In this blog post:
The news that’s getting old
Court
hearing
More
about the insane proposal
The threat against the Osero
When
the EACJ case was filed
OBC
and the draft district land use plan
Kagasheki’s
ugly threats and lies
Worsened
repression
Majaliwa
”solving the conflict”
Germans
The
horror of 2018
2019
Mollel’s
prolonged arrest
The
shocking proposal
How the defendants have reacted to
being sued – committing outrageous perjury
The
perjurers’ own documents
Reports about the strangest study
tour to OBC’s camp
The news that’s getting old
On
5th November, in the East African Court of Justice, a hearing was resumed
in Ref No. 10 of 2017, Ololosokwan Village Council & 3 Others (Kirtalo,
Oloirien and Arash) vs the Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Five months had passed since the hearing was postponed in June, and this time
two witnesses from Oloirien were cross examined by the state attorney, and then
the case was again postponed.
All
I’ve been told is that the state attorney, Abubakar Mrisha, tried to confuse
the witnesses – a warrior and an elder from Oloirien (names are known, but I’m
following advice not to write them) – but that they stayed put. It must be
difficult for the state attorney to “prove” any version of events when the
defendant’s witnesses keep changing their lies, and all he can do is to try to
confuse the witnesses and the court. There were six more villagers that the
state attorney, if I’ve understood correctly, didn’t want to cross examine, but
he did wish to cross examine the applicants’ expert witness who unfortunately
was unable to attend. I don’t quite understand the necessity of an expert
witness when anyone can present the defendants’ own documents that so clearly
prove the crimes committed.
The
village chairmen weren’t present in court this time, but the villagers that
have filed affidavits were there, represented by advocate Donald Deya.
Unlike
in June, when after the horrible silence of 2018 there were some radio interviews, there
wasn’t any media coverage at all this time.
This
case may go on forever, which would not be much of a problem if we could be certain
that the interim orders were respected, but as could be seen in November and
December 2018, any lawless brutality can be committed, and sadly without
consequences.
 |
| photo: Pan African Lawyers Union - PALU |
More about the insane proposal
This
blog post will be about the court case, but I must soon write another post
about the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) Multiple Land Use Model (MLUM) report,
or Manongi proposal, or four zones proposal, that as usual with horrible proposals
regarding NCA was instigated by visits and reports by the UNESCO World
Heritage Centre. As mentioned in the latest blog post, the proposal is not only
to annex the 1,500 km2 Osero in Loliondo to the NCA, an idea which the court
case is supposed to stop, and that in itself would be a disaster, but to do the
same with extensive areas of Lake Natron GCA, turn most of those areas into
no-go zones for herders and livestock, and to do the same with most villages in
NCA.
Since
the latest blog post, I eventually got hold of the full report, but besides the
names of those involved - like the director of wildlife, Maurus Msuha,
as the secretary of the team - it didn’t add much to the conclusions that
already had been shared, and mostly it seems to add bulk. In the full report there’s
however an explanation that the upgrading of the Klein’s - Mto wa Mbu road will lead
to loss in tourism income for the NCAA when visitors choose that route to
Serengeti, and that it’s a reason for wanting to annex parts of Loliondo and
Lake Natron GCA … Among the bulk, the report also refers to a study (Galvin et
al.) which established that on average pastoral women in Loliondo – who aren’t
under the yoke of the NCAA - were slightly taller and weighed 3.5kg more than
those in NCA, while children of 1.5 to 2 years of age of Loliondo GCA weighed
more than those of NCA by at least 1.5kg.
Three
“community representatives” were added to the MLUM team, the NCA wards were
again toured, and the villagers’ unsurprisingly vehement rejection of any
evictions could again be observed. Though the team did not collect the views of
people in the areas of Loliondo and Lake Natron that are wanted for annexation.
The new version of the report was finished on 30th or 31st
October, but it’s impossible to get hold of. Some say that it’s basically the
same as the first version, but it was just sent to Minister Kigwangalla who is the
one supposed to reveal it, and the so-called “community representatives” are
apparently refusing to share the report. Any help with getting hold of this new report
would be more than welcome.
The
statement held by the Pastoral Council on 7th October was so weak
that it seemed
half
compromised (or more), but at least the message was clear that people couldn’t
be moved. On 29th October district chairman Siloma read a statement
by the ward councillors of Ngorongoro district, and it was even weaker. There
was nothing more than a request that, to avoid conflict in the district, the
MLUM team must consult with the Ngorongoro councillors before making such a
proposal.
