Kenya: Hundreds protest planned railway through park

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Hundreds of conservationists and activists on Monday held a peaceful protest in Kenya’s capital calling on the government to halt a planned new railway going through Nairobi National Park.

The protestors, many wearing T-shirts saying, “Don’t you dare destroy our park,” marched to Harambee House to deliver a petition to President Kenyatta’s office.

The protestors then marched to Kenya Wildlife Services Headquarters, where they chained themselves to the main gate for a sit-in.

“The national park has always been for the wildlife,” protestor Sylvia Loshan told Anadolu Agency.

“If the railway line passes through here then we will litter, and our pride, our wild animals will no longer be in the wild living a peaceful life.”

Loshan said the government should intervene to ensure that the Chinese-funded Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway project does not pass through Nairobi National Park, one of Africa’s oldest national parks.

The Kenyan government plans to construct the six-kilometer railway line through the 117-square kilometer (45 square mile) national park, which was founded in 1946 and includes such native species as lions, giraffes, ostriches, leopards, baboons, rhinos, gazelles, buffaloes, zebras, cheetahs, and hippos.

Wildlife activists argue that aside from accidents, noise from the train will scare the animals and interfere with their normal way of life and migration patterns.

Advocates say the 609-kilometer (378-mile) high-speed rail line from the port of Mombasa to the Kenyan capital will boost regional trade by connecting Kenya with East African countries.

Construction of the $3.6 billion railway, Kenya’s largest single investment since it gained independence in 1963, began in 2013 and is set to be completed sometime next year.