“Kenyan police have evicted more than 3,000 people who have been squatting on forest land in Rift Valley province. Police and forest officials reportedly destroyed more than 100 squatters’ homes in the Kipkurere forest area. The operation followed a series of meetings between local officials, some of whom accused the squatters of causing environmental damage. The squatters say they had long appealed to the Kenyan authorities to resettle them elsewhere. … The forest area is the subject of long-running dispute between the Ogiek people, who claim the forest as their ancestral land, and other communities who have settled in the area more recently.” (03/24/06)