A large number of bomas in areas of Arash and Loosoito/Maaloni have been burned by TANAPA and thousands of people left without food or shelter.
Exact details have been very difficult to come by.
The “investor-friendly”* group is worse than ever.
I should have published a blog post a week ago, but have had serious
problems getting exact information. Now it has to be posted. (Updated below in purple. It's been found that the bomas were inside the established park boundary, and some also inside another, unidentified, boundary. It has to be investigated if the unidentified boundary could have become the legal boundary.)
The first week of February the Commissioner of
Immigration was in Loliondo holding meetings, and ordering the Community
Development Officer to provide a list of all NGOs operating in the district, the
directors of these NGOs with their phone numbers and the latest reports of what
they have done.
On Thursday 5th February a meeting was held
between the DC, the Commissioner of Immigration, the Director of Borders from the
Immigration Department HQ and officials from the Ministries of Lands, Housing
and Human Settlements Development, and Natural Resources and Tourism. The
meeting ended with a resolution of having the Immigration Department undertake
an intelligence scanning and give feedback to the government on whether Kenyans
are in Loliondo or not.
On the 7th there was a meeting in Oldonyowas
between the three wards under “investor-friendly”* leadership: Oloipiri,
Maaloni and Olorien/Magaiduru and there was an agreement to hold a meeting in the
Osero, 1,500 square kilometres under threat, the following day and then to
begin removing cattle from outside the villages. The meeting that they planned
to hold in the Osero could not be held due to of lack of confidence to face the
public. So that idea was abandoned. The group is reported to have taken OBC to
survey village boundaries, without knowing much about these boundaries. The
size of the area in the Osero belonging to wards under “investor-friendly”*
leadership is also unclear and not that huge.
It has been discovered that Gabriel Killel and William
Telele of the now extremely “investor-friendly”* NGO Kidupo on 30th January
at Dommel Guesthouse printed out comments in social media by Supuk Maoi who is
very concerned about the destructiveness of this group, and about the many
other threats against the people of Loliondo. Supuk recently returned home
after having worked in Simanjiro and is currently working as a teacher at
Loliondo Secondary School (built by OBC). The intention of Killel and Telele Jr
is to have him fired.
TANAPA Attacks
On 8th February over 8000 cows were
impounded by TANAPA (SENAPA) rangers in bomas (homesteads) in the Irmolelian
area of Arash close to the border of Serengeti National Park. The cows were
held for two days, without grass or water, under the threat of being sold, until
the herders had raised a “fine” of 15 million TShs for national park grazing.
Some say that the rangers called in their counterparts from OBC to help them
with this operation. No receipt was issued for the 15 million TShs.
Then on the 10th, continuing on the 11th
-14th, the SENAPA rangers together with the police set fire to 114
permanent bomas in the Irmolelian, Oldarpoi, Nyori, Paipai, Mang'inng'n and
Sirkoit areas of Arash, and in the Olekushin, Irpalakika and Olochoki areas of
Loosoito/Maaloni villages. The rangers argued that they had orders from above
(without specifying) and that the bomas were inside Serengeti National Park. (After further investigation it's been found that the bomas were inside the established park boundary, and some also inside another, unidentified, boundary, but people had been living there for around 5 years. The question is if this unidentified boundary could have become the legal boundary in some way.)
Two to three thousand people, or more, children
included, are said to have been left without food, shelter, or medical
services.
People who refused to leave their homes were forced
out at gunpoint.
There are also reports of beatings. Young boys who
were looking after cattle were beaten and one of them, 12-year-old Saruni
Saoroi, was seriously injured and taken to Wasso hospital. Two men from the
Olekoros family in Nyori were also beaten.
Many goat kids have been lost.
Over 200 children are sleeping out.
Women tried to set up temporary houses, but they were
burnt again with serious threats.
There were conflicting reports about whether the bomas
were inside the national park, on disputed border land, or on village land. Those
that have visited the area say that the bomas definitely are outside the park
but the Maasai used to graze their cattle in the park with localized
arrangement with the patrol rangers. (This is disputed by those that have made an investigation and found that the bomas were inside the established park boundary, and some also inside another, unidentified, boundary that has to be investigated, and rangers were paid for this arrangement too.) In whichever case human rights abuse has
certainly been committed. Most informed people mention disputed border land.
There is a government notice from 1968 that wasn’t participatory or
communicated to the Maasai and this notice extended the national park more than
in the government notice from 1959, which was not supposed to be changed. The
1968 government notice is purported by SENAPA to be the correct one. (According to documents the 1959 and 1968 GNs are the same in this case). It should
also be remembered that the Eastern Serengeti was Maasai land. Some say that
rangers for many years have been taking bribes to leave people in peace, but
were triggered when the “investor-friendly”* group was surveying village
boundaries together with OBC. (That exact trigger could just be gossip, there are other theories.)
An international organisation published a misleading
article saying that eviction in the 1,500 square kilometres had started so that
the land could be “sold” to OBC. This article was later removed. Some say that
OBC rangers have assisted TANAPA in razing the bomas while others claim that
they are confused and that it was anti-poaching squads from Arusha that
participated in the human rights abuse. Many people also fear that benefitting
OBC is a hidden reason for the destruction of homes. OBC have put a lot of
resources to get exclusive use of the 1,500 square kilometre area which is the
same area that TANAPA pretends is within the park. The Irmolelian area has
fresh roads constructed by OBC recently and the UAE company has also been
hunting for almost 23 years in the same area. How can that now be turned into national
park? These are some of the questions on people’s minds. (There have later been several more very misleading articles.)
Rangers told journalists that had managed to reach the
area on the 14th that “the Serengeti National Park management is
conducting the operation to remove villagers who have put permanent settlements
near the border of the park” while the Serengeti chief park warden William
Mwakilema told the Guardian (Tanzanian newspaper) by phone on the 15th
that the burned bomas were inside the Serengeti National Park, and affirmed,
“We have documentary evidence on what we did. We are protecting the park; these
pastoralists have been bringing large group of livestock to graze inside the
park. We are clearing them out.”
According to the Guardian (TZ) traditional leader
Peter Maleton told the journalist, “This is our homeland. Our fathers were
placed here after they were evicted from Serengeti in an agreement way back in
1959 between the colonial government and the community during the establishment
of the Serengeti National Park. We have lost almost everything.” The Guardian
(TZ) adds, “Meleton said the agreement stipulated clearly that the Maasai will
not face any other evictions from their land and wondered why it is happening
now. He blamed the park management for conducting the operation and treating
common harmless citizens as criminals.”
Noorkisaruni from Arash said women and children are
starving and facing health complications resulting from food shortages. "I
lost seventy kilograms of maize, milk and bread dough. The situation is getting
worse every minute. Our government should help us,” she told the journalist.
Traditional leader Olekanduli insisted, “We will not
leave, even by an inch. We are willing to die for our land; our community has
lived in oppression, injustice and has continued to be poor. But enough is
enough, no quitting.”
The Regional Security Committee and the Director
General of TANAPA, Allan Kijazi, are all in Loliondo. The new Arusha Regional Commissioner,
Daudi Felix “Kijiko” Ntibenda, will attend a meeting in Irmolelian on the 19th,
but will first, tomorrow 18th, have a look at the border to Kenya. It’s
said that he will be taken for an “aerial border survey”.
Could those that are in Loliondo please go to the
affected areas with food and help to rebuild the houses? (
The rain that would be a blessing is falling on people
without shelter.
*This is a
euphemism.
Susanna Nordlund
sannasus@hotmail.com
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