It’s
hard to find the right words to describe the extreme intentions of that report,
but whether I can obtain more information or not, I must write about it again.
Though it’s just a proposal and will hopefully be forgotten. Some say that
there’s no way that the ruling party would support it, and that this has been assured
by important people. So, should I even write about it again? One reason would
be to demand accountability from the individuals involved.
Apparently,
around 21st November the chairman of the Pastoral Council, Edward
Maura, was touring Olbalbal ward together with NCA chief conservator Manongi,
the main promoter of the basically genocidal proposal, promising development
projects. Unfortunately, Olbalbal is, according to the proposal, where people
are supposed to be squeezed-in after evictions from huge areas. Manongi has
been described as the Mollel of Ngorongoro division, a person who can openly make
the most malicious proposal, but with access to such resources that he will still
befriend almost anybody. Though he’s of course more powerful than Mollel, and
not in remand prison. Unlike Loliondo, I don’t know enough to analyse NCA. I
wish it were all just a big back and forth with the likes of Manongi making
horrible threats and then bringing projects to make everyone forget about it,
but the facts on the ground is that several grazing areas have been lost the
past years.
On
24th November in a ceremony in Dodoma, Manongi presented President Magufuli
with an oversized cheque issued to the treasury registrar of 23.538 billion
TShs of dividends from the NCAA.
 |
| NCAA board chairman Kaswamila, Magufuli, and chief conservator Manongi. photo: NCAA |
There
may be some good action that I can’t yet write about.
The Osero threat
When
the EACJ case was filed
The
case was filed on 21st September 2017 by the villages of Ololosokwan,
Kirtalo, Oloirien and Arash during a brutal and unexpected invasion of village
land per the Village Land Act No 5 of 1999, ordered by DC Rashid Mfaume Taka,
officially funded by TANAPA, and implemented by Serengeti National Park
rangers, assisted by other rangers (NCA, OBC, anti-poaching), district natural
resources, and local police. During a catastrophic drought, like that of 2009
when a similar crime was committed, or worse, hundreds of bomas were razed to
the ground, the victims of arson were beaten, some were arbitrarily arrested
and taken to Mugumu on the other side of Serengeti National Park. Cattle were
illegally seized and even auctioned off. The rangers destroyed the victims’
makeshift shelters, and blocked water sources. They raped several women, and
two of them defied strong cultural taboos to come forward to tell their ordeal
to the press. The last days before the operation was stopped on 26th
October 2017, the rangers started shooting cows in Arash.
 |
| Oloosek 13th August 2017 |
OBC
and the draft district land use plan
The
land under threat are 1,500 km2 of import dry season land, the Osero (bushland),
that different stakeholders want turned into a “protected area” to thereby
evict the Maasai landowners who already suffered important loss of land with
the creation of Serengeti National Park. Otterlo Business Corporation that since
1992 organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has the hunting block
(permit to hunt) in the whole of Loliondo Game Controlled Area that’s 4,000 km2
including the whole of Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district and part of
Sale division. Though the core hunting area is the 1,500 km2 Osero. In 2010-2011
a draft district land use plan – in its totality funded by OBC - was revealed
as proposing to turn this Osero into a protected area, but this was strongly
rejected by Ngorongoro district council, since it would have led to destruction
of lives and livelihoods, congestion, environmental degradation, and increased
conflict.
Kagasheki’s
ugly threats and lies
In
2013, Kagasheki, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism at the time, attempted
in his own twisted and vociferous way to alienate the 1,500 km2 Osero, by lying
that the whole of Loliondo would be a protected area, and the Maasai landless people
who would be generously gifted with the remaining part of their own land. Fortunately,
at that time the Loliondo Maasai were somewhat organized, held mass meetings, sent
protest delegations to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, and managed to get support
both from the opposition and the ruling party. On 23rd September 2013, in
a speech in Wasso PM Pinda publicly recognised the obvious, that the land was
village land, and said that the Maasai should continue their lives as before
Kagasheki’s threats
Worsened repression
The
atrocities of 2009 could never be allowed to be repeated, and the Maasai of
2014 were not those of 1958 (I used to be told), but even so the ever-present
divide and rule worsened in closed meetings with Minister Nyalandu, in which
money offers were made.
