I needed to write a briefer, clearer blog post about the brutal and lawless land demarcation – robbing the Maasai of Loliondo of vitally important grazing land - committed by the entire blood-soaked and illegitimate Tanzanian government, and about the terrible (but not as terrible as reported in parts of the press) and partly inexplicable ruling by the EACJ on the 2017 mass arson. But the horrors just keep accumulating and I’m overwhelmed. State security and surveyors have been to Loliondo to redraw village boundaries and impose land use plans with heavy intimidation, and reportedly corrupted some people. On 1st November it was announced that President Samia Suluhu Hassan on 14th October had declared the 1,500 km2 a fake and illegal “Pololeti Game Reserve”. Then the DC and an individual calling himself conservator of the illegal protected area have been threatening with further land theft, outside the 1,500 km2, via WMAs.
Meanwhile, in
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCAA, NOT to be mixed up with Loliondo), the
restrictions to squeeze out the Maasai keep tightening.
I miss the
days when I was told that they Maasai of today aren’t the Maasai of 1958,
meaning that they are educated, organized, and there’s no need to worry since
they will stop evil government plans. It’s such a long time ago. Help is
needed. People who can target President Samia in ways that will be very acutely
felt, must help stopping the cruel crimes against the Maasai. Open letters
are much appreciated (see below for new ones) but words are just not enough. “Words
are not enough” applies to me as a blogger as well, but I don’t know what to
do.
When I was
about to publish this blog post there was good news that the Director of Public
Prosecution has dropped the obviously bogus “murder case” against 24 people –
including all councillors from affected wards, except one who fled - who have
been locked up in remand prison for over five months. I hope there isn’t a price
for the release, but that hope is getting fainter by the hour.
Meanwhile, pastoralists
all over Tanzania are under attack. Seven villages around Kilimanjaro International
Airport have suffered illegal planting of beacons, in Mbarali there are evictions
and terrible seizure of cattle, evictions and killed pastoralists in Kilombero,
and violence ordered by an anti-pastoralist councillor in Morogoro has led to
one death and several injuries.
I’ll soon
write a briefer blog, hopefully with answers to some of the questions
that remain.
Where is mzee
Oriais Oleng'iyo?
The horror
Fake and
forced land use plans
Dismissed
immigration cases
Bogus murder
case dropped
The old lie
Court cases
and the government’s brutal and wildly shifting lies
Ruthless
hypocrites Thomson Safaris
The not at
all less threatened Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Updates at the end of the blog post.
In brief, this is what has
happened:
On 8th June 2022, Wasso
town was overflowing with security forces that went on to set up camps on the
90 km stretch from Ololosokwan to Piyaya, and in Malambo. Almost every Tanzania
Regional Police Commissioner vehicle was seen in Loliondo on the day. The
Maasai held prayers and deliberations. A coordinated threat with vicious
propaganda, and an old lie from 2013, was issued primarily by Arusha RC John Mongella
and PM Kassim Majaliwa, assisted by speaker of parliament Tulia Ackson, and soon
joined by too many government representatives.
All councillors
from affected wards – except the Soitsambu councillor who managed to flee - were
on 9th June lured to a meeting by DC Raymond Mwangwala, they were abducted,
bundled in two cars and driven to Arusha overnight. The following day illegal
land demarcation - which is what Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC), that
organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, for years has lobbied for - began
in a rain of teargas and live bullets. Many Maasai were injured and thousands
fled across the border where many of them continue as refugees, also cattle. The
approximately 80 years old Oriais Oleng'iyo was
last seen on 10th June with bullet wounds and detained by the Field
Force Unit few
metres away from his home where security forces were firing fireworks. According to the RC, a police officer was killed by arrowshot.
There was a hunt for anyone
who could have shared pictures of the crimes (which effectively has been done
by everyone with a smartphone) and ten people, later joined by seven
more, were illegally arrested, eventually, together with the councillors,
charged with a bogus “murder”. The trial kept being postponed for inexistent “investigation”,
and they continued locked up in remand prison for well over five months. Three
were released for reasons of health and studies. The flow of information was
almost completely cut after the in initial arrests.
Government representatives
made multiple military style visits landing in helicopter to pose with beacons,
tell lies, and issue threats.
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| RC Mongella and DC Mwangwala. |
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| Then Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro and demarcation workers. |
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| Minister Pindi Chana and PM Kassim Majaliwa. |
Minster Pindi Chana without
following any law or procedure declared the illegally demarcated land as
“Pololeti Game Controlled Area” (GN No.421, 2022), which was announced in a
zoom meeting.
Spineless diplomats applauded
Minister Ndumbaro’s obvious lies about what was happening. Though many
international organisations condemned the government’s actions.
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| Mary Masanja, Damas Ndumbaro UAE ambassador Khalifa Abdul Rahman Al Marzouqi. |
The much-expected court ruling
in the case filed during the mass arson in 2017, and scheduled for 22nd
June, was the last minute shockingly postponed to September.
Houses were demolished or
razed. TAWA illegally seized livestock and demanded extortionate “fines”. The
dry season deepened without access to the most important grazing area. In
Ormanie, Arash ward, on 27th June, cows, donkeys, calves, and other
livestock were shot by the security forces. There were mass arrests of people
accused of being “Kenyan”.
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| Ormanie 27th June. |
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| Fleeing from Malambo |
On 28th September Minister
Chana announced that the illegally demarcated 1,500 km2 in Loliondo
had been placed under the management of the NCAA.
On 30th September
the East African Court of Justice dismissed Reference No.10 of 2017 on the
grounds that the Maasai had failed to prove that the mass arson of 2017 was
committed on village land and not in Serengeti National Park.
TAWA, at the height of the dry
season, continued illegal seizures of livestock and extortion of huge fines,
100,000 TShs per cow and 25,000 per sheep or goat. NCAA rangers have reportedly
been trained and set up camp. In Malambo, on 8th November, the head
of the NCAA camp announced that TAWA had left, and the boundaries were being
guarded by the Field Force Unit.
On 31st October, or
1st November, it was announced that President Samia had on 14th
October declared a Pololeti Game Reserve (GN No.604, 2022). It came as a nasty
surprise for the lawyers that on 1st November were in court for the
mention of Miscellaneous Cause No.09 of 2022, even if it seems like it was also
on Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation the previous evening.
Three court cases have been
filed to stop the brutal, fake and illegal protected area: one in the High
Court and two in the East African Court of Justice, the ruling in the case filed
in 2017 has been appealed, and there’s a contempt of court application.
On 1st November, in
an NCA advertorial in the extreme anti-Maasai newspaper the Jamhuri, a “conservator”
for the fake and illegal game reserve – Pius Rwiza - spoke of how calm and
wonderful everything is after the demarcation, with the big five everywhere and
rain. Maybe he’d missed that it’s dry season grazing land and that all ward
councillors were locked up in remand prison. He says that the Maasai understand
the demarcation but must keep a further 500 metres away from it! And he wants
them to create WMAs, outside the illegally demarcated 1,500 km2, which
is another kind of land alienation that also was included in the OBC-funded
draft district land use plan that was rejected by Ngorongoro District Council
in 2011. Though most of the article is about all wonderful development projects in the 2,500 km2, which we must than the president for. It’s important that this individual, and everyone else involved in
this crime, are held personally accountable.
Fake
and forced land use plans
Towards the end of October,
there were reports of a notice issued by the DC about redrawing of village
boundaries with new village land use plans, and some 40 state security and
surveyors on the ground. On 13th November, the chairman of Malambo
village, Moitiko Risando, who had been hiding, was lured to a meeting by
someone from the DC’s office, supposedly about allowing a return to some of the
illegally demarcated land and then arrested, falsely accused of being in
possession of arms without a permit. As
known, the Malambo ward councillor had been abducted for over five months. The
government has installed the CCM ward chairman, Mapema Koima, and secretary,
Thobico John Kulinja, as some kind of leaders above councillor to impose a land
use plan on terrified villagers. The Malambo chairman was released after some
days. I have not understood clearly if the police were paid, or if the chairman
was compromised. Similarly has happened in other villages, with varying amounts
of traitors. The Esero sub-village chairman of Oloipiri has praised the
government in national media. In Ololosokwan the acting chairman appointed by
the government is Cosmas Leitura who is not whom John Pyando had
appointed as acting chairman in his absence (exile), according to the law. Some
say that Cosmas is a traitor, others that he’s “cornered”, while yet others say
that “everyone is a traitor”.
I’ve heard that the terrified
and the corrupted have passed the fake and forced land use plans, but I’ve also
heard that they have been stopped. This is one reason for the delay of this
blog post. Too many questions remain.
The criminal DC has in national media said that the 1,500 km2 is now set aside and WMAs should be added when villages have been surveyed, while for a local audience he talks about that it’s good to re-survey to stop conflicts between villages and have helpful land use plans. Those are two unrelated issues that are being mixed up very purposefully – the government’s violent grabbing of land for “conservation” and investors and the solving of local conflicts. It isn’t hard to see that the former will not be helpful to the latter. Any kind of land use plan imposed in such a time of violence, threats and illegal land alienation is of course completely illegitimate.
Shortly after the good news
that the bogus murder case was finally dismissed, I got a message from
Ololosokwan:
"Demarcation starts
today, there is a police car written FFU TANGA overseeing the process
Being done as we speak.
Cosmas is the
perpetrator."
Between 14th-17th
November, nine immigration cases against 62 people who still had such cases
pending after the mass arrests in June and July were discharged for want of
prosecution. Among them were Rebeca Koriata from Ololosokwan, arrested and charged
with not having the right documents for working in Tanzania, and her husband
Jacob, basically for having been married to her since 2006. If I’ve understood
correctly, Rebeca was locked up for over two weeks at Loliondo police station. This
is how the Tanzanian government works with malicious prosecution for the sake
of intimidation. Too lazy to even make any effort to fabricate false evidence
and then when everyone is properly terrified and silenced, the case is
dismissed for inaction. The same happened in 2016 when some people were charged
with “espionage and sabotage” for allegedly communicating with me. And then the bogus murder case is the worst case of all.
I hope damages will be paid
for long stays at the cold and unhealthy Loliondo police station, children
without both parents, uncertainty and fear, but somehow doubt it.
It was Minister of Home
Affairs, Hamad Masauni, who landing in Loliondo on 15th June in military
helicopter made a statement directing Immigration to strengthen border security
to prevent illegal entry by foreigners and so avoid incitement activities. He
also ordered NGOs to be investigated to make sure they operate within the law
and don’t engage in breach of peace. Then Immigration Commissioner for Border
Control and Administration, Samwel Mahirane arrived in Loliondo on 18th
June to threaten people who were sabotaging the exercise and have fled. He said
they are known and will all be dealt with. He threw in some threats against
NGOs. These two were on 21st June followed by Commissioner General
of Immigration, Anna Makakala, who arrived in Loliondo to add her statement
from the warfront against the Maasai, announcing that there would be 10 days of
flushing out illegal immigrants. This led to so much suffering for so many
families, and almost five months later the cases were dismissed.
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| Mahirane |
Makakala and DC Mwangwala
Bogus murder
case dropped
In Arusha Resident Magistrate
Court on 22nd November, it was announced that the Director of Public
Prosecution had no intention to continue with the case against 24 people charged
with the “murder” of CPL Garlus Mwita on 10th June (the day after
ten accused were arrested). This came after they have been illegally locked up
for over five months under much uncertainty and away from their families, while
heinous crimes have been committed, and continue being committed, by the
government in Loliondo. I’ve lost count of how many times this case has been
postponed to give the prosecution more time for “investigation”, when everyone
knows that nobody has wasted even one second on anything resembling “investigation”.
This case has been pure intimidation from start to finish.
22nd November was
also set for CCM elections and just after the release, the 24 met with a convoy
of CCM candidates who are said to be responsible for their release. Just after
one hour following the release, it turned out to be a campaign rally and the
ten political leaders who were released were required to vote in the same
afternoon for the RC Mongella affiliated Zelothe Stephen to be CCM Arusha
chairman and vote for a businessperson called Bajuta, also Mongella’s close
confidant, as Arusha representative for the CCM national elective council. As
we’ve seen, RC Mongella is the appointed enforcer of the destruction of the
Maasai of Ngorongoro district.
The logical continuation now
would be for the released abductees to all publicly burn their CCM member cards,
but so far, they seem to be doing quite the contrary. There are fears about what
price could have been paid for the release. I hope they are unfounded.
On 9th June, the
day before the illegal demarcation started, the councillors of Ololosokwan,
Oloipiri, Oloirien, Maaloni, Arash, Piyaya, Malambo, and two women’s special
seats councillors, Kijoolu Kakiya and Taleng’o Leshoko were abducted, as was
the district CCM chairman, Ndirango Laizer. DC Raymond Mwangwala lured them to
a CCM meeting, they were interrogated by the District Security Committee, and
then a special task force arrived to interrogate them individually. The
Soitsambu councillor escaped the DC’s trap. He avoided attending the meeting
and went into hiding. At midnight the leaders were put in two vehicles and
driven to an unknown destination that upon arrival was identified as a smaller
police station in Arusha town, Chekereni, where they were interrogated
regarding “sedition” - and not murder.
