A joint UNESCO, IUCN
and ICOMOS mission made a totally government commandeered visit to Ngorongoro
Conservation Area and Msomera 3rd – 9th February 2024. The
Tanzanian government has in a similar manner tried to hide what’s going on from
a mission from the European parliament, the members of which refused and were
no longer welcome. The African Commission of Human and People’s Rights went
along with the government’s ridiculous ways in January 2023 and in Loliondo
they were prevented from visiting a single victim of the brutal and illegal
evictions of 2022. The UNESCO case is different though since this organization
not only does not care about being misled but are the actual main instigators
of the government crimes in Ngorongoro. This is how UNESCO always conduct their
visits, avoiding the people of NCA, even when they this time for the first
time, in the “State of conservation of properties inscribed on the of World
Heritage List (Extended forty-fifth session Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
10-25 September 2023)” addressed “alleged” violations – that it claims to have
received numerous letters about in 2021 and 2022 - urging the State Party to
demonstrate, ensure and rebut.
I had hoped to be speedier this year, but as
seen, this blog post is terribly delayed, and this is partly because I still haven’t seen any reports at all from the government side.
Others who’d been expected to speak up have also been silent. Complete and confirmed information about other developments has also been too hard to obtain, while too
much has been happening, and keep happening. I fear that I've left out several important issues.
The government propaganda continues all over Tanzanian media, boasting about the “voluntary” relocation of the Maasai. The main argument is the totally government-created situation in Ngorongoro. It’s just perverse, but it seems like most Tanzanians who aren’t bad members of the worst praise team, or blinded by hatred against the Maasai, see through it.
Meanwhile, in early March a presentation to the minister of an assessment by the Ministry of Natural Resources of no less than four new game reserves in the northern zone of Tanzania was revealed. This is a proposal for spreading the massive, brutal and illegal land dispossession as committed in Loliondo to all over Maasai land.
I must again add a reminder not to mix up Ngorongoro Conservation Area with Loliondo where there in 2022 was a brutal and illegal military operation to alienate 1,500 km2 of important dry season grazing land as a protected area, which had been lobbied for by OBC that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, and its rejected legitimization land use plan, funded and facilitated by Germany. This blog post is mostly about Ngorongoro Division/Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) where the Tanzanian government uses cruel restrictions, blocking of repair permits, illegal defunding of social services, and severe harassment to make the Maasai relocate to other people’s land far away.
In the early hours today, 31st March,
President Samia replaced John Mongella as Arusha RC. Good riddance! Mongella
has been the official overseer of the war against the Maasai and must be dealt with
in every human rights court for his leadership role in the Loliondo crime. The
problem is that the replacement is Paul Makonda, who in his time as Dar es
Salaam RC 2016-2020 became known, even internationally, as a hardcore criminal.
After three years in the cold, five months ago, Samia rehabilitated Makonda as
CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary. What is the blood-soaked ogress with an
illogical international image as a “reformist” really thinking?
In this blog post:
Unstoppable installation of Joseph Oleshangay as laigwanani
Joint UNESCO, IUCN and ICOMOS visit
UNESCO and Ngorongoro
2nd phase of the Msomera madness
Very brief NCA background
Loliondo
MNRT presentation of massive land alienation
plans for the northern zone
Unstoppable installation of Joseph Oleshangai as Alaigwanani
Let’s start with the good news. Or not only good, since the threat
against Joseph Oleshangay has worsened, but he and those installing him as alaigwanani were not intimidated. On 14th March 2024, police in plain clothes
set a trap to abduct Joseph but fortunately he was informed of the plan and was
able to get out of the trap. He was informed that he might be arrested at
night and chose to relocate out of his home just before midnight. At 4am on 15th March the home in Endulen of the lawyer and award-winning activist, harder to
intimidate than most, was invaded by more than ten
policemen. They were looking to abduct him, but Joseph was not in the house. On
Twitter/X Joseph wrote that if anything is to happen Samia Suluhu Hassan and the
Tanzania Police bear primary obligation, adding the obvious, “Otherwise,
this does not intimidate or stop me doing what I do, it’s lawful, it’s logical,
it’s sensible and no threat can stop me. Saying Samia Suluhu Hassan is
targeting Maasai as a community and dispossessing all our land for trophy
hunting and hotel investment is not inciting revolt, is telling truth to power
which I have obligation to do as a concerned citizen. If I can’t say, stones
will complain against it.”
