A BRITISH farmer who ran a riding school for tourists in Kenya died when he was shot in the neck by armed robbers who stormed his land, police said yesterday.
The murder of John Palmer Martin, 38, followed a series of occupations of white-owned farms by Masai herdsmen demanding grazing land signed away to British colonial authorities by tribal chiefs a century ago.
It has raised fears among white landowners that their long-running dispute with tribesmen is turning increasingly violent.
But the police said that no evidence had yet been found to link the murder to the land dispute. “We are treating this as normal thuggery and so far there is no indication to make us suspect it is related to the Masai land issue,” said Kamau Karungo, the detective leading the investigation.
Mr Martin, 38, a British citizen, was killed late on Tuesday on the verandah of his ranch house at Chapachura Farm in Naivasha, a lakeside town 55 miles northwest of Nairobi, when he apparently confronted eight armed men who had tricked their way on to the property dressed as policemen.
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“It appears he was shot as he came out to see what was happening, by thugs who were there for a robbery,” a police spokesman said. “They took only a rifle, a television, $130 (£72) in cash and his car before they left.”
One of the guards at Mr Martin’s horse and dairy farm was in hospital after being nearly strangled with a rope. Mr Martin’s murder was the first of a European farmer in Kenya since January, when Charles Stonewigg, a Scot, was slashed to death by an intruder at his farm in the Rift Valley.
It happened the same day that police in Nairobi used teargas to break up demonstrations by Masai wearing traditional bright red cloaks who had gathered in a city centre park for the latest stage in a campaign pressing for land that they say is theirs to be handed back by white settlers.
Earlier this month about 100 Masai marched on the British High Commission in Nairobi saying a treaty signed a century ago, which handed white settlers one million hectares of prime land previously grazed by the Masai, had now expired. At least 104 people have been arrested in the escalation of clashes in the week and a half since the march.
The Kenyan Government has said the 1904 Anglo- Masai Land Agreement between Laibon (paramount chief) Ole-Lenana and colony administrator Sir Donald Stewart may no longer carry weight as it was signed before Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963.
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Tribesmen angry at what they saw as the Government’s dismissal of their claims then occupied five white-owned farms in Laikipia district, in central Kenya, by herding their cattle over downed boundary fences. Paramilitary police deployed to safeguard farmers’ security shot and killed a 70-year-old tribesman during clashes on Saturday when dozens of Masai tried to take over Ole-Naishu ranch, 25 miles (40 kilometres) north of Nanyuki town. More than 50 Masai were arrested during similar confrontations.
Tribal leaders say the colonial treaty, and a second signed in 1911, gave white settlers — mostly British — the best land while leaving the Masai with arid, drought-prone areas.
Despite the Government’s insistence that the colonial-era treaty may be worthless, Masai leaders say they will take their fight to international courts to win back their land.
“We are determined to sell our livestock to make sure we have enough funds to push for our land and get it back,” said Daniel ole Osoi, a Masai town councillor from Kajiado in the disputed Rift Valley province.
“We have been subjected to untold suffering for our birthright where our land has been divided and allocated to a few well-placed people and these actions have subjected us to abject poverty and disease.”