Kenya: Power project threatens indigenous peoples

The World Bank should ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment are rigorously protected before funding a power transmission line connecting Kenya to a controversial dam in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The World Bank's board of directors was scheduled to meet on 12 July to consider the project. The World Bank project has the important goal of improving electrical service to people in Kenya, where more than 80 per cent of the population does not have access to electricity. However, the bank has been unwilling to apply the institution's social and environmental safeguard policies.