In the afternoon, the police were back at Joseph’s home and stole tents
and chairs set up for the ceremony the following day.
 |
| Ongoing theft by police. |
This harassment followed a social media post in the stupid/hysterical
style, in the past known from the Loliondo police state. The post calling for
the government of Samia Suluhu Hassan to deal with Joseph Oleshangay, since as alaigwanani
he will create a dangerous rebellious group (though he’s never held a gun) and
claim an independent Maasailand separate from the United Republic of Tanzania. Then
the worst of all is that he’s working with three NGOs that collaborate with me (the
leadership of one of those is so intimidated that any kind of communication
with me was cut almost a decade ago …) The
president’s chawa, praise team (or literally "lice"), and assorted “conservationist” trolls found
this post very “patriotic”.
A letter from the Ngorongoro Officer Commanding District on 14th
March was shared, prohibiting all gatherings in Endulen without a permit, since
investigations had found that there was to be a big gathering on the 16th,
with indications of potential breach of peace, and the police was to take stern
measures against anyone facilitating such a meeting. This is of course
ridiculous and has no legal ground. People wondered if they would be allowed to
attend mass without a permit.
The online chawa and trolls celebrated that the installation of Joseph
as alaigwanani had been stopped.
The same day, among other reshuffles, it was announced that Ngorongoro chief
conservator Richard Kiiza, after only 5 months, has been removed by President
Samia. The reasons for this are not yet known and neither is the successor. Anyway,
it was good riddance. The latest I had heard about Kiiza was that he had employed
students from Tengeru College to move around “convincing” the Maasai to
relocate out of Ngorongoro. Later, reports of corruption have been revealed.
From 0:13am to 10:00am of 16th March the police were back at
Joseph’s house searching through every corner.
On the 16th, the celebration installing Joseph Oleshangay as alaigwanani
went ahead without disturbances, other than that the police again at 4pm came
looking for him, without finding him. Every time the police arrived at his home,
Joseph was informed by a person put to monitor the road and therefore relocated
to a place from where he could see the police vehicle at home.
Then the police were back searching Joseph’s house in the evening on the
17th and on the 18th. Joseph has in open forums reported
that one of the policemen is from Mtwara, and another one from Dodoma. A
notorious Rastafarian policeman is part of the team on all occasions. This individual
also blocked Tundu Lissu’s entrance to Ngorongoro last September.
One reason for this harassment is that people in power are particularly unhappy with Joseph’s previous activities and this time triggered by his participation in conversations on the podcast of Genocide Watch, the link to which he shared on 9th March. The definition covers not only mass killings like Rwanda 1994, or the ongoing genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, but also forceful assimilation as in the case of Putin to Ukrainian children, or in the form of creating conditions of life that end in slow death to a certain population or race. This is what the Tanzanian government has for the last three years been doing in Ngorongoro division. It has paralyzed social institutions as healthcare, education, etc. Everywhere the government is targeting areas occupied by Maasai, like the brutal and illegal military operation in Loliondo 2022, alienating 1,500km2 for a “game reserve” and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has presented plans for doing the same in several Maasai areas in northern Tanzania (see below), while eviction notices have been given to 8 villages whose land is irrationally claimed by Kilimanjaro National Park. This falls within the definitions of the Rome Statute Article 6 and the Genocide Convention Article 2.
Ngorongoro MP Emmanuel Oleshangai too was on 3rd March, in a traditional ceremony installed as alaigwanani, about which there are differing opinions. Most think it will make him more effective defending the people of Ngorongoro, while others are not happy with the same person sitting on several chairs, especially since his actions on the ground are less impressive than when he speaks up in parliament. At the day of the ceremony, many attendants – including Simanjiro MP Olesendeka (CCM), who on Good Friday, 29th March, survived an assassination attempt when unknown assailants riddled his vehicle with bullets - were stopped at Lodoare (or Lodware) gate by NCAA, hellbent on harassing. For some reason, those attendants have not spoken up.
