Maasai Eviction Journal
Stop the Oppression in Tanzania
September 11, 2023
Last week, members of the European Delegation were prevented from visiting Ngorongoro. On 25th August, they also prevented a UNESCO delegation from visiting the area. Tundu Lissu, opposition leader, and champion of the Maasai, was briefly jailed for trying to rally in Ngorogoro.
June 23, 2023
New Proposed Land Plan Ngorogoro Conservation Area
•There is no sign of environmental degradation in Ngorongoro except in the crater where the Maasai do not live and do not graze their cattle there. See all lies below. See Environmental Degredation in the Crater
There are many lies from the Tanzanian ambassador to Germany in this video.
Lies, Lies Lies ....... True facts:
•Ngorongoro is the size of the country of Rwanda
•The population density in Ngorongoro is 10 people / km2, Maasai live there sustainably except for restrictions on cattle watering places and cultivation imposed by the government.
•Msomera is a registered village. The people that lived there have legal rights to their land.
•Illiteracy or poverty are not a reasons to move people from their land.
•Human-wildlife conflict incidents are no worse than harm done by vehicles in other parts of the country.
•There is no sign of environmental degradation in Ngorongoro except in the crator where the Maasai do not live and do not graze their cattle there.
•No mention of the brutal and illegal eviction and demarcation in Loliondo - to establish the Polotet Game Reserve for hunting by oil-rich UAE royalty.
•Msomera water is not fit for human consumption. It is salty.
•Claims that the Maasai were not in the crater before they were expelled from the Serengeti - are lies! See https://youtu.be/XFa7Fcd5tNw - testimony from a Maasai man born in the crator in 1948.
•The voluntary program (eviction) was not voluntary. It was a choice by maasai between a rock and hard place.
•The Multiple land use model adopted from 2006 did not fail due to incompatibility between the Maasai's pastoral resource use and wildlife conservation , but because of the conservation dogma that separates man from nature.
•The new plan is aimed to grabbing the large part of the land in both Loliondo Division and Ngorongoro conservation area.
•The Maasai mastered peaceful co-existence with wildlife for centuries.
•Apart from 1500sq.km also the whole area of Engaresero is going to be taken for conservation which is the community land.
•Defintion of Indigenous
Indigenous Peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, Indigenous Peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.
UN Defintion of Indigenous
Indigenous Peoples have sought recognition of their identities, way of life and their right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources for years, yet throughout history, their rights have always been violated. Indigenous Peoples today, are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in the world. The international community now recognizes that special measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinct cultures and way of life. Find below a short history of the Indigenous struggle in the international stage.
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Ngorongoro Councilors Reject New Land Use Plans
May 26, 2023
Arusha
The often explosive land issues in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region saw another twist at the weekend when the Maasai councilors reportedly rejected the new land use plans.
All of the 35 councilors who were present during the full council meeting on Friday unanimously voted against the plans.
Reports from Loliondo, the remote district seat 400km northwest of Arusha said none of the civic leaders supported new proposals for land use in the area.
Heads were rolling among the district government leaders on the saga given the multiple land use nature of the vast administrative area.
The 14,036 square km district is inhabited by nomadic pastoalists and has large tracts of land under conservation and tourism projects.
The councilors who rejected the plan on Friday said in a statement seen by The Citizen that they were not fully involved in the proposed land use plans. "It (the plan) was wholly imposed on us from the central government with the support of the conservation agencies", they pointed out.
They added: "We are not in support of this plan because it has little to offer for improved livelihoods of the people of Ngorongoro."
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May 2, 2023
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Tanzania forces the Maasai from their land to make way for trophy hunters and tourists.
April 4, 2023 by Cédric Gouverneur
‘The government only like us as a tourist asset’
The Maasai have suffered over a century of forced evictions from their ancestral lands in Tanzania in the name of both game hunting and conservation. Has recognition that global biodiversity goals depend on indigenous peoples come too late?
(This is the best account of the present Maasai story that I have seen ...KGP, editor)
https://mondediplo.com/2023/04/08masai?s=09'[
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April 27, 2023
UN Human Rights Maasai.pdf
https://mondediplo.com/2023/04/08masai
April 8 2023 - The government only like us as a tourist asset’
The Maasai have suffered over a century of forced evictions from their ancestral lands in Tanzania in the name of both game hunting and conservation. Has recognition that global biodiversity goals depend on indigenous peoples come too late?
Martin Abel, a Maasai herder. and his extended family welcomed us to their boma – a compound with round huts and a corral with an acacia thorn and nettle fence – in the Loliondo area of Tanzania’s northern Arusha region.
The fence protects their livestock from predators, though nowadays they are less worried about lions (which find easier prey on the savannah) than about the authorities:
‘Please don’t photograph our faces, or anything that could identify this place,’ Abel said.
He had reason to be wary: he and 20 other Maasai had just spent five months in Arusha prison. ‘There were 70 people in a cell meant for 25,’ he said. ‘They’re going after influential people and traditional leaders, anyone who’s educated or in touch with Western organisations [that defend indigenous rights],’ such as Survival International (based in the UK) or the Oakland Institute (US). ‘They’re trying to stop us organising against OBC.’
OBC (Otterlo Business Corporation) is a safari company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that has run trophy hunting tours to Tanzania since 1992. On 6 June last year the Arusha regional administration announced that a 1,500-sq km area within the Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA, north of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and east of Serengeti National Park) would be cleared of its human population and turned over to OBC for its exclusive use. During the next few days, police marked out the area with white posts.
Abel said, ‘The Loliondo district commissioner told us “It’s a presidential order. You must comply, and we’ll discuss the details later.” Of course, we protested. We wanted to hear about these “details” and our future status in this country – whether we’d still be treated as full citizens. Things got heated and we ended up spending the night in police cells.’ Meanwhile, Maasai in boma right across the area that was being marked out were tipping each other off by mobile phone and confronting the police.
In the night of 9-10 June, some of the (...) Continued behind a paywall ....
https://www.facebook.com/IWGIA
Strangers_in_their_own_land_Maasai_and_w-1.pdf