While fear and silence continued in
Loliondo where government officials will break any law to intimidate anyone who
could speak up against so-called “investors” that threaten land rights, things
were calming down since there hadn’t been any illegal arrests since January, there
weren’t any rangers harassing herders, OBC’s director had for unknown reasons
been charged with economic crimes, the president had made a statement on not
being happy about evictions of pastoralists and cultivators all over the
country, and nothing more was being heard about a threat of Loliondo being
placed under the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA). Then, towards
the later part of September, news broke that the Ngorongoro chief conservator, Freddy
Manongi, and the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla,
had presented a plan to not only alienate from the villages the 1,500 km2 Osero
(bushland) of important dry season land, but to at the same time evict people
and cattle from almost the whole of Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), from
the Lake Natron basin and escarpment, and elsewhere, and to restrict land use in
other areas. If implemented, such a plan would mean the end of pastoralism in
Ngorongoro district, and the end of Maasai culture and lives. The news was met
with sadness, confusion, and despair over useless leaders that didn’t
immediately act against such an announced atrocity.
As usual, this blog post has many unanswered
questions.
In
this blog post:
A terrible announcement, an article,
and Manongi’s report
Core Conservation Zone –
Core Conservation Sub-Zone –
Transition Zone –
Community Development Zone-
Confusion
about game controlled areas
Kigwangalla
at the NCAA HQ
Who’s
responsible? UNESCO and others?
Slow reactions and a not that strong
statement by the Pastoral Council
Mzee
telling it as it is