Nothing was known of the
whereabouts of those illegally arrested/abducted until 16th June
when they were sneaked to court without any legal representation and then
locked up in Kisongo remand prison. The following day it was revealed that they,
and ten other arrested people from Loliondo, had been charged with murder
contrary to Section 196 of the Penal Code [Cap 16 R:E 2019] in the Preliminary Inquiry
case No. 11 of 2022. The murder concerned a FFU officer who was allegedly killed
the day after the local leaders were arrested. Later seventeen more
people were added to the charges. The second group of ten were arrested on 10th June, not allowed to contact anyone and held for four days without
being fed. They were tortured and accused of reporting about violence in
Loliondo, sharing photos and video clips, interrogated on suspicion of
spreading false information, but later they were told a murder charge had been
found and they were re-interrogated for murder. The case was up for mention in
court on 30th June, but then it was postponed to 14th
July for further “investigation”. One new charge was added: “conspiracy to
murder”. Hearings were postponed to the 28th when charges against
three of the 27 accused of murder and conspiracy to murder were dropped.
Lekerenga Koyee, who's elderly and sick, Simel Parmwat who's a young student,
and Fred Ledidi who's district natural resources officer and a PhD student. On
5th August, the court overruled a submission by the defence of
separating murder and conspiracy charges, and the hearings were postponed to 17th
August, when MP Oleshangai attended court, and there was a postponement to 30th
August, when it was postponed to 13th September ... and postponed and postponed
and postponed, not sure how many times.
Those arrested have obviously been
political prisoners, totally innocent of “murder”, but it’s possible to keep
two (or even more) thoughts at the same time, and this doesn’t mean that the
political leaders among them would be angels. They all belong to the ruling CCM
party and came into power through the shambolic, blood-soaked 2020 “elections”.
None of them have spoken up about the killing of Salula Ngorisiolo. Even worse,
at least two of them were for years on the side of OBC against the people. This
year though, most of them have clearly spoken up against any land grabbing
plans by the government, in protest meetings and handing over “community recommendations” to Majaliwa. Those accused who aren’t political leaders seem
to have been unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to have
smartphones.
Outside court there were tears
of joy. Advocate Ally Mhyellah said that the those released can sue for reparation
and mentioned judicial hooliganism and shamelessness. Others outrageously thanked
the perpetrators of this prolonged torture disguised as a court case … I’ll
return to exactly who has said what. MP Oleshangay cried and embraced everyone.
For this brutal and illegal
land demarcation, the Tanzanian government has picked up an old lie,
used by Minister Kagasheki in 2013, and which consists of claiming that the
whole 4,000 km2 hunting block would be a protected area that has
been encroached, and that out of love for the people, the government is “keeping”
1,500 km2 while “giving” the Maasai 2,500 km2, which is
where you find the district headquarters with the DC’s office, the towns of
Wasso and Loliondo, hospitals, forests, agricultural areas, and the horrible
Thomson Safaris occupying a private nature refuge. This is where people and
cattle are supposed to squeeze in. Everyone of course knows that the whole
4,000 km2 is legally registered village land.
This lie was brought
back by Damas Ndumbaro on 8th March this year in an interview on Deutsche
Welle, and before that it’s been used by Maghembe during the mass arson in 2017
when his Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the DC were telling another
story, and it was also used in November 2017 in the Attorney General’s response
to Reference No.10 of 2017, but then the government’s witnesses switched to a completely
different lie in 2018. After the DW interview, Ndumbaro has held several
meetings with diplomats to tell them lies about Loliondo and NCA. He’s done
this before and after the brutal attack on Loliondo, and both while he was
Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, and as Minister of Constitutional
and Legal Affairs. Ndumbaro has held these disinformation meetings together
with Deputy Minister Mary Masanja, Director of Wildlife, Maurus Msuha, and (now
former) Minister of Foreign Affairs Liberata Mulamula. Remember their names.
Their day of reckoning must come.
On 15th June,
Deputy Permanent Representative to the Tanzania Mission to the UN in Geneva,
Hoyce Temu, in a widely shared clip, denied any state violence, repeating the
government lie about a “protected area” that had been “encroached” and about
“peaceful talks” with local residents that agreed with the government
“keeping” 1,500 km2 as a
protected area, that a minority against the exercise made recordings while
posing threateningly and combined this with unrelated pictures, that the
government has called on anyone alleging to have been attacked to come forward
for the law to take its course and for treatment, but that nobody has come
forward. This was while all councillors from affected wards were still
abducted at unknown location and before they were charged with a demented
murder case.
The latest public and publicised
international disinformation session by the Tanzanian government was held on 23rd October at the 73rd session of the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights in Banjul, by the Tanzanian representative, Deputy Minister of Constitutional
and Legal Affairs Geophrey Mizengo Pinda. Besides repeating the current lies that
were brought back by Ndumbaro in March, Pinda Jr’s said that the Germans would
have found Loliondo empty in 1891 and made it a protected area. This differs
from what Ndumbaro has been telling diplomats, which has been the same lie but
mentioning the British in 1951. Perhaps there’s too much evidence and too many
people alive from the 1950s … It’s particularly sad to see Geophrey Pinda repeating
the lie, since it was his father, PM Mizengo Pinda, who on 23rd September
2013 in Wasso declared that the land belonged to the Maasai who should go on
with their lives as usual, and that Kagasheki would not be allowed to bother
them anymore.
What happened
between the speech in Wasso by the father and the one in Banjul by the son
was that in 2013 the Loliondo Maasai were at their highest point of unity and
seriousness. OBC had held the 4,000 km2 hunting block, covering the
whole of Loliondo division and parts of Sale since 1993, but always wanted to
reduce it to their core hunting area next to Serengeti National Park and to
make this into a protected area. A local police state had developed, in which government
employees and an assortment of traitors were working for OBC, which was copied
and perfected by Thomson Safaris. Anyone speaking up was called to the district
security committee and threatened. There was a frustratingly fearful environment
since I first got to know about Loliondo, but it has kept getting so much
worse.
In the drought year 2009, the
Maasai were attacked in OBC’s preferred area, the Field Force Unit and OBC
rangers razed hundreds of bomas, livestock were scattered into extreme drought
areas, and 7-year old Nashipai Gume was lost in the chaos. There was hard work
to get organized so that the illegal 2009 operation would never be repeated,
and in 2011 a draft district land use plan – funded by OBC and proposing the
1,500 km2 protected area - was defeated by the Maasai, some of whom
then thought it safe to reconcile with OBC.
The government and the
investors countered by increasing divide and rule, which made some traitors
hurt the land struggle very much by praising investors while insulting and
threatening activists, thinking that such behaviour would benefit them personally,
and that the land couldn’t be taken anyway. Some of those traitors have now been
political prisoners themselves for over five months.
Then came John Pombe Magufuli
who didn’t have any personal anti-Maasai feelings, but wanted to crush anyone
speaking up about anything, with zero tolerance for political opposition,
including inside his own party. Repression and fear increased – with longer and
crazier arrests of perceived Loliondo activists. By 2016 local leaders were so weakened
by terror that PM Majaliwa could enter the stage with a select committee, set
up by then Arusha RC Gambo. The committee handed over a sad compromise proposal
to Majaliwa and were waiting for his decision, which is why it was seen as most
“unexpected” when on 13th August 2017 an illegal mass arson
operation, like the one in 2009, was initiated and continued, on and off, well
into October. Hundreds of bomas were razed to the ground by Serengeti rangers,
assisted by NCA rangers and those from OBC, NCA, TAWA/KDU, local police and
others. People were beaten and raped, illegally arrested, and cattle seized.
The illegal operation was in late October stopped by the new minister Hamis
Kigwangalla who also made splendid promises that OBC would have to leave Tanzania
before 2018. This is seen as a good time, even when already in December 2017,
Majaliwa announced that OBC would stay, and that his terrible and disappointing
decision was to via a legal bill set up a special authority to manage the land.
OBC’s own journalist Manyerere Jackton celebrated in the Jamhuri newspaper, but
the implementation was delayed, and no legal bill has been seen.
2018 was a year of extreme
terror and violence, almost complete silence and many unanswered questions. A
military camp was set up in Olopolun near Wasso, and eventually made permanent
with funds from NCAA. The government tried to derail Reference No.10 of 2017 in
the East African Court of Justice via police harassment of local leaders and
villagers. Then the soldiers started attacking and torturing groups of people,
while all leaders stayed silent. The interim orders granted by the court on 25th
September were brutally violated already in early November when the soldiers
started beating people and chasing them and their livestock away from wide areas
around OBC camp, including razing bomas in Kirtalo and Ololosokwan. Then they
set fire to more bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo on 22nd
December. Local leaders were shockingly silent, with the excuse of fear for
their lives, since they thought that the brutality was directly ordered by Magufuli.
When RC Gambo in January 2019 condemned the crimes in a very vague way, they
changed to thinking that OBC’s director had contracted the soldiers.
After more illegal arrests at
the start of 2019, there were “good” times again when OBC’s director Isaack
Mollel was charged with economic sabotage and locked up for a lengthy stay in
remand prison until he got out using plea bargaining. For some time, OBC
sharply toned down their presence on the ground. Though already in September 2019
a genocidal Multiple Land Use Model review proposal for NCA included turning
the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo into a protected area and annexing it to
NCA. While there were many protests by the Maasai of NCA, local Loliondo
leaders almost pretended not to have noticed and the threat kept simmering low,
until it was brutally and lawlessly implemented in 2022.
In 2021, the death of Magufuli
was a relief until it was clear that Samia Suluhu Hassan not only continued
with her predecessor’s terror but adding a personal hatred against the Maasai
while elevating tourism to state religion with a cheesy tv travel show as her
gospel. The new DED Jumaa Mhina started working to kill the court cases against
land grabbing “investors”. Though the village chairmen stood their ground. The
case against Thomson Safaris in the Tanzanian court of appeal, however, was in
2022 killed using a law that was introduced after the case was filed.
The worst year ever started
already on 11th January 2022, when Arusha RC John Mongella summoned
village and ward leaders from villages with land in the 1,500 km2 to
inform them that the government would make a painful decision for the broader
interest of the nation. The leaders, even those who for years had worked for
OBC and against the people, refused to accompany the RC for a tour of the 1,500
km2, or to sign the attendance list. On 13th-14th
January in Oloirien there was a public protest meeting and a statement by
village, ward, and traditional leaders.
On 14th February,
Majaliwa came and wasn’t much better than Mongella, but too well-received,
since something worse was expected, because of the crazy anti-Maasai hate
campaign in media, and parliamentarians calling for tanks to be sent to
Ngorongoro.
Three days later, on 17th
February in NCA, not Loliondo, Majaliwa ordered the disputed land to be
marked by beacons, “so that we may know the boundaries” – while claiming that
this is NOT a trick!
Then Ndumbaro on 8th
March re-introduced Kagasheki’s lies in an interview with DW Kiswahili, and on
the 11th Majaliwa again mentioned beacons and water projects for
Loliondo when informing parliamentarians about a fake spectacle that he had set
up in Arusha, without people from Ngorongoro, the previous day.
At a huge protest meeting in
Arash on 19th March, several recently reawakened leaders spoke up in
defence of the land, among them the Arash ward councillor Methew Siloma spoke
up very clearly and strongly. The message from this meeting was:
-PM Majaliwa is a liar.
-The Maasai are not renouncing
one square inch of land.
-They request to meet with the
president, since Majaliwa can’t be trusted.
On 31st March
Abdulrahman Kinana was brought in from the cold, after having fallen out with
Magufuli, and is now Vice-Chairman of CCM mainland. Kinana is one of OBC’s and
Sheikh Mohammed’s best and oldest friends since at least 1993.
CCM councillors that had
spoken up against plans of robbing the Maasai of the 1,500 km2 Osero
were being intimidated, arrested, and summoned to be “interrogated” in Arusha.
The councillors of Arash and Malambo had to keep reporting to the police.
On 25th May a
committee handed over their reports of “community views” on both NCA and the
1,500 km2 Osero in Loliondo to PM Majaliwa who said that he’d work
on the recommendations. The Loliondo and Sale report recommended a stop to
any plans of alienating the 1,500 km2, investigations into human rights
violations, and the removal of OBC.
On 3rd June,
Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Pindi Chana in her budget speech
announced that her ministry expected to upgrade Loliondo to a Game Reserve, but
she did this while listing huge areas of Tanzania for the same expectation,
which didn’t make it sound believable or realistic in any way, and there was
hardly any reaction, except for an intervention by Ngorongoro MP Emmanuel
Oleshangai.
Then the government exploded
in violence and lawlessness and robbed the Maasai of the 1,500 km2 Osero.
Court
cases and the government’s brutal and wildly shifting lies
In the blog post from 2nd
October, I wrote about the terrible and partly inexplicable ruling on Reference No. 10 of 2017 Ololosokwan Village Council
& 3 Others versus the Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania
in the East African Court of Justice. Since there’s so much misinformation –
created by Agence France-Presse, saying that the court upheld the government’s
decision to cordon off the land, and spread by people who really should know
better - I’ll briefly repeat what happened.
The judges dismissed the case,
since they found that the Maasai had failed to prove that the evictions
operation in 2017 took place on village land and not in Serengeti National
Park, as claimed by the government’s witnesses in 2018.
Such a ruling should just not
have been possible when even the government’ own, very public, documents so
clearly show that the 2017 illegal mass arson was indeed committed in the 1,500
km2 area of village land:
-The DC’s
official order.
-The press statement
by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
-The 2017 operation
map by TANAPA.
-The DC quoted
in the anti-Maasai press.
-And the
attorney general’s response to Reference No. 10 of 2017 in November the same
year.
This ruling is exactly what
the government wanted in 2018, but not what it wanted in November 2017 when the
attorney general’s response was to lie that the 1,500 km2 was
already the kind of protected area that’s been brutally and illegally
declared this year, first by Minister Chana in June and then by
President Samia in October. And it’s not exactly what the government wants now,
since the ruling also establishes that it’s common ground between the
parties that the applicants are registered and certified villages with titles
to land adjoining Serengeti National Park.
The ruling was accompanied by
strange and chaotic behaviour by the judges. It was first scheduled for 22nd
June, amid government extreme brutality and lawlessness in violation of the
interim orders issued on 25th September 2018, but just the day
before there was a last-minute postponement to September.
Eventually, the date was set
for 29th September, but on the 28th, there was yet
another last-minute postponement, this time to the 30th. 28th
September was also the day that Chana announced that the illegally demarcated
1,500 km2 had been placed under NCAA.
When the ruling finally was to
be read, the court ordered journalists to be stopped from recording. The
principal judge wasn’t present. Charles Nyachae – whose father is an infamous grabber
of Maasai land in Kenya – read the ruling, that was also presided by Audace Ngiye,
and the judges Richard Muhumuza and Richard Wejuli, who didn’t mention their
particulars, and never presided during the hearing of the case. Reportedly,
there was one more unknown judge. With all this extra time for writing it, the
ruling doesn’t mention the court’s own interim orders, only considers a few
Maasai witnesses whose testimonies it finds contradicting and insufficient, but
without mentioning the extreme contradiction between the attorney
general in 2017 and the government witnesses in 2018. The ruling mentions that
one of the Maasai witnesses said he was acting chairperson of “Kilolo” village and
was informed that homesteads had been destroyed in “Olototokum” village. Such
villages don’t exist but refer to “Oloirien” and “Ololosokwan” respectively. Did
anyone even understand what the witnesses were saying?
Were the judges compromised?
Were they too lazy or busy to process how demented the government lies were? Were
the villagers’ representatives too disorganized to properly explain?
The Notice of Appeal was filed
on 5th October and a comprehensive Memorandum of Appeal was filed on
4th November and is now referred to as Appeal
No. 12 of 2022 East Africa Court of Justice.
Application
No.2 of 2022
On 21st January 2022,
the village chairmen filed an extremely urgent contempt of court application
against DED Jumaa Mhina’s intimidation to make them withdraw Reference No.10 of
2017, RC John Mongellas’s threats to invade and partition the 1,500 km2
and against then still Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Damas Ndumbaro.
These threats were all in contempt of the interim orders issued on 25th
September 2018 that was meant to restrain the government from any evictions,
burning of homesteads, or confiscating of cattle, and from harassing or
intimidating the applicants.
 |
| 21st January 2022 |
This first Application No.17
of 2017 had been sought at the same time as the main reference was filed,
during the mass arson and other human rights crimes of 2017 that had been
stopped almost a year before the very important orders were granted, so “extremely
urgent” can sadly never stop ongoing human rights crimes. Another affidavit was
filed after every court order, and everything else … had been violated in this
year’s brutal and illegal demarcation exercise.
This contempt of court
application was heard in Kampala on 11th November. Main counsel Don
Deya and Praisegod Joseph was present physically, others digitally. The government
(respondent) presented preliminary objections in a reportedly incoherent manner
saying that Application No.2 of 2022, and the interim orders from September 2018
had been overtaken by events and nullified with the ruling on 30th
September, that besides not even mentioning the application or the interim
orders, ruled that the crimes that the 2018 orders were supposed to prevent a repeat
of, in spite of overwhelming evidence, could not be proven to have taken place
in 2017.
We now have 424
illegally and brutally planted beacons standing there on the ground, and no
less than two government notices proving the crimes of 2022. Will that be
enough for the court?
On 3rd November,
the government – via Wildlife Conservation Officer Emmanuel Daniel Pius from
TAWA - also (finally) filed an affidavit responding the Application No.2 of
2022. In true Tanzanian government style, this individual lies that the
government has always complied with the interim orders.
Further, this Emmanuel
Daniel Pius denies the meeting convened by the DED on 9th September
2021 to intimidate the village chairmen to withdraw Reference No.10 of 2017
(and the case against Thomson Safaris) and the meeting in January 2022 in which
the Arusha RC issued threats about the 1,500 km2. He states that the
disputed land does not belong to the villages, but to Serengeti National Park,
as if he would have missed the long and loud and lying row of government representatives
saying that the demarcation is resizing the 4,000 km2 Loliondo GCA
to 1,502km2, even when he himself in another response repeats those
lies. He even denies TAWA’s main activity saying that its officials have never “approached”
villagers telling them not to graze their livestock in the disputed area! When
they have seized thousands of cattle and demanded extortionate “fines”, with official
invoices …
 |
| DED Mhina's anti-court case meeting. |
Now Application No.2 of 2022
will be heard at some future point when the court disposes of the preliminary
objections.
“Pololeti”
cases
On 16th August, Reference
No.37 of 2022 was filed in the East African Court of Justice by six
Loliondo residents. The village chairman of Ololosokwan, John Pyando, is one of
them. The long and well-written (so it seems to me as a non-expert) reference
establishes that Pindi Chana’s declaration of the “protected area” is an illegal,
unreasonable, irrational, procedural impropriety, in breach of both the rules
of natural justice and the doctrine of legitimate expectation.
The government response to the
reference and to the affidavits was filed already on 28th September,
but to my frustration not shared with me until 8th November*. Anyway,
as expected, the lies are crazy and shameless. The response is written by one Fidelis Kapalata, described as principal officer
of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, and involved in the brutal demarcation
exercise. He wants the reference struck
out for being incurably defective. Then, as is the current so very obvious government
lie, Kapalata claims that the whole 4,000 km2 area has been reserved
land since 1951 and has now been resized to 1,502 km2 while 2,458km2
has been allocated to villagers. They are referred to as villagers when the existence
of village land in Loliondo is denied.
*I include complaints line this to remind my friends of always sharing everything with me.
According to Kapalata the
demarcation exercise was peacefully conducted. He lies that the 1,502 km2
were never inhabited or used for cultural, ceremonial or spiritual purposes,
and that the demarcation was done to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem
against persistent encroachment by surrounding communities, that it was
necessary because of increase in human population pressure. Kapalata further
claims that the land subject to the case from 2017 is not the same as “Pololeti
GCA”, without explaining what the difference would be. He outrageously claims
that throughout the process the government ensured public consultation and
participation resulting in consensus – when all councillors of affected wards
were abducted the day before the demarcation started!
Those abducted for over five
months are called “village leaders” and “civilians” and are described as perpetuating
resistance to the demarcation and instigating violence, and in the response to
the affidavits it’s also mentioned that this caused the death of CPL Garlus Mwita. How does this square up with a
peaceful exercise, consultation and participation?
The government doesn’t care.
Do the judges care? Are they able to understand?
Besides this case in the East
African Court of Justice, there’s another one in the same court against the brutally
and illegally declared “Pololeti GCA” that after (or at the same time as) the
government response was filed, was declared a “Pololeti GR” by the anti-Maasai president.
I don’t have any details about this case, but we really need to become more coordinated
and organized in this fight against such a brutal, but utterly stupid enemy. Maybe
the cases will be consolidated.
Miscellaneous
Cause No.09 of 2022 (judicial review) is a case in the
Tanzanian High Court against the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism and
the Attorney General. When even the judges in the regional court appear compromised,
I’d ask what can be gained in a Tanzanian court, but apparently, it’s
necessary. There was a hearing on 8th November and on the 15th
the court was scheduled to rule if the judicial review can go on.
In this case, five petitioners
from the affected villages are asking the Court to give them leave to request:
1) The court to order the government
to remove the restrictions against the villagers entering the 1,500 km2
area which they have been using for grazing their livestock and for carrying
out faith activities.
2) The court should declare that
the Government Notice (GN421) dated 17 June 2022 is invalid and should not be
used, as it is against the law and did not involve the citizens as required by
the law.
3) The court should declare to
prevent the government and its agents from carrying out operations in the area.
This case too was responded to
by Emmanuel Daniel Pius, on 4th November, this time with lies like
those by Fidelis Kapalata responding to the Pololeti case in the East African
Court of Justice, that the demarcation was carved out of the 4,000 km2
Loliondo GCA that’s claimed to have been a “reserved area” since 1951, and that
the villagers have never used the 1,502 km2. Then he says that “Pololeti
GCA” doesn’t involve the applicants’ villages, since those are outside the
demarcated area. Where is that if the whole area has been a reserved area since
1951 and is larger than the whole of Loliondo division? Are the villages hanging
in the air? He repeats the claim of peaceful and participatory demarcation combined
with resisting and violent leaders (all ward councillors) that were arrested. In
this response he says that “only” livestock that graze inside the GCA are
impounded, while in the response to Application No2 of 2022, he says that the
herders have not even been approached by TAWA.
On 16th November,
not the scheduled 15th, there was a hearing. The director of the
Civic and Legal Aid Organization, the unusual, in the best way, Tanzanian journalist
Odero Charles, had written a letter to the High Court Judge, Mohammed Gawe
appealing for the case to be broadcast live, which was sadly denied. Otherwise,
everything went well and the applicants were granted leave to continue with the
judicial review.
 |
| Latang'amwaki Ndwati |
Reference
No.29 of 2022
Over 1,620 Maasai decided to
file a case to challenge the coordinated and suffocating policies in the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (see below, this is NOT Loliondo) in June 2022 in
the East Africa Court of Justice. Both parties have filed their respective
documents (I was trying to get hold of the government’ response that reportedly
says that it’s acting on advice by UNESCO, which I could confirm the same day
as I was to publish this blog post) and the Court is expected to fix a date for
hearing of the case, which is yet to be communicated. The Maasai are
challenging the withdrawal of government money throughout NCA to induce
relocation to Handeni.
Ruthless
hypocrites Thomson Safaris
As reported in August, the American
Thomson Safaris, inspired by the general brutality and lawlessness, have
planted beacons demarcating their fraudulently and violently claimed "Enashiva
Nature Refuge" in the villages of Sukenya and Mondorosi, outside the illegally
demarcated 1,500 km2. In early October there were reports that they
were invading people’s farms and lokeri with road construction. In Sukenya ole
Musa was being invaded by this ugly land grabber, and in Mondorosi, ole Nanyoi
(Irmasiling) and ole Orgeso (Enadooshoke) were under attack.
On 23rd there was
another exhibition of charity as a weapon of war when the criminal DC Raymond
Mwangwala praised Thomson Safaris and their propaganda branch Focus on
Tanzanian Communities, for which former guests fundraise, for funding
extensions to Sukenya dispensary with 331 million TShs. Co-owner (together with
Rick Thomson) Judi Wineland and representatives of FOTZC were present.
 |
| Thomson Safaris' copycat beacon. |
For more about Thomson Safaris,read this blog post from 2018.
The
not at all less threatened Ngorongoro Conservation Area
It doesn’t seem like there’s
anything that can be done to stop too many people – both good and bad - from
mixing up Loliondo and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This confusion is
sometimes really damaging. We must try to keep allies strong, with
correct understanding and arguments!
The Maasai already lost access
to over 14,000 km2 when evicted from Serengeti in 1959 by the
colonial government, and as a compromise deal, they were guaranteed the right
to continue occupying the 8,292 km² Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a multiple
land-use area administered by the government, in which natural resources would
be conserved primarily for their interest, but with due regard for wildlife,
and in case of conflict the interest of the Maasai would take precedence. This
promise was not kept, and tourism revenue has turned into the paramount
interest, with restrictions for the Ngorongoro Maasai, which those in Loliondo
have not had to endure. The government’s aim is to via these restrictions make
them relocate “voluntarily”. Ngorongoro has become Tanzania top source of
tourism revenue and many wildlife numbers have increased, with the Maasai
living there, in their home.
 |
| Indepes sub-village, Ngorongoro Ward. |
As mentioned in the previous
blog post, in September, NCA rangers attacked and tortured several people,
among them Letee Ormunderei who was seriously injured and needed surgery for
which there was fundraising. Letee is doing well, and
there are still plans to prosecute the ranger Abraham Akyoo who brutalized him.
A meeting was held on 12th
October between the government and Endulen Hospital in Ngorongoro Conservation
Area (owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Arusha). A representative of the
Diocese, Government representatives and Endulen hospital staff attended.
Reportedly, the church representative was invited to attend the meeting in
Endulen without having been told the agenda. The St. Luke parish father asked
the District Medical Officer to arrange another meeting which will involve the
hospital board and the government to discuss the matter. The church
ignored their wish the first time. The big issue is that 85% of the current
medical professionals are paid by the government after the hospital no longer
get aids from donors to run the hospital
The government’s plan to further
suffocate key life serving services downgrading the hospital to a clinic,
removing Xray and radiation services, relocating government employees and all
employees above the grade of nurse assistant, removing ambulance service,
delivery and mother and childcare and emergency facilities, while medical attendants
should not exceed two people. Reportedly, the plan is to demolish the whole
hospital in January 2023.
For decades the Maasai have
suffered restrictions, more and more purposefully designed to impoverish them
and force them out of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. In 1975, after a change in
the NCA Act in 1974, they were brutally evicted from residing in Ngorongoro
crater and all cultivation was prohibited. The cultivation ban was lifted in
1992, but brought back in 2009, after many “grave concerns” by UNESCO and
IUCN. Now not even the smallest kitchen garden is allowed, which together
with loss of access to grazing areas has led to malnutrition. They are not allowed
to build permanent houses and suffer all kinds of harassment by NCA rangers,
that want to restrict motorbikes, building materials, or demanding permits for
just anything, including demanding ID for the Maasai to pass Loduare gate, with
targeted harassment of perceived activists at the gate.
In recent years the threats
have accelerated, and 2022 has been worse than ever.
After a visit by PM Majaliwa
in December 2016 - the Maasai lost access to the three craters Ngorongoro,
Olmoti, and Empakaai, which has led the loss of 90% of grazing and water for
Nainokanoka, Ngorongoro, Misigiyo wards, and a 100% loss of natural saltlicks
for livestock in these wards.
In September 2019, chief
conservator Freddy Manongi made public a Multiple Land Use Model review proposal,
which is so destructive that it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and
culture in Ngorongoro District. Only 18% of the expanded NCA would remain for
people and livestock. This genocidal zoning proposal included the annexation of
the now illegally demarcated areas in Loliondo that the horrible Pindi Chana
indeed illegally declared annexed on 28th September. The 2019 announcement
was followed by so many protest statements – by NCA Maasai - that I lost count,
while those in Loliondo almost pretended that nothing was happening.
Shortly after having come into
office in 2021, Samia Suluhu Hassan started bringing up the need to “save”
Ngorongoro from the Maasai, in an explicit way not used by any previous president.
A week after her first speech of this kind there was on 12th April 2021
a demolition orders for private houses, primary schools, dispensaries, a police
station, churches, and a mosque, which after protests was stopped until further
notice. Also in 2021, the NCAA headquarters were hastily relocated to Karatu, promotional
spectacles headed by the infamous chief conservator Manongi were held on parliamentary
grounds, and a clip was uploaded in which Manongi talks about a war that
pastoralists have many conspiracies and that conservationists must start cooking
their own conspiracies. NCAA rangers assaulted several herders in August and September
2021. Protests were brewing but were cut short when MP Olenasha passed away on
27th September.
In 2022, the hate campaign
against the Maasai of Ngorongoro spiralled out of all control. I’ve covered it
with some detail in blog posts up until the brutal and illegal land demarcation
in Loliondo erupted and I was unable to keep up with everything.
2022 started with a leaked
plan for “voluntary” relocations of Ngorongoro Maasai to be finalized very
hurriedly before the end of February. In the plan the Kitwai and Handeni GCAs
are named as the areas for relocation and misleadingly described as protected
areas that will be declassified. Did the NCAA really believe this and were then
when on the ground in Msomera, Handeni, surprised to find a registered village
with its land use plan and bewildered villagers looking on as houses were
speedily being built for Ngorongoro Maasai? Arusha RC John Mongella was the
recommended overseer of the project. The plan recommended seeking permission to
use COVID-19 money allocated for the development projects to fund the eviction
of Ngorongoro Maasai - and then on 31st March DED Mhina sent letters
to Ngorongoro headteachers ordering them to transfer COVID-19 funds for
Ngorongoro schools to Handeni District council.
Towards late January 2022,
Habib Mchange’s Jamvi la Habari newspaper, that focuses on fabrications and
slander of opposition politicians, initiated a hate campaign against the Maasai
of NCA that spread all over regular and social media, was joined by crazed
sports presenters, Maulid Kitenge and friends. The old anti-Maasai Jamhuri
paper with Deusdatus Balile and Manyerere Jackton who in over 60 articles has
incited against the Maasai of Loliondo, soon joined in, and the “journalists”
started an organization with its sole focus on evicting the Maasai from
Ngorongoro - and were treated as serious actors by other media. Though many
Tanzanians in social media who had earlier not paid much attention to
Ngorongoro saw what was going on, were appalled, and started speaking up. On 13th
February, the new anti-Maasai organisation held a press conference sharing
crazed and dehumanizing theories about the Ngorongoro Maasai. The Darmpya
online news, asked questions, like how come the “allowances” for attending the
press conference were so extraordinary heavy, who funded it, and for what
purpose.
On 9th February,
MPs competed in being wilfully ignorant, hateful, and calling for evictions
from Ngorongoro, and Loliondo, the Mtwara MP screamed that tanks were needed,
there was much laughter and table banging, while only three MPs (all Maasai)
spoke up for the Maasai. The arguments, besides the old population panic,
ranged from dehumanizing colonial fantasies to crocodile tears about poverty
and backwardness, to lies that rich people not from Ngorongoro, but from town
or the neighbouring country, would own the livestock in NCA, to blaming Kenya
for being behind the anti-eviction resistance with the aim of sabotaging
tourism in Tanzania. Majaliwa said that the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Act
would be reviewed, but first there was to be a seminar for the MPs and he would
meet with people in Ngorongoro and Loliondo. On 12th February a
one-sided “seminar” about Ngorongoro was held for the MPs who continued their
hateful and defamatory incitement against the Maasai. At this seminar, one
non-Maasai MP supported the Ngorongoro Maasai: Professor Kitila Mkumbo, MP for
Ubungo.
In NCA many people stopped
sleeping and started praying incessantly at combined prayer and protest
meetings.
On 17th February
Majaliwa held a brief agenda-driven meeting at the NCA hall, for leaders and
closed to the public. There was confusion and thorough registering of the
attendants. Two journalists were arrested and released later the same day. The
local people who were locked out stayed outside the hall singing.
On 5th March,
Deputy Minister Mary Masanja brought a caravan of 600 women in diesel guzzling
vehicles to Ngorongoro, to celebrate tourism, CCM, or supposedly International
Women’s Day. Meanwhile Maasai women climbed Mount Makarot to pray for their
land. In early June, a similar tasteless and reckless spectacle was held by the
CCM youth wing, UVCCM.
On 10th March in
Arusha, Majaliwa held a meeting with Maasai from other areas, without any
connection to Ngorongoro, led by the denounced fraudster Lekisongo.
On 13th March,
Majaliwa made a much-publicised visit to Msomera Village in Handeni where
houses were hurriedly being built to relocate Maasai from Ngorongoro, without
consulting them, and without consulting people from Msomera that’s a legally
registered village.
On 25th March Damas
Ndumbaro, then still Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, met with
ambassadors to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and Loliondo, and his
ministry reported that the German ambassador supported the government’s efforts
in Ngorongoro, which has still not been publicly denied by any German
representative.
On 3rd April, the
NCAA had found some real traitors to show off, unlike the previous imposters
from other places than Ngorongoro, even if long-gone people were still looking
for a compensation deal. And they are of course not traitors for wanting to
relocate, but for lending themselves to the dirty war against their own people.
Then several groups of in-authentic, compromised, or naïve Maasai have been
relocated to Msomera and much paraded in media.
On 6th May, the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called on the government of
Tanzania to immediately cease efforts to evict the Maasai people from the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Then the president, at
Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition’s own 10-year anniversary, expressed
her displeasure with human rights defenders defending Ngorongoro Maasai and not
her genocidal plans.
On 25th May 2022, a
60-member committee, handed over reports on community recommendations to PM
Majaliwa. There was one report on NCA and one on Loliondo and Sale. The report
writers weren’t shy to tell the truth and Majaliwa, who hardly have read the
reports, said that he would work on the recommendations. Majaliwa is known as a
dangerous liar, but dancing to his tune was seen as preferably anyway, when it
included the opportunity to report the truth. In Loliondo extreme violence and
land alienation followed, while restrictions and “voluntary” relocation to
Handeni continue in Ngorongoro.
Remember
On 28th October it
was two years since Salula Ngorisiolo was killed at Oloirobi polling station on
election day when NCA rangers and police opened fire at voters who were
protesting openly committed election fraud. No Ngorongoro leaders at all have
spoken up about this murder.
On 12th October an
open letter about Loliondo signed by more than 76 organizations called on President
Samia to stop the unjust, illegitimate and discriminatory actions and to ensure
that Tanzania complies with its international human rights obligations
pertaining to the Maasai’s individual and collective right, and on 2nd
November, the Saami Councils demanded that confiscated land is returned to the
Maasai and that detained Maasai leaders are released. But words are not enough.
Something tangible must be done to stop the blood-soaked Tanzanian government. How?
Uproot the brutally and
illegally planted beacons, shred the GNs to pieces, and punish every person
involved in violence and land theft in Loliondo, Sale and Ngorongoro.
Susanna
Nordlund is a working-class person based in Sweden who since 2010 has been
blogging about Loliondo (increasingly also about NCA) and has her fingerprints
thoroughly registered with Immigration so that she will not be able to enter
Tanzania through any border crossing, ever again. She has never worked for any
NGO or intelligence service and hasn’t earned a shilling from her Loliondo
work. She can be reached at sannasus@hotmail.com
Plenty of untold abuse is going on, since there aren’t ANY leaders to speak up about anything at all and no journalists. On 26th November the 60 cows of mzee Sarkay Tiiyee were seized at the water point, outside the illegally demarcated area. He had 100 cows, but 40 had already died due to drought and theft of grazing land. It’s the rangers stationed at the Orng'oswa area that used to be part of Sanjan village in Malambo who are committing the crimes. I haven’t understood if they are FFU or NCA. On 27th November 167 goats belonging to Kimani Taretoy Tiiye were seized. The criminals are demanding 60,000 TShs per goat when the current price for a goat is 30,000 TShs. The rangers had slaughtered 27 goats. They can do absolutely anything since there isn’t anyone to hold them accountable.
(These crimes are committed by the new rangers.)
29th November
I was told by one of the 24, not a leader, but one of those arrested to stop the flow of information, and then charged with murder, that when tortured they were asked in what way I am helping.
The very substantial Judicial Review Application was filed.
2nd December
Salangat Mako was summoned to the Officer Commanding District suspected of obstructing the fake and forced land use plan for Ololosokwan, a plan that would mean accepting the brutally and illegally demarcated fake “game reserve”. He’s locked up at Loliondo police station accused of:
Cultivating near a water source.
Agitating people to stop the LUP.
Cultivating in an area where cultivation is forbidden
He’s been growing vegetables for years and it has been appreciated by everyone. This is obviously more intimidation to stop anyone from speaking up against the lawless and brutal land theft.
#FreeSalangat #FreeSalangat #FreeSalangat
3rd December
Salangat was released on bail "already" (by Loliondo standards these days) the following day and must present himself at the police again on 9th December. There's a terrible element of treason in this harassment.
On Saturday 3rd December Thomson Safaris staff were chasing away cows with the excuse that they were having tourists in camp. One cow belonging to mzee Olorgeso was killed when hit by a vehicle and they were beating children.
Terrible joint hunt for cattle from Arash ward, Ormanie and Mbuken villages. Serengeti rangers have 870 cows impounded in Eng’oswa in Serengeti National Park since 2nd December (!) and reportedly want to auction them off. In Ingarroi, in the fake and illegal “Pololeti game reserve”, 370 cattle are seized. I didn’t hear about this until 7th December.
Further reports mention 1694 cattle seized illegally in three villages in Arash ward and 870 in Serengeti National Park. The 870 cows have reportedly been taken to Mugumu for auctioning.
14th December
The worst day ever. The cattle at Eng'oswa - 1772 heads of cattle - were auctioned off. The owners had the previous day been threatened by the court that they'd get six different charges, like carrying arms in the national park ... Most were to intimidated to even claim their cattle! This could never have happened before the terror of this year.
Livestock were lost 6 pm at Endepesi area in Ndutu seasonal pastures at Nasipoong' village in Endulen ward. On December 15, the owners reported them missing and found that their cows were seized into the park and held in Naabi Gate in Serengeti national park. SENAPA told them to go to the court to claim for their cows because they won't accept fines.
212 cows belonging to Ndulet Suyaan
83 cows and 14 donkeys belonging to Orkwary Nduitia
15th December
Reports of 1,500 cattle illegally seized in the Orkimbai area of Kirtalo.
These cattle were released after extortion "fines" were paid on the 16th.
Charges against Salangat were dropped on 16th December after the legitimate village chairman had returned.
17th December
600 sheep belonging to Malee Risando Lekitony, brother of the Malambo village chairman, were seized almost inside his boma, not even in the illegally demarcated area. Since the lawlessness is complete, the owner made sure to pay 2 million TShs to get his sheep back.
19th December
300+ cows belonging to four families, Parmwat, Parmware Reyia, Odinga Tome, and Maambuya Rotiken were seized today at Oloosek, Ololosokwan - in the fake and illegal game reserve brutally created in OBC's preferred area of the Loliondo hunting block - and taken to Klein’s gate. The demand to release the cattle is 100,000 TShs per head.
The extortionate and illegal "fines" were paid on the 20th.
20th December
In a ceremony with the human rights criminals Kassim Majaliwa and Pindi Chana German Ambassador to Tanzania Hess handed over 51 vehicles that are part of € 20 Million (Approx.TZS 49.4 billion) committed funds by Germany for emergency funding and recovery for biodiversity in response of COVID19 facilitated by KfW and FZS. The vehicles will be distributed into Serengeti and Nyerere National Park and Selous Game Reserve and will have a great impact on supporting “operations”.
The following day, in a creepily gleeful way, the German Embassy tweeted that during the vehicle handover ceremony Chana announced that one rhino calf was named Majaliwa after Prime Minister Majaliwa and a second female calf Regine after Ambassador Hess, in appreciation of their efforts in supporting conservation in Tanzania.
22nd December
400 cows from Arash, belonging to youths from the bomas of Sangok and Losekenja, were seized in village land that has been illegally declared a game reserve.
Christmas Eve
The livestock owners wanted to inquire about the
procedure to get the cattle back and found that all the cows had been sold and
were being loaded onto trucks.
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