50,000 Kenyans living beside railway face eviction

[Zardoz]

50,000 Kenyans living beside railway face eviction
(AP) – 1 day ago

NAIROBI, Kenya — Residents of a slum in Kenya's capital are threatening to violently resist a government order for people living alongside railway lines to move.

The land in question is designated as a railway reserve for some 100 feet (30 meters) on either side of the tracks. An estimated 50,000 people have settled on the land, some of them in an attempt to avoid paying rent.

The Kenya Railways Corp. said in a notice March 21 that squatters must leave in 30 days or be evicted to make way for a planned expansion.

Amnesty International says the government's order could lead to a humanitarian emergency.

Residents in Nairobi's Kibera slum say if the Kenya Railways Corporation tries to evict them, the officials will be met with resistance.