US Ambassador Denies Claims of Kenyan Forestland Acquisition
10/23/98
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Title: US Ambassador Denies Claims of Kenyan Forestland Acquisition
Source: Agency France-Presse
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/23/98
NAIROBI, Oct 23 (AFP) - US Ambassador to Kenya Prudence Bushnell
has denied that her embassy had acquired a plot in Nairobi's
controversial Karura forest to build a new embassy, the Kenyan press
reported Friday.
Addressing workers at ApproTec, an American non-governmental
organisation that trains Jua-Kali (open-air) artisans on how to
manufacture cost-effective equipment at its Nairobi suburb
headquarters at Kariobangi on Thursday, Bushnell said the US
government believed in environmental preservation and protection.
"We will not go near Karura Forest to do anything else except to
protect the wonderful environment of Kenya," Bushnell declared.
Bushnell was reacting to recent reports in a section of the
Kenyan press alleging that the US government had acquired a plot
within the forest to relocate its embassy, destroyed during the
August 7 terrorist bomb attack in the centre of the Kenyan capital.
A total of 213 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in
the attack and more than 5,000 others were wounded, while a
simultaneous attack at the US embassy in the Tanzanian capital, Dar
es Salaam, left 11 people dead and 72 others injured.
The Nairobi embassy has been operating at temporary premises in
the capital's Parklands suburb as the search for a suitable new site
continues.
Karura Forest has been at the centre of controversy for the past
two weeks since it was discovered that developers had cleared some
areas and construction work had started for development of a
residential estate.
Last Saturday, Kenyan riot police prevented members of
parliament and environmental activists from planting trees in a
cleared section of the forest, where developers have plans to build
a housing estate.
The police move angered the environmentalists, who demanded to
know why police had been deployed to seal off the forest, which they
alleged had been obtained corruptly by the developers.
The previous week, a group of opposition politicians and
activists stormed the forest and razed property worth 80 million
shillings (1.3 million dollars) belonging to a contractor.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government has announced its intention to
degazette several hundred hectares (acres) of forests in Kenya,
despite protests by environmentalists, opposition MPs and the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP).
In Thursday's issue of the Kenya Gazette, Natural Resources
Minister Francis Lotodo gave notice of his intention to degazette
903.91 hectares from Mount Kenya forest areas and another 25
hectares from Kiambu Forest to the north of Nairobi.
On Thursday, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director
Klaus Toepfer said UNEP was ready to assist Kenya preserve its
forests, declaring that urbanisation should not make Nairobi lose
forests.
Toepfer, who is also acting executive director of the UN Human
Settlements (Habitat), said the two organisations were ready to
provide technical assistance to the government to ensure sustainable
development of Nairobi without encroaching on national resources.