On Monday, the Council of Elders of the Nubian Community in Kenya lost its chairman, Issa Abdul Faraj. He will be remembered for his record as a strong advocate for land rights in Kibra and Kibos region occupied by Kenyan Nubians, as said by President Ruto and Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Nassir in their condolence messages.
The Nubian community of Kenya is composed of up to 100,000 descendants of people originally from the territory of Sudan, who were brought to Kenya over 100 years ago to serve in the East African Rifles, a regiment of the British colonial armed forces. On demobilization, the colonial authorities refused to allow Nubians to return to Sudan, instead settling them in Kibera, near Nairobi, and other parts of Kenya, where they still live today with their citizenship still not assured.
