Press Release: Agreement for the conversion of the debt Italy-Kenya possible
Photo: Francesco Fantini
A step forward for the “WNairobiW!” Campaign and for the inhabitants of slums has been registered: for almost two years, Italian and Kenyan civil society have reported on the difficult situation existing in the slums in the capital of Kenya. Forced evictions are a permanent threat. Owning no land deprives the people of Kenya of the possibility of living with dignity.
Thanks to this pressure by civil society, an official meeting was finally held yesterday in Rome between the Campaign members and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Treasury Ministry. The Italian ministries and the Kenyan government have shown a willingness to set up a conversion fund for the debt between the two states.
The management of the fund will be administered bilaterally, with the direct involvement of Italian and Kenyan civil society.
The campaign pointed out the need to explicitly allocate these resources towards a Popular Fund for Land and Housing. Two slums will be used as pilot projects for new ownership of land policies and for the improvement of housing conditions in order to guarantee long-term security of housing tenure.
In the next weeks, the Campaign will continue to meet with the Italian and Kenyan ministries in order to closely follow the detailed definition of the terms of the agreements and to report back to tens of thousands supporters of the Appeal.
12th January 2006, WNairobiW Campaign