Traditional ceremonies are none of the government’s business, but there
seems to be some kind of fantasy-laden obsession that has led to the use of
obvious and ridiculous imposters, like the infamous Lekisongo, that’s been
reported about in previous blog posts. Adding to the panic is of course the
fear that Joseph as a alaigwanani may influence people to support opposition
parties.
On 28th March, Joseph’s
employer, Legal and Human Rights Centre, issued a statement that they are alarmed
by the safety concerns facing their staff member, revealing that Joseph since
2023 has been under surveillance and receiving calls from individuals claiming
to be police officers. They will do whatever is possible to ensure that Joseph
and his family are safe.
 |
| English version. |
Joint UNESCO, IUCN and ICOMOS visit
Om 7th February a press release was issued by several pastoralist
and human rights NGOs saying that UNESCO had secretly started their monitoring
visit to NCA by deliberately and maliciously keeping the Maasai unaware. The
mission had arrived on the 3rd and would end on the 9th. “The
mission was triggered by pressure from the outcry of the Maasai and human
rights organizations from around the country and across the globe concerning
allegations of gross violation of human and land rights of the Maasai residents
of 25 legally registered villages”, said the press release. A Kenyan member
of the mission had been prevented from participating, after a request by the
Tanzanian government.
On 5th February, the UNSECO, IUCN, ICOMOS mission held a
meeting at the office of the Arusha RC, John Mongella, official overseer of the
efforts to empty NCA of Maasai, and of the brutal and lawless land alienation
in Loliondo. The mission met with tourism and conservation stakeholders. Reportedly,
Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) – the infamous German organization with
decades of work against Maasai land rights, including their work to impose the Draft
District Land Use Framework Plan 2023-2043 that would retroactively have
legitimized the brutal and lawless land theft in Loliondo, but was rejected by
the councillors. FZS’s message was about a “population explosion”. Besides that
such a thing isn’t remedied by relocating the Maasai to more populated areas
that belong to other people, the fact is that Ngorongoro is less densely populated
than almost any area in Tanzania.
On 6th February those that have registered to relocate to
Msomera were called to sign something at the ranger post in Kapenjiro, the village
that NCAA – in the usual style, also known from authorities and investors in
Loliondo - have focused on for divide and rule and from where the traitor Ndwala
Ngoishiye is. 40 people showed up and had to wait for hours without knowing
what they were there for, while the NCAA officials drove around to find more
people who had registered, until they got six more. Of these people a few were
“prepared” by NCAA to talk to the UNESCO mission through an interpreter. The
mission never met with any legitimate Ngorongoro Maasai representatives, and
not with any village or ward leaders.
Then the UNESCO mission went to Msomera where they were presented to the
usual Ngorongoro migrants that are used for government propaganda, and not with
the displaced Msomera villagers.
On the 8th, after the press release and a letter from
concerned EU parliamentarians, NCAA attempted to pick up various leaders for a
meeting in the evening, but everyone refused a late last-minute meeting when
they had not earlier got any invitation at all for the UNESCO visit, or any
kind of information. Moreover, it does not feel particularly safe to be picked
up like that after the abductions and torture of over 30 people in August-September
2023, following the protests against blocked reparation permits for Ndian
primary school. At that time even the Ngorongoro MP, Emmanuel Oleshangai,
published a letter saying that he feared for his life and that if anything
happens to him it should be known that the instructions come from the then Ngorongoro
DC, Raymond Mwangwala, and the Arusha RC, John Mongella. The MP himself and
several local leaders had their homes invaded by rangers and police, and the MP
was abducted for two nights.
Meanwhile, on 12th February President Samia visited the Vatican and a small group of Tanzanians in Italy, organized by Anna Peter, held a protest and issued a press release.
I'm told (missed it myself) that on 15th February 2024, World Heritage Watch hosted a virtual
presentation on the situation of World Heritage Sites and a presentation was
made on the human rights situation in Ngorongoro. UNESCO Headquarters and the African
division responded and denied their involvement in the Maasai displacement
despite evidence of the government to their complicit roles.
Then, as far as I have been able to find out, nothing has been reported
by the government or its minions about the UNESCO visit.
As mentioned in earlier blog posts, for the first time in its Stateof conservation of properties inscribed on the of World Heritage List (Extendedforty-fifth session Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 10-25 September 2023) UNESCO
is addressing these “alleged” violations – that it claims to have received
numerous letters about in 2021 and 2022 - urging the State Party to demonstrate, ensure and rebut, while stubbornly
denying any own responsibility and putting a lot of faith in a not yet released
report by the African commission on Human and People’s Rights that in January
2023 made government commandeered visit to NCA, Msomera and Loliondo.
UNESCO has earlier claimed to “never at any time asked for the
displacement of the Maasai people.” This was not and is not true. In
September the UNESCO claim was instead never to have endorsed or requested forced
displacement. The Tanzanian government has through the years used UNESCO’s
threats of delisting Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a World Heritage Site, its
repeated population panic, and distaste for agriculture of any kind, or
“modern” buildings, as an excuse to worsen the human rights situation. The most
rabidly anti-Maasai press enjoy reporting about UNESCO’s support for eviction
plans, and the government has referred to it in its response to being sued in the East African Court of Justice (Reference No.29 of 2022, for which hearings are apparently never scheduled). UNESCO’s general secretary in Tanzania, Hamisi M. Malebo, not only
supports relocation of the Maasai out of Ngorongoro Conservation Area but has
in a shameless and loud way voiced support for the extremely violent and
illegal demarcation of 1,500 km2 of essential grazing land in
Loliondo and Sale for a “game reserve”. He is repeatedly used as the Tanzanian
government’s “expert” in front of international organizations, and I have not
seen any kind of indication that UNESCO would distance themselves from this unhinged
and malicious idiot. I’ve been informed that, while UNESCO is obviously a
criminal organisation it has no legal relationship with the national UNESCO
commission of Tanzania. Malebo though is having a great time using the name
UNESCO and indeed the organization has never objected.
When the genocidal Multiple Land Use Model review proposal was presented
in September 2019, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and International Council on Monuments
and Sites (ICOMOS) had once again visited Ngorongoro in March the same year and
in their report repeated that they wanted the MLUM review completed to see the
results and offer advice, while again complaining about the visual impact of
settlements with “modern” houses, and so on. They also recommended the State
Party to continue to, “promote and encourage voluntary resettlement by
communities, consistent with the policies of the Convention and relevant
international norms, from within the property to outside by 2028”. As known, unlike recommendations about too
many vehicles (the presence of which instead is loudly celebrated), the MNRT
loves this kind of recommendation, and the resulting MLUM review proposal was
so destructive that it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and culture
in Ngorongoro District, and as seen, the genocidal plan for Loliondo, including
the annexation to NCA of the illegally demarcated land, has been brutally and
lawlessly implemented.
The MLUM review report proposed to divide Ngorongoro into four zones,
with an extensive “core conservation zone” that is to be a no-go zone for
livestock and herders. In NCA this includes the Ngorongoro Highland Forest,
with the three craters Ngorongoro, Olmoti and Empakaai where grazing these past
few years has been banned through order by PM Kassim Majaliwa, not law. This
has led to losing 90% of grazing and water for Nainokanoka, Ngorongoro,
Misigiyo wards, and a 100% loss of natural saltlicks for livestock in these
wards. The proposal is to do the same with Oldupai Gorge, Laitoli footprints,
and the Lake Ndutu and Lake Masek basins. In the rest of Ngorongoro District,
the proposal was for NCAA to annex the Lake Natron basin (including areas of
Longido and Monduli districts, like Selela forest and Engaruka historical site)
and the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo and Sale Divisions and designate most
of these areas to be no-go zones for pastoralists and livestock. These huge
areas include many villages and are important grazing areas, the loss of which
will have disastrous knock-on effects on lives and livelihoods elsewhere. The
most recent proposal presented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is to
have them converted into “game reserves” (total land alienation, for tourism
hunting). The in June 2022 implemented alienation and annexation of the 1,500
km2 in Loliondo caters almost perfectly to the wishes of OBC. Only
18% of NCA would remain for people and livestock in the 2019 MLUM review
proposal. Is there any sincere person who would dare to say that this can be
achieved through “voluntary” relocations? While In Loliondo extreme violence
was used, in NCA the brutality of restrictions and harassment keeps worsening
to make the Maasai leave “voluntarily”.
