History
Early history
The Endorois people resided near Lake Bogoria since the pre-colonial era, [1] at least as far back as the seventeenth century. [2] These lands were around Mochongoi Forest, within the Lakipia Plains. [3] Their land claim was recognised by nearby communities. [4] The British Empire claimed the land of the Endorois as part of the Kenya Colony. [5] During this time, the term Endorois referred to a local government area (part of modern-day Baringo County). [6] Authorities considered this area "the most backward location" in the colony. [7] Authorities as well as the Endorois themselves considered the community a subgroup of the Tugen people, the predominant ethnic group of the region. [6] Colonization introduced a system of land ownership in which the central government had power over land rights. [8] The Native Lands Trust Board classified the Endorois land as indigenous land, [9] placing it under traditional land tenure [10] and granting the Endorois freedom over their land. [11] The government administered it under the county governments of Baringo and Koibatek. [12]
Colonial authorities created the classification of Kalenjin people, of which the Tugen were classified as a tribe. The Kalenjin began self-identifying as an ethnicity in the 1950s and 1960s. The Tugen, including politician Daniel arap Moi, played a large role in creating this identity. Endorois leaders continued to label themselves a subgroup of the Tugen, in part due to their similarity in languages and out of solidarity with Moi. [13]
Relocation
After the independence of Kenya in 1963, land controlled by the Native Lands Trust Board was transferred to county councils. [10] Endorois land was entrusted to Baringo County on behalf of the Endorois, [5] under the Trust Land Act [14] and the Constitution of Kenya. [15] The Endorois continued to live on the land [9] until the government of Kenya gazetted Mochongoi Forest as a game reserve. The Lake Hannington Game Reserve (later Lake Bogoria Game Reserve) was established in November 1973, [16] of which the Endorois were not informed until 1977. [12] As a result, 400 Endorois families were coerced into leaving the land. [17] They were relocated to a semi-arid area [12] where the majority of their livestock did not survive [18] and potable water was not available. [19] They were also exposed to cattle raids from the Pokot people. [3] The community's food supply became reliant on humanitarian aid. [20] The government developed tourism in the game reserve, constructing roads, game lodges, and a hotel. [21] Remaining Endorois were subject to a 1983 eviction notice labelling their residence as illegal, and some of their houses were burned. [22] The eviction took place after that year's general election. [23]
The Endorois Welfare Management Committee (later the Endorois Welfare Commission; EWC) was created in 1985. Its first chair was Peter Changole, a teacher. [24] The government refused to recognise the organisation. [25] Endorois leaders met with Moi, by then the President of Kenya, on 28 December 1994 at Lake Bogoria. [26] He issued a directive for land in the Mochongoi Forest to be re-gazetted and allocated to the Endorois. [24] According to the EWC, Moi issued the directive a second time in November 1995, but it was not realised either time. [26] Five-acre parcels were created for 312 people in the early 1990s. This was subject to allegations of land grabbing; according to a later account by Kiplenge, it was "hijacked by powerful politicians in Baringo and Koibatek districts to settle their own people". [24]
Endorois protestors led a barricade in October and November 1995, blocking the road to Lake Bogoria and calling for land compensation. This led to eleven charges of unlawful assembly. [24] Juma Kiplenge, a lawyer who served as chair of EWC in the 1990s, faced death threats and was arrested twice—in August 1996 for leading the unregistered EWC and in 1997 for leading an Endorois Cultural Festival without permission—with poor prison conditions. This gained the attention of Amnesty International which said he had "suffered repeated harassment because he has taken on cases which the authorities do not want pursued" and agreed to take his case. Charles Kamuren, who had served as EWC's secretary since 1985 and would become its president in 2003, was also arrested several times. [27]
Judicial cases and aftermath
The EWC filed a case against the government in the mid-1990s, alleging that it had failed to share the revenue of Lake Bogoria Game Reserve with the Endorois. [28] The High Court at Nakuru dismissed the case in 2002. [28] It ruled that the removal had been legal under the Trust Land Act [29] as the establishment of the game reserve superseded the Endorois community's land claim and the government had compensated them. [9] It said that Kenyan law did not recognise traditional land claims. [30]
After rubies were discovered to the north of Lake Bogoria, the government granted a concession to the Canadian mining company Corby Limited in 2002. In November 2004, the opening of the mine was blocked by protestors. Kamuren said that he received a threatening letter from the District Education Officer days after this protest. The discovery of rubies, along with the discovery of an enzyme used to develop a bleach formula, contributed to feelings among the Endorois that they were being excluded from the wealth of Lake Bogoria. [31]
The NGOs Minority Rights Group International and Cemiride—both of which had worked on a pastoralist initiative with the EWC—chose to take the case surrounding Endorois land claims in 2003. [28] They wrote to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) that year, alleging that, in removing the Endorois from their traditional lands, Kenya had violated the Endorois people's rights to religion, culture, property, natural resources, and development. [32] The ACHPR admitted the case Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group International on Behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya in 2005. [28] The ACHPR issued its ruling in 2009, [33] finding Kenya guilty of all violations, and recognising the Endorois as an indigenous people. [34] It recommended that Kenya recognise the Endorois community's land claim, grant them complete access to the land, and compensate them for their losses. The Endorois initially anticipated the government would follow these recommendations, but the government took little action. [35]
UNESCO listed Lake Bogoria as a World Heritage Site in 2011 despite complaints by the EWC that the Endorois had not been involved. [36] In 2013, Grace Jelagat Kipchoim became the first Endorois person elected as a member of parliament for the Baringo South Constituency. [37] The government began sharing profits from enzyme extraction with the Endorois in 2014. [38] The Kenyan government published the Endorois People's Biocultural Protocol on 31 August 2019, [39] a report on the community's use of resources on their land. The report noted the community's climate change adaptation measures; the Endorois had implemented sustainable farming practices such as more diverse and drought-tolerant crops, as well as destocking and supplementary feeding of livestock. They also supported their culture's environmental values through ecotourism. [40] UNESCO began including the community in the management of Lake Bogoria in a plan published in 2021. [36] However, many Endorois people were removed from Mukutani Forest, a protected area created by the Kenya Forest Service in 2017 without the community's permission. By 2022, over 10,000 Endorois were relocated from this land to the towns of Marigat, Nyimbei, and Sandai; an individual's request to return to the land in 2024 was denied. [41]
By 2023, Kenya had not granted the Endorois full rights to the land, and the community faced extreme poverty. Meanwhile, water level rise of Lake Bogoria destroyed residential, cultural, and economic sites, including drinking water sources and the lake's only healthcare facility. [42] Unauthorised extraction of enzymes from Lake Bogoria also continued, according to Endorois leaders in 2025. [43]
