More than 3,000 members of the Boni community are facing starvation after they were banned from entering the forest for hunting.
They said farming has failed, living residents of the forest villages of Milimani, Basuba, Mangai, Mararani, Kiangwe, Pandanguo and Madina staring at food shortage. All the villages are within or next to the Boni forest.
Members of the Boni community are mainly hunters and gatherers. They have heavily relied on wild fruits, roots and honey collected from inside the Boni Forest for food.
The Boni Forest in their main source of livelihood. However, since the start of the Linda Boni security operation in 2015, the community has been banned from the forest.
The operation is meant to flush out al Shabaab militants believed to be hiding inside the forest. The militants are blamed for terror attacks in Kenya. As a result of the ban, many Bonis shifted to farming which has largely been unsuccessful.
With the ban on the forest and poor harvests, the community is now staring at starvation with children and women already suffering from malnutrition.
Mangai village elder Abatike Mussa said they sometimes survive by sneaking into the forest to gather wild fruits but that is barely enough.
He said the community has tried to actively undertake farming for the last six years but pests and wild animals have made it impossible for them to attain meaningful harvests.
“We are so hungry. We need food. Our children and women have no food. We can’t live on wild fruits forever plus it’s not always that they are available. We can’t go into the forest freely because the soldiers might mistake us for terrorists and shoot us. Someone bring us food,” Mussa said.
He said recent flooding also swept away crops that were in the farms. Mararani village elder Abarufa Dido said no one has had any meaningful harvest over the past five years.
“All we need now is some food. Our stomachs are empty but we believe that the government should come through at times like this. We are not farmers but we tried to adapt. Things are hard and the transition is even harder but we remain optimistic,” Dido said.
Initially, the national government pledged to support all Boni community members for the entire duration of the Linda Boni operation.
Boni community spokesperson Ali Sharuti however said all aid from the state and NGOs stopped immediately the operation commenced.
“They told us they understood that the Boni Forest is our lifeline and because they are using it for security purposes, they would ensure we were taken care of until it ends. Truth is, no one is or has helped us. We are simply surviving,” Sharuti said.