Loliondo
had for years been a fearful place for those speaking up against “investors” that
disrespect land rights (OBC and Thomson Safaris), it had always been seen as something
like a law of nature that all government officials would be completely in the
pocket of these “investors” and that those speaking up would be summoned for
interrogation by the Ngorongoro security committee. In 2016, the repression
worsened considerably, and many people were silenced, not least the local NGOs
that the “friends” of investors like to obsess about. There were lengthy,
arbitrary arrests and even malicious prosecution.
Majaliwa ”solving the conflict”
In
this climate of terror, the journalist that by now has written over 50 articles
with hate speech and slander against the Loliondo Maasai while praising OBC
(Manyerere Jackton who strangely has been silent since December 2018)
called for PM Majaliwa to return Kagasheki’s threat. OBC sent out a press release
about a report they’d made about the destructiveness of the Maasai. And, PM
Majaliwa set out to “solve the conflict” tasking Arusha RC Gambo with setting
up a select committee for this purpose. Leaders of parastatals under the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism lobbied for turning the 1,500 km2
into a protected area, and Minister Maghembe was the most rabid of all,
declaring, flanked by anti-Loliondo journalists, that the land had to be taken
from the Maasai before March 2017. Then Maghembe co-opted a visit by the
standing parliamentary committee on natural resources and land, to the degree
that some members complained about being used to rubber stamp handing over the
land to OBC. Maghembe and the Serengeti chief park warden Mwakilema told this
committee that funds from the German development bank were subject to the
approval of the land use plan that had proposed turning the Osero into a
protected area. This led to big protests by women, and the district council
decided that the German money would not be signed.
Leaders
started to view RC Gambo as their “only ally”, but when his select committee (not
to be confused with the standing committee) toured the Osero to mark “critical
areas” there were spontaneous protests in village after village.
The
select committee finally, on 21st March 2017, reached a compromise proposal
in the form of a WMA (Wildlife Management Area), which earlier had been
rejected for a decade and a half, since too much power over the land would, with
such a formula, be handed over to investors and central government, but by this
time the Maasai were so weakened that it was seen as a victory. This proposal
was handed to the PM who was to make a decision.
So,
the illegal invasion of village land with massive human rights crimes -
starting with Serengeti rangers razing bomas in Oloosek in Ololosokwan on 13th
August 2017 - took place while everyone was waiting to hear from the PM, which
led some to first not believe what was happening. Next day MP Olenasha wrote a post
in social media saying that he was very sorry, that the he and other leaders
were only aware of an operation to remove livestock from the National Park,
hadn’t been involved in anything else, that residing near the boundary isn’t
against the law, and that they were doing all they could to stop the operation.
To date he hasn’t spoken up publicly, but others did in media, informing the Commission
for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) that issued interim orders that
were ignored, and initiating the case in the East African Court of Justice.
A
couple of weeks after having been installed, and after having made some strange
statements, the new Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla
stopped the operation and made some splendid promises, like saying that OBC
would have left the country before January 2018, which he later changed his
mind about …
Germans
On
13th November 2017, Kigwangalla received a delegation headed by the
German ambassador and announced that the Germans were going to fund community
development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the Serengeti”. Fears
that the District Chairman had secretly signed the German money seemed
confirmed. On 22nd August 2017 – while Loliondo was burning - a
smiling German ambassador, had been seen all over media handing over office and
residential buildings for park staff in Fort Ikoma in Serengeti National Park
to an equally smiling Minister Maghembe, while commenting on the long and
successful partnership between Germany and Tanzania in protecting the
Serengeti. Though almost two years after Maghembe and Mwakilema, in March 2017,
had told the parliamentary standing committee that the German funds were
subject to turning the Osero into a protected area, representatives of the
development bank, in an interview with Conservation Watch, denied that there
was any such requirement.
On
6th December 2017, PM Majaliwa finally delivered his long awaited,
and much feared, decision about the 1,500 km2 Osero. The decision was a
disappointment, but not the protected area wanted by OBC and others. Instead it
was something vague about preparing a legal bill to form a special authority to
manage the land, which was celebrated by OBC’s “journalist”(Asante Sana Waziri Mkuu, Uhifadhi Umeshinda). Later it was said
that this would mean placing the land under the NCAA. Fortunately, any implementation
has been delayed, and will hopefully be forgotten.
The horror of 2018
In
2018, the fear and silence worsened considerably when the Tanzania People’s Defence
Force in March set up camp in Lopolun, near Wasso.
On
19th April OBC’s assistant director handed over 15 Toyota Landcruisers,
worth over TShs 1,5 billion, to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
It wasn’t the first time OBC had shown this kind of generosity.
