Update 30th September: I will as soon as possible finish a blog post about today’s terrible ruling in the East African Court of Justice. The court ruled that the applicants had failed to prove that the mass arson operation in 2017 was carried out on village land and not in Serengeti National Park as claimed by the government witnesses. This ruling, besides a terrible blow, is stupid in many ways.
The Tanzanian
government’s dirty war against the Maasai in Loliondo, despite of significant support
from international organisations for the Maasai, goes on and on, and sanctions,
instead of just words, are needed. The brutal and lawless government – while violating
all laws and human rights, and hardly even pretending to follow any procedure –
is robbing the Maasai of 1,500 km2 of mostly less densely populated
grazing land - all of it legally registered village land - expecting them to
squeeze into the remaining 2,500 km2 of the 4,000 km2 Loliondo
hunting block where there are towns, agricultural areas, forests, a grabbed
“private nature refuge”, and other land occupation, while shamelessly lying
that this means that out of love they are “giving” the Maasai the 2,500 km2.
Government representatives even lie that this operation would be
“participatory” - when ALL councillors (except one who fled) from
affected wards were arrested the day before the illegal demarcation started and
continue locked up on trumped up charges.
Local leaders
that for the past years have shown weakness, and worse than weakness, have with
the new version of the threat against the 1,500km2 this year made it
very publicly clear that giving away this land for a protected area in any form
is not an option.
For years,
this land alienation has been lobbied for by Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC)
that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. Now, after dissenting
views inside the government were killed, and the always present repression of
activism worsened during the Magufuli regime, the government of Samia Suluhu
Hassan has made tourism into state religion, while anti-Maasai hate speech in
the one-party parliament flouting on blood has reached insane levels. Unlike in
the past, the Maasai don’t have any allies at all in the government and less
than a handful in parliament, and there isn’t anyone around to stop a cultural
genocide, other than independent or opposition voices, when voices are not
enough. Flagrantly violating the injunction in the ongoing case in the East African
Court of Justice apparently doesn’t carry any consequences for the Tanzanian government.
The Maasai
have been shot at, teargassed and beaten. Thousands have become refugees across
the border in Kenya and illegal arrests and malicious prosecution are used for
further intimidation. Houses have been demolished or razed. Tanzania Wildlife
Authority (TAWA) rangers keep seizing livestock on village land illegally
demarcated as a protected area and demanding extortionate fines for their
release. The threat is much worse than during the major illegal mass arson
operations in 2009 and 2017. And there are illegal beacons that must be
uprooted.
Where is
Oriais Oleng'iyo? Last seen injured and “accompanied” by security forces on 10th
June.
My delay in publishing
this blog post is unacceptable. So many crimes are being committed, but due to
a worse than ever coordination and lack of leadership getting confirmed information
is very hard. I fear there are many, many horrors that aren’t being reported in
any way. Like to blog post since the illegal demarcation started, updates will be added at the end.
In this blog post:
The illegal,
brutal and lawless land demarcation, and the government’s lies about it
Crimes
committed to uphold and benefit from the illegal protected area
The bogus
murder case
When will the
Germans be driven out of the Serengeti ecosystem?
Thomson
Safaris – as always, OBC’s copycats in using the Loliondo police state
Summary of
previous efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in Loliondo
