1883
A province of the Sudan, Equatoria, is cut off from the rest of the country by the Mahdist rebellion. For five years, the Governor of Equatoria, Emin Pasha, and his troops survive completely isolated, and solidify as a community, becoming increasingly Islamised and Arabised.
1890
A group of the Sudanese soldiers from Emin Pasha’s forces now under the command of the Sudanese Selim Bey are sought out by Captain Fredrick Lugard of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) in what has become Uganda. Lugard explains to the Sudanese troops that they are no longer needed by the Egyptian Sudan and makes an agreement to incorporate them into the IBEA. The troops and their dependents (10,000 people in total) become essential to the IBEA’s grip on power in Uganda.
1895
The British Foreign Office regularizes the Sudanese soldiers as the Uganda Rifles, and establishes a smaller contingent of East Africa Rifles.
1896
Construction of the Uganda railway begins in Mombasa. Throughout the construction, the Sudanese soldiers play a crucial role in protecting it.
1897
Sudanese soldiers protest their low and irregular pay, living conditions and separation from their families in the Uganda Mutiny. The mutiny demonstrates how dependent the British are on the Sudanese soldiers.
1902
The Uganda Railway is finished. The Uganda Rifles and East Africa Rifles are combined (along with the Central Africa Regiment) to form the King’s African Rifles (KAR), for the first time recognized as regular troops of the Queen of England.
1904
Dependents of soldiers begin to settle throughout Kenya and Uganda. In Kenya, the biggest settlement is at ‘Kibra’ in the soon to be Nairobi. ‘Kibra’ is Kinubi for forest. The Maasai had been using the land for limited grazing, but signed it over to the British in the 1904 Maasai Agreements.
1912
The British military consent to the settlement at Kibra.
1915
The 1915 Crown Land Ordinance establishes Native Reserves, governed by Native Administrations, and all Africans are relegated to their ethnic group’s Reserve. Those Africans without a Reserve, and who have developed an urban lifestyle, are considered ‘detribalized natives’. The Sudanese soldiers and their families fall into this category.
1917
Kibra is surveyed at 4197.9 acres.
1918
Kibra is gazetted as a Military Reserve by the Protectorate Government. Ex-soldiers of more than 12 years’ service and their dependents are given permission to live on a plot in the area, build structures, graze a limited amount of cattle, and grow food, as long as they have a ‘shamba’ pass issued by the military. 291 such shamba passes are issued.
1914-1918
The KAR fight for the British in East Africa, Mozambique and North Rhodesia (Zambia) during World War I.
1928
Administration of Kibra is handed over from military administration to civilian authorities, and a period of confusion and repression in Kibra begins. The colonial government repeatedly attempts to evict the Sudanese from Kibra. Being in the middle of Nairobi, it upsets their racially segregated town planning. Other Africans begin to live in Kibra as tenants of, and workers for the Sudanese.
1933
The Kenya Land Commission rules that the colonial authorities must find an urban or peri-urban settlement for the Nubians if they wish to move them from Kibra. Many attempts are made over the coming years, but such a settlement is never found.
1939-1944
The KAR fight for the British in Burma, Madagascar, northern Kenya and Somalia in World War II.
1939
The Sudanese are permitted to stay in Kibra because no other suitable settlement can be found for them.
1946-1948
The Uganda Railway is realigned to pass straight through Kibra. Many Sudanese homesteads are destroyed with insufficient compensation.
1948
The population of Kibra is around 3000, half of whom are Sudanese.
1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons comes into effect. Kenya is not a signatory of this Convention.
1950-1960
Some Sudanese groups, fearing what will happen to them if Kenya becomes independent, declare their loyalty to the British and request repatriation to Sudan. The request is repeatedly rejected, largely because they have lost all connection with Sudan. Younger Sudanese begin to ally themselves with other Africans instead, and begin referring to themselves as Nubian.
1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness comes into effect. Kenya is not a signatory of this Convention.
1962
The Nubian village of Salama is bulldozed to create the middle class estate of Karanja. This is the only estate where Nubian families are given preference in the allocation of houses, and these families still live there today.
1963
Kenya becomes independent on December 12. Section 87 of the 1963 Kenyan Constitution provides that every person who is born in Kenya, and who has a parent born in Kenya, is automatically a Kenyan citizen; as are all British Protected Persons in Kenya. The Nubians fall into both of these categories.
Kibera, as it has come to be known, is now only 1150 acres. Prior to independence, land was possessed for the development of European housing estates and European sporting clubs.
1965 - 1983
Nubian families are evicted from their homes in many villages in Kibera in order to make way for a number of middle class estates built by the National Housing Corporation. Very few Nubian families are allocated houses in these estates, and those who are usually cannot afford them.
1969
Yunus Ali is elected as Member of Parliament for Lang’ata constituency for one term, on the KANU ticket. He is the first and only Nubian to be an MP. Kibera is declared State Land, disregarding the Nubians’ historical claims.
A national census is conducted, counting 42 tribes. The census explains the selection of available codes is based on the 40 tribes of the 1962 census, the last conducted by the colonial government, with the addition of two groups of Somali. The 1962 census admits, “The grouping is of course somewhat arbitrary in many cases.” Nevertheless, these 42 tribes enter the popular imagination as the ‘42 indigenous tribes of Kenya’. The Nubians are not one of these 42, and instead are counted in various categories of ‘Other’.
1970
Kibera is now only 550 acres.
1974-1979
Kibera sees the largest influx of non-Nubians and new structures under MP Mwangi Mathai. The population jumps from about 20 000 in 1975 to 65 000 in 1980. This is largely due to irregular land allocation by the local administration, as well as some sub-letting by Nubian families.
1981
Kenya becomes a signatory to the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, which prohibits discrimination in access to nationality and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and provides for the protection of property rights.
1990
Kenya becomes a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides for the right to a nationality.
1995
Second Generation ID cards are introduced. Alongside widespread suspicion of Muslim communities in Kenya, the Nubians begin to experience discrimination in their access to ID cards. District vetting committees, provided for by legislation, disproportionately focus their attention on particular ethnic groups, including the Nubians. This constitutes discrimination, and contravenes the 1963 Constitution of Kenya, and international law.
1990-2000
Sporadic rent riots result in deaths and injuries. Other villages in Kibera begin to take on an ethnic character.
2000
Mounting tensions between Nubian and other residents in the lead up to the Njonjo Land Commission visit to Kibera culminate in violence when President Moi and MP Raila Odinga make comments inciting tenants to refuse to pay rent. There are many deaths and injuries on both sides. Many Nubian lose their livelihoods when their rental properties are occupied or destroyed.
2006
The Centre for Minority Rights and Development (CEMIRIDE) takes the Kenyan State to the High Court to seek redress for the Nubians’ exclusion from citizenship. The case stalls. The Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and CEMIRIDE take a case on behalf of the Nubians to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The case focuses on rights relating to citizenship, but also takes up land rights and the general marginalization of the community. The decision of the Commission is expected in late 2011.
2007-08
Kibera is rocked by post-election violence. It is not targeted at the Nubians.
2009
The Nubians are given a code in the National Census for the first time. The Census puts the population of Kibera at between 170,000 and about 370,000.
2010
Kenyans vote for a new constitution. The citizenship chapter provides a guarantee of documentation for all citizens. The constitution also provides for redress of historical injustices, and affirmative action for marginalized communities.
2011
Open Society Justice Initiative and Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) submit the complaint: Nubian Minors v. Kenya to the the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. In its first decision ever, the Commission finds Kenya in violation of the rights of Nubian children to non-discrimination, nationality and protection against statelessness.
The Kenyan Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission hear testimony from Nubians in Kibera about their grievances relating to land and citizenship.
2013
The Kenyan Nubian Rights Forum (NRF), with support from Open Society Justice Initiative, Open Society Institute for East Africa, and Namati, begins operating a paralegal assistance program in Kibera. The program helps people in Kibera (Nubians and people from other communities) apply for critical documentation of their existence and legal identity: birth certificates, national identity cards, death certificates and passports.
900 people come the the assistance program in the 1st year with evidence that Nubians continue to face challenges in being issued national identification.
2015
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights recommends Kenya recognize Nubian land rights over Kibera by granting them “security of tenure”, and to address what it called “discriminatory and arbitrary evictions” of Nubians by ensuring that all actions follow international human rights standards.
2017
Kenyan government issues a community land title to the Nubian community trust for 288 acres of land in the Kibera. The announcement marks a historic victory for community-based efforts to end decades of discrimination against the Nubian community.
2019
The government of Kenya rolls out the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS), or Huduma Namba (Swahili for “Service Number”). The system registers citizens with a biometric ID number that is then used to access government services such as access to education, healthcare voting, opening a bank account and civil registrations for marriage, etc.
Nubian Rights Forum (NRF) and several other civil society organizations file separate lawsuits in the High Court of Kenya Constitutional and Human Rights Division claiming the new ID breaches the right to equality, and the right to non-discrimination in the bill of rights, as well as the right to public participation, which would marginalize the Nubian community as well as others even more.
2020
The Court rules the process must be done under a comprehensive regulatory framework that addresses concerns over exclusion and privacy. The government temporarily suspends the launch of the ID until the government can enacts laws to protect personal data and ensure non-discrimination against minorities.
Timeline contributed by: