After Long Struggle, Kenya's Nubian Minority Secures Land Rights

On Friday, June 2, the Kenyan government issued a community land title to the Nubian community trust for 288 acres of land in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi—a move recommended by the African Commission in 2015 in response to a complaint filed by the community with the support of the Justice Initiative.

Members of the Nubian minority have lived in Kibera since at least the early 20th century, but they have faced the growing threat of evictions in recent years as land prices in Nairobi have risen. The land was originally part of a military reserve established by the colonial British, who initially conscripted Nubians from the Upper Nile region into their forces in Kenya.

After independence in 1963, the lack of formal title to the land where they settled under the British also contributed to the unwillingness of the government to recognize the Nubians as citizens of Kenya, leaving the community at risk of statelessness.

The title in favor of the community trust was handed over to Sheikh Issa Abdulfaraj, the chairman of the Council of Elders of the Kenyan Nubians, by Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta. The Council said: “The Nubian community is elated, and we appreciate the commitment of President Kenyatta to right this long-running injustice. This outcome demonstrated how turning to the human rights institutions of the African Union can yield results, with sustained commitment by communities and a willingness on the part of the government to act.”