It is not a nightmare that you
can wake up from. The horror is real. The threat, lobbied for by OBC, that
organize hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, of taking 1,500 km2
of grazing land from the Maasai of Loliondo - squeezing them into land with
towns, agricultural areas, forest reserves, and a nasty American land grab –
was last year implemented with brutality and lawlessness by the Tanzanian
government. The ugly boundary beacons still stand there and the Maasai can only
access their own land as thieves, risking terrible extortion by rangers, which
is a risk that must be taken, since cows need grass. Oriais Oleng'iyo who was
last seen on 10th June 2022, with bullet wounds and held by security
forces, has still not been brought back to his family. After the over
five-month abduction on bogus charges of all councillors, except one who fled,
together with people suspected of sharing information, there aren’t any local leaders
who are speaking up against the crimes. Only the court cases resemble anything
like hope. There is now further evidence (in case anyone had doubted it) that the
Germans support the horror.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area with
its NCAA rule and restrictions was something to avoid at all costs and a reason
for resistance in Loliondo, but now most of Loliondo’s grazing land has been
stolen from the villages and placed under the NCAA, with much worse
restrictions, total restrictions. In NCA itself, with the specific and
outspokenly hostile president, and the relocation drive to other people’s land
600 km away, everything has worsened, but "recently" there have been some visits
by allies, which could maybe lead to something worthwhile.
NCAA rangers and leaders of so-called cultural bomas in Olbalbal and Endulen are involved in violent assault, including rape, against women who sell cultural ornaments independently, and I only got details about this last evening.
The war against pastoralists, and other rural people, continues almost all over Tanzania. In Mbarali, Chunya, and maybe Iringa and Chamwino districts, some 48 villages (could be more) are threatened by the old extension decision (GN No.28) for Ruaha National Park. In Kilombero a massive game reserve was declared on 17th February. In Tarime there’s been lethal ranger violence for decades and on 28th March a demarcation operation on village land begun. In Nyatwali ward in Bunda there are eviction threats for extending Serengeti National Park all the way to Lake Victoria. Last year the government in the most lawless and irrational way planted beacons in several villages to expand to Kilimanjaro International Airport (there’s an ongoing court case). There’s extreme police brutality in Isela sub-village in Ndolezi village, Mbozi district from where people are being evicted for investment around a meteorite museum managed by the NCAA! This is far from Ngorongoro, in Songwe region, at the other end of the country. In Kalilani village in Uvinza district Mahale Mountains National Park is being extended into the village, and last year, at almost the exact time as Ololosokwan was attacked, rangers attacked this village with live bullets, which I didn’t get to know until 24th March this year. And so many other underreported, and unreported, horrors.
Still, the crimes in Loliondo
should suffice for a total tourism boycott of Tanzania.
In this blog post:
President’s
son in law as new Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism
Extortion of
herders continues
Where is
Oriais Oleng'iyo?
Demoralizing
tour by the MP
Land grab
legitimation meeting facilitated by Germans
Crime legitimation meeting number two
Reminder
about the Germans and why they must be chased out of the Serengeti ecosystem
Court cases
Reminder of
the government commandeered visit by the African Commission of Human and
People’s Rights
Visit by the Commission
for Human Rights and Good Governance
Support and
harassment in Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Beatings, rape, threats and silence in Olbalbal and Endulen, women terrorized by rangers and cultural boma leaders
UNESCO and
the terrible Dr Malebo
Updates added at the end of the blog post.
Sorry for the delay in publishing this post. There's too much happening and it's too difficult to confirm much of the information. I may also be too slow and unfocused.