Between
late June and late August 2018, the soldiers stationed at Lopolun attacked and
tortured several groups of innocent people.
In
violation of interim orders issued by the EACJ on 25th September, on
8th November 2018, the soldiers started beating and chasing away herders and
livestock from areas around OBC’s camp, that was being prepared for guests.
Between 14th and 19th November, they burned down bomas in several areas of
Kirtalo and Ololosokwan. These soldiers also seized cattle on village land and
tried to hand them over to Serengeti rangers. Not one single leader of any kind
dared to speak up, since at this time they thought that the order came from the
president. The DC denied any knowledge.
On
19th and 20th December 2018, the soldiers attacked any
person they came across and who wasn’t fast enough in Kirtalo and Ololoskwan.
Old men, a boy herding cattle, and a pregnant woman were severely beaten. They
also tried to seize cattle again. Then, on 21st December 2018, the
soldiers burned 12 or 13 bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo. All leaders stayed
silent, but the DC wrote a message shared in Whatsapp that he had been away,
was unaware, but sorry about the atrocity, that there wasn’t any “operation”,
and that a team would be sent to the area. He did not in any way mention that
the perpetrators were soldiers.
2019…
2019
started with illegal arrests ordered by the DC during a visit by RC Gambo, but then
the RC made a statement condemning the arson, albeit in a vague way, as if he
didn’t know that the perpetrators were soldiers.
A
statement by the president mentioning that he wasn’t happy seeing pastoralists
and cultivators being evicted all over the country was much celebrated, but the
fear and silence didn’t go away.
Mollel’s
prolonged arrest
Surprisingly,
OBC’s untouchable director, Isaack Mollel, was arrested, first for employing
foreigners without permits and then for economic sabotage, including tax evasion
and forgery of vehicle documents, for which he continues locked up in remand
prison since March 2019. Other than a brief arrest of former District Security
Officer Ng’itu – who had received money from Mollel and who was suspected of
having committed forgery together with the OBC director - before he was
released and promoted … all government officials who for years have been working
for OBC, seem to be getting away with everything. I have no idea why Mollel is
being targeted like this with irrelevant crimes, when he – and his accomplices –
have caused so much suffering for so many years. The latest of many postponements set the hearing date for 4th December.
Reportedly, OBC have been very passive, just driving around – until 21st November when they got a visit (see below).
Reportedly, OBC have been very passive, just driving around – until 21st November when they got a visit (see below).
The
shocking plan
When
for a long time nothing had been heard about the land alienation plans, on 22nd
September 2019, what can’t be described in any other way than as a plan to kill
pastoralism and Maasai culture and life in the whole of Ngorongoro district was
presented at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) headquarters.
Kigwangalla was there defending the plan in the creepiest way, but he also said
that it was just a proposal, that community representatives would be added for
another tour of the NCA wards
On
26th September the RAI newspaper published an article in which NCA chief
conservator Freddy Manongi boasts about the basically genocidal plan. It seems
like only with this article did anyone in Loliondo get to know about the plan.
The
proposal is to annex the 1,500 km2 Osero to NCA and to turn all, or almost all,
of it into a no-go zone for people and livestock. This is the disaster that OBC
and others have been lobbying for, and that has been resisted, and is being
resisted with the EACJ case. Though this proposal is to do the same to a huge
part of Lake Natron GCA, and to also turn more areas of NCA into no-go zones.
As
mentioned, the reactions by all leaders have been very unsatisfactory indeed,
and the supposed “community representatives” aren’t sharing the new version of
the report that’s been sent to Kigwangalla. The most optimistic say that the
proposal will be forgotten, and everything will continue as usual.
How the
defendants have reacted to being sued – committing outrageous perjury
On
9th November 2017, the Attorney General (AG) responded with a preliminary
objection that the villages couldn’t sue the government, since they were part
of the same government. The AG pretended that the 1,500 km2 would at some point
have been converted into a protected area, calling this land the “Wildlife
Conservation Area” and the “game reserve”. This was the lie that Maghembe had
been telling during the illegal operation, while the DC and the ministry had
another version, not hiding that the land invaded by the illegal operation was
village land, but pretending that mass arson was acceptable, since it was too
easy for herders to enter the national park. This first response does of course
not make sense at all, since the land has never been converted into any
protected area, and the AG’s response was written while everyone was waiting to
hear PM Majaliwa’s decision.
On
25th January 2018 the court dismissed the AG’s preliminary objection.
The
last week of May 2018, the efforts to derail the EACJ case moved on to an
intimidation campaign against leaders and common villagers in the villages that
had sued the government. There were multiple arrests and summons to the police
station, and these illegal efforts terrified and silenced everyone. The
intimidation drive was led by acting OCCID (Officer Commanding Criminal
Investigation Department of Ngorongoro District) Marwa W. Mwita. The village
chairmen were prevented from attending a court hearing on 7th June 2018,
since they had to present themselves at Loliondo police station. Some former
friends of mine haven’t even said “hello” since this time, which may illustrate
the fear that was worse than during the extremely violent operation in 2017, or
the multiple arrests of 2016.
On
20th June 2018, the defendant had several witnesses, not least the
acting OCCID, swearing affidavits with claims about forgery, impersonation, and
illegal assembly regarding the village meetings in which it was decided to sue
the government. In these affidavits the new lies about an operation that would
have taken place exclusively in the national park was introduced by a Serengeti
park warden called Julius Francis Musei, but still in an attached letter from
the OCCID the first lie, describing the illegal operation as carried out to
evict some residents in the Game Controlled Area “within” Loliondo Division (The
GCA is bigger than the Division) … was being used. Affidavits were also sworn
by the VEOs of Oloirien and Kirtalo (Leni Emil Saingo and Kayamba Burhani
Luena) and the acting VEO of Ololosokwan (Godfrey K. Augustino), and
agricultural offer Victor Kaiza who acted as DED since Raphael Siumbu suffered
a mild stroke on the way to attend court in Arusha on 5th May.
On
Tuesday 25th September 2018 the East African Court of Justice, via
the Justices Monica K. Mugenyi, Faustin Ntezilyayo, and Fakihi A. Jundu,
delivered its ruling on Application No.15 of 2017, and issued interim orders
restraining the government from evicting the villagers from the 1,500 km2,
destroying their houses, or confiscating their livestock. There were also
orders restraining the office of the Inspector General of Police from harassing
or intimidating the Applicants in relation to the main case.
As
mentioned, the interim orders were in November and December 2018 violated in an
extremely violent way by soldiers.
In
the EACJ on 5th March 2019, the applicants had to ask for an adjournment, since
they hadn’t been able to find an expert cartographer in time. They had also
thought that the defendants would ask for an adjournment, since they hadn’t
filed affidavits themselves, but strangely it was found that they had indeed
done so in December 2018. In these affidavits DC Rashid Mfaume Taka, DED
Raphael Siumbu, park warden Julius Francis Musei, geographical information
system officer Alli Kassim Shakha, and wildlife officer and traitor Nganana
Mothi commit the outrageous perjury of saying that the 2017 operation did not
take place on village land, but only in the national park!
They
did this despite the fact that it was the DC himself who ordered the illegal
operation and was quoted in the statement by the MNRT, and despite the map by
TANAPA that showed that the overwhelming majority of bomas were burned on
village land. The DC had also told OBC’s “journalist” that 241 bomas were
burned on village land. Alli Kassim Shakha just faked a new map for the hearing
…
The perjurers’ own documents
As
mentioned, besides thousands of direct victims and other witnesses, the defendants’
own documents prove their illegal invasion of village land
A
letter dated 4th August 2017, “Mpango
kazi wa zoezi la kuondoa mifugo ndani ya Hifadhi ya taifa Serengeti na kwenye
mpaka ya Pori Tengefu Loliondo” written by one Ismail O. Ismail on behalf
of the Chief Park Warden of Serengeti National Park (at that time William
Mwakilema) to DC Rashid Mfaume Taka revealed that the Ngorongoro Security
Committee, headed by the DC, on 23rd June 2017 ordered the Serengeti
National Park to plan the operation to remove livestock from the park, and
“from the boundary”. The letter also informs the DC that as requested by the
security committee, the national park had obtained funding for the operation,
and the leadership of TANAPA had authorized it. This letter was shared in
social media by OBC’s assistant director a couple of days after the illegal
operation had been initiated on 13th August. The letter is copied to
the Arusha RC, the Serengeti DC, and the Ngorongoro DED. An attached work plan
was mentioned, which could refer to a map made by TANAPA
TANAPA’s
map, “Livestock and Bomas Evacuation
Exercise 2017”, was eventually shared and very clearly showed that the majority of burned bomas were on
village land outside the park, while almost all of those inside the national park were in a
disputed area where there was an additional boundary marked by stone piles and where the rangers let people live for years (paying "fees") before evicting them, and letting them back, in 2015.
 |
| Crystal clear map by TANAPA |
In
a letter dated 5th August 2017, “Ilani
ya kuondoka kwa wafugaji wanoishi ndani na mpakani mwa Hifadhi ya Taifa
Serengeti” the DC ordered the
removal of livestock and housing from Serengeti National Park, and bordering
areas (village land). The order says, after mentioning talks about Kenyan
invaders, that herders that hadn’t moved
from the park and “very near the boundary” (mpakani kabisa) “back to
residential areas in the villages” (closer to the village centres, supposedly?)
by 10th August would be removed by force, by the Ngorongoro and Serengeti
district security committees, and a special force from SENAPA and NCA. The
letter is directed to the ward councillors and Village Executive Officers of
Piyaya, Arash, Maaloni, Oloipiri, Soitsambu, Oloirien and Ololosokwan wards,
and is copied to the RC, MP, TANAPA Director General, Serengeti Chief Park
Warden, District Executive Officer, National Security Officer, and Police
Commander. This proves in black on white that the rotten perjurer himself officially
ordered the illegal operation.
On
17th August 2017, the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism
issued a press statement, “Taarifa kwa
umma juu ya zoezi la kuondoa mifugo na makazi ndani ya Hifadhi ya Taifa
Serengeti na kwenye mpaka wa Pori Tengefu Loliondo”, explaining the removal
of cattle and housing from Serengeti National Park and the boundary of Loliondo
Game Controlled Area. This statement explained that the operation involved the
Ngorongoro Security Committee led by DC Rashid Mfaume Taka, the District
Council (how?), National Security, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority. The aim was to protect conservation in the park,
Loliondo GCA and the Serengeti Ecosystem, and to protect the tourism business.
In the words of the DC it’s explained that the operation in Loliondo GCA would
take place on a 90 km stretch from north to south and with a width of 5 km
(obviously village land), “kwa upande wa mpaka wa Pori Tengefu Loliondo zoezi
litaanzia kaskazini hadi kusini urefu wa kilometa 90, na upana wake utakuwa
kilometa 5”. The ministry in this statement “explains” that nobody is being
beaten during the exercise, that bomas are being burned after people have left,
and it complains that those that want to “incite hatred against the government”
had mentioned the shooting of Parmoson Ololoso in connection with the operation
when it happened five days before it began.
The
source in obviously not reliable, but on 12th September 2017, an
article (NGO ya Uingereza yamjaribu Magufuli) by the unhinged anti-Loliondo
journalist Manyerere Jackton was published in the Jamhuri newspaper. TANAPA’s
map is published in this article and the DC is quoted saying that 89 bomas had
been burned inside Serengeti National Park (almost exclusively in the disputed
areas of Maaloni and Arash where bomas were burned in 2015) and 241 bomas in
the 5 km “border area” (village land). The journalist - who earlier had been
slandering the DC – now when he had turned into a human rights criminal started
quoting his words as were they the truth. On 21st August 2017 the less
prolific OBC-friendly journalist Masyaga Matinyi had in a Mtanzania newspaper
article, “Operesheni Loliondo yapotoshwa”, quoted DC Mfaume Taka saying that
the operation was not about removing people from the 1,500 km2, since the PM
had not yet made his decision about it, that it was taking place in a 450km2 “boundary
area”, and that OBC were not involved, while in the same article. article Minister Maghembe is quoted saying that the
1,500 km2 was a “game reserve”, pretending that the PM would already have made
such a decision, and that the bomas were being burned by NGOs to distort the
truth and persuade their donors …
Reports about the strangest study
tour to OBC’s camp
On
21st November many vehicles were observed driving to OBC’s camp. Then
it was said that some MPs (not the Ngorongoro MP) together with people with disabilities
had made a tourism study visit to the camp. This sounds very far from OBC’s
core activities that are organising hunting for a ruthless, and PR conscious,
dictator who has kidnapped his own daughters, and to lobby for alienating land
from indigenous people. I’m trying to find out exactly what’s going on, but it
isn’t easy.
I
hope I won't get new threats and crimes against the Maasai of Ngorongoro to
report about, but I still need to deal with past and current horrors and am grateful
for any help.
Susanna Nordlund
(if
I don’t respond to important emails, they may have got stuck in the spam
filter, so in that case please try to alert me through another channel)
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