the response was immediate. Eighty officers deployed
on his ranch, backed by a helicopter, and drove the Samburu off
Loisaba.
-
- "It was like warfare," said Mr Silvester.
"They
were trying to push the cattle in as far as they could and we were trying
to push them back."
-
- Another seven white-owned farms in Laikipia district
were then invaded and five are still occupied by thousands of Masai cattle
and herdsmen. Police have moved against the tribesmen in force, sparking
violent clashes. One Masai, Ntinai ole Moiyare, 70, has been shot
dead.
-
- Amos Kimunya, the lands minister, has pledged his backing
for the farmers, saying: "As a government, we are committed to the
rule of law and protection of private property."
-
- But landowners fear a rising tide of Masai bitterness.
"There is an emergence of a radical group of Masai leaders, with an
education and political ambitions and they see their people
suffering,"
said Mr Silvester.
-
- The first invasion of Mr Silvester's farm came on the
centenary of the Anglo-Masai treaty that tribal leaders have turned into
a cause celebre. They claim the 1904 agreement between the British and
Lenana, the Masai paramount chief, gave Laikipia's white farmers a 100-year
lease.
-
- "We have been quiet for 100 years," said Moses
Olio Sakian, from Osiligi, a Masai campaign group. "But now the 100
years has come to an end and we want our land back."
-
- Yet this interpretation flies in the face of the treaty's
text. The word "lease" does not appear, nor is there any mention
of a time limit. Instead of removing the Masai from Laikipia, the treaty
gave them the legal right to settle in the area in place of their previous
home in the Rift Valley.
-
- It was a later treaty, signed in 1911, that opened-up
Laikipia for white farmers and moved the Masai to southern Kenya. This
also has no mention of leases or time limits.
-
- But the Masai point to the huge tracts of land owned
by Laikipia's white farmers. Just 38 huge ranches, 27 of them white-owned,
cover 2,700 square miles.
-
- Meanwhile, Laikipia's 300,000 people are crammed on to
the remaining 3,300 square miles. The Masai, with about 45,000 head of
cattle, have only 1,200 square miles.
-
- In practice, the herdsmen range well beyond Laikipia,
roaming over a huge area stretching down the Rift Valley and deep into
neighbouring Tanzania. But overgrazing and Kenya's rising population has
stripped this land bare.
-
- With the onset of the dry season last month, the Masai
must find fresh pasture for their herds. The plentiful grazing of the
white-owned
farms is hugely tempting.
-
- Mr Silvester's Masai neighbours reap all the profits
from a game lodge that he runs on their land. He is building a primary
school for Masai children and runs bursaries allowing them secondary
education.
Loisaba employs 155 people and, including their relatives, some 1,550 black
Kenyans depend on its success.
-
- For as long as the Masai continue to be herdsmen and
their population continues to rise, Kenya's last white farmers must hope
the police remain as stalwart as they are today.
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news
- /2004/09/13/wmasai13.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/13/ixworld.html
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