Another example of the instigation by UNESCO is the decision about
Ngorongoro in the 4 session of the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage World Heritage Committee” from July 2021,
UNESCO is there still requesting the State Party to provide information about
“the status of agricultural activities in the property” when even the smallest
kitchen garden had been banned since 2009, because of UNESCO’s repeated “deep
concern” which has led to malnourishment, and they continued being concerned
with, “challenges resulting from the significant increase in the number of
people residing in the property since its inscription”.
UNESCO has never expressed any concern, deep or otherwise, about that
the MLUM review from 2019 proposes a cultural genocide. Instead, they pretend not
to have seen it, since “the State Party has not appended this review in their
responses”. I don’t know if it was presented to them during the visit. Their
partner in incitement, the IUCN, did issue a statement against the extremely violent
and illegal land alienation in Loliondo – maybe as damage control for the
trophy hunting industry that the IUCN appears to be close to – but not one word
from UNESCO (and the Tanzanian government continue catering to several other
hunting operators in its terrifying game reserve plans). Loliondo is mentioned as
“outside the World Heritage property”, which it is, but the fact is also that since
August 2022, the brutally alienated village land in Loliondo is an illegal
protected area managed by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and the
genocidal 2019 MLUM review, besides evictions, proposed annexing it to NCA. When
you keep inciting an authoritarian government that values tourism revenue above
human rights, is prone to violence and lawlessness, and full of pathological
liars, to do something about too many people, you’re complicit to crime,
however much you keep mentioning consultations with stakeholders and
rightsholders, and international norms – and now urging the so-called State
Party to demonstrate, ensure and rebut.
How come that UNESCO is so totally unconcerned about the people of
Ngorongoro and their culture that they have kept encouraging relocations as
long as they’re “voluntary”, and not asked questions about the “allegations” of
abuse by the government that’s been going on for decades (before taking a sharp
turn for the worse under Samia Suluhu Hassan’s presidency) until petitions and
letters became “numerous”? What kind of dehumanizing forces make them share the
concerns by the tourist-conservation industrial complex?
Delisting Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a World Heritage is long, long
overdue.
2nd phase of the Msomera madness
As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the Tanzanian government was so
rattled by an EU resolution in support of the Maasai that the spokesperson
Matinyi already the following day (15th December) issued a statement
with the usual horrible lies, focusing on the “voluntary” relocations from
Ngorongoro division (and with even bigger lies about Loliondo). There’s the
usual about houses built and other wonders in areas of relocation, without
mentioning that the Msomera villagers weren’t consulted and only informed at
gunpoint when their land was handed over to Ngorongoro migrants. Matinyi denied
arrests in NCA when even the MP was arrested/abducted for two nights (see
earlier blog posts). Ridiculously, it’s claimed that the Maasai are relocated
for their own good since wild animals are a danger to them and because of the
“necessary” constrained development and economic activities in Ngorongoro, when
those are constrained by the government itself. Still, the government claims
that it’s offering all social services, when no renovations permits are granted
since 2021, Endulen hospital - run by the Catholic Church that repeatedly has voiced support for the Maasai, is threatened with downgrading, clinics defunded,
and funds for schools transferred to Handeni. The spokesperson was also
boasting about that the government/NCAA is sponsoring university fees for
students from Ngorongoro division when this has been stopped since April 2023.
On 22nd December, leaders from Ngorongoro rebutted Mantinyi’s lies, one by one.
On 5th January, Matinyi issued another statement upon the
relocation of 30 Ngorongoro households to Msomera. Responding to a question about
the blocked funding for social services in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, from
John Marwa of Jambo TV (online media, formerly named Darmpya TV, regular media
would never make relevant questions) he made a confession of crime, saying
that the government can't improve social services in Ngorongoro, since it's
moving people.
At another propaganda spectacle for "journalists" in Msomera, on
17th January, spokesperson Matinyi made a most terrible announcement
about changing the NCA Act to exclude people from the area. Then nothing more
has been heard about this and most people find it more likely that the
government will continue with the so-called “voluntary” relocation. Still, some
international media have mistakenly understood this as if the law would already
have been changed.
The 2nd phase of the so-called “voluntary” relocation of Maasai to other people’s land in Msomera, Kitwai, and Saunyi villages goes on. Judging by the constant triumphant government noise it’s hard to understand what a small percentage of the total population have relocated. Besides the totally perverse boasting while comparing the very purposefully created hardships in Ngorongoro - for decades and with a sharp acceleration since 2021, since when all repair permits, and funding of new social services have been blocked - it’s popular among government officials and supporters of emptying Ngorongoro of its people to talk about how the Maasai are being “eaten by wild animals”. Still, at a seminar in February to teach journalists how to report about human-wildlife conflict (sadly, Tanzanian journalists are diligent students when taught by authorities at seminar funded by the Germans), Ngorongoro was not mentioned as among the ten worst districts when it comes to such conflict. Neither does it looks so on this map covering the northern zone, by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. Maybe all Tanzanians should be relocated somewhere else to leave the entire country for tourists only?
During the 2nd phase relocation in mid-January, a young man
called Leepalai Ndete Kashiro was caught by NCAA rangers for refusing to
relocate to Msomera and released on bail on 19th January. Leepalai’s
paternal uncle, mzee Kashiro, who has been his guardian since his father passed
away years ago is an NCAA employee who’s registered to relocate with his two
wives. This mzee Kashiro used to take care of his brother’s widow and children
but took the widow’s (Leepalai’s mother) 15 cows and her sheep and goats with
him in lorries to Msomera on 16th January and her two houses were
demolished by NCAA. The widow and her children are left without a home and
without cattle. Leepalai’s brothers who first refused to relocate, have been
forced to do so together with their wives. Mzee Kashiro took Leepalai’s cattle
with him too and he and his wife were left without a home and without cattle.
To media Leepalai’s uncle said, “Young people these days have no
manners. He’s my biological son and he has no boma. The house is my property
and I have decided to move voluntarily. He can’t mess with me and then I just
leave him. Authorities must take their course'.
The charges against Leepalai were about “obstructing ranger work”, but
those charges seem to have been dropped, or the case was dismissed. Now he, his
wife and his mother are staying with relatives in Oloirobi.
Leepalai is an unsung hero who on 28th October 2020 –
election day – at Oloirobi polling station protested shameless election fraud
and was shot in the stomach when NCA rangers and police opened fire at the
protestors. Salula Ngorisiolo was killed in the same shooting and to date local
leaders – all of whom are CCM – have not spoken up.
On 17th February Oltimbau Koromo Ndakaris physically
assaulted his wife Naataang’ for refusing to
relocate to Msomera with him. Naataang’ was hospitalised for days following grievous
bodily injuries sustained from her husband beatings. Initially, the police
detained Oltimbau for three days but refused to take him to court. It has
become a custom for state authorities to become lenient in cases involving mistreatment
of people defiant to state relocation. Naataang’ and her children are now
staying at her father's home at Losilale sub-village, Endulen village.
Some complaints by those that have relocated keep being
repeated, like households that have bomas with several houses - belonging to
several wives, or to adult children with spouses - are demolished in Ngorongoro,
and then they are given only one house in Msomera. Not everyone feels sorry for
them. Activists, notably Kuya Lanyoru, have in March highlighted the case of Ngorkisho Lowassa Songopