Photo Credit: Refugees International
05/14/2008

Within the multi-ethnic fabric of Kenyan society is a group of Nubians who have historically been denied citizenship. Now numbering approximately 100,000 persons, their Sudanese ancestors either migrated or were forcibly moved to Kenya over a hundred years ago as conscripts of the British Army. When the British left Kenya, there was no provision for the Nubians for resettlement or land ownership in Kenya. Since they were not considered British citizens or protected persons under colonial rule, they could not access citizenship under the Kenyan Constitution. For nearly a century they have suffered the attendant consequences of statelessness, such as absence of legal protection, vulnerability to abuse and harassment, denial of land ownership, and lack of equality in access to social services.

The Kenyan government does not recognize Nubians as an ethnic minority group. Today, about 40,000 of them reside in the area called Kibera, a sprawling slum of around 700,000 people on approximately 550 acres. Nubians distinguish themselves through religion, language, food, and dress. They claim to be the only and rightful owners of Kibera, land given to them as their pension after retirement from the army. “For Nubians there is no other place. This is our ancestral home,” one community leader stated.