A Scottish sheriff has ordered that a self-styled "African tribe" be removed from privately owned woodland near the town of Jedburgh after the group failed to comply with an earlier instruction to leave.
Sheriff Peter Paterson issued the eviction order, which takes effect immediately, following an application by landowners David and Mary Palmer. The three people who call themselves the Kingdom of Kubala were told to vacate the site by 17:00 on Monday but did not do so. None of the group's members attended Jedburgh Sheriff Court and they did not have legal representation.
The trio, who describe themselves as King Atehehe and Queen Nandi, arrived in the Jedburgh area in the spring and set up a camp on a hillside above the town. They were initially evicted from that site by Scottish Borders Council in July and subsequently moved about a mile to a woodland adjoining an industrial estate, where they remained for several weeks.
The group includes Ghanaian national Kofi Offeh, 36; Jean Gasho, 42, originally from Zimbabwe; and Kaura Taylor from Texas, who calls herself Asnat. They have asserted ancestral rights to the land, saying it was stolen from their ancestors roughly 400 years ago, and have declared the formation of the Kingdom of Kubala.
Scottish Borders Council said the encampment amounted to an unlawful occupation of private land. Council deputy leader Scott Hamilton said the landowner had been left with "no option" but to seek a court order after the group ignored the ultimatum to move. "They have rebuffed every opportunity to engage with us," he added, saying local residents had been upset by allegations the group had posted on social media.
The group has attracted international attention and a substantial online following, with more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and Facebook. At the woodland camp after the court order was made public, Offeh told reporters the group would not be intimidated by the eviction warrant. "The creator of the heavens and the Earth is the one with us," he said. "And we are not afraid of whatever the court — the so-called court — has granted." Asked whether they planned to move elsewhere, he said: "If the creator of the heavens and the earth wants us to move from this land, he shall find us a place to go."
Landowners David and Mary Palmer obtained the court order under civil legislation governing trespass on private property. The sheriff's instruction supersedes the council's earlier eviction notice and gives legal authority for the landowners to seek to remove the encampment. The timing and method of any physical enforcement were not detailed in court documents.
Local authorities and the landowners have said they are prepared to work within the legal process to restore possession of the land, while the self-styled kingdom maintains its claim. The dispute follows months of intermittent occupation and attempts by the council to resolve the situation through eviction and engagement with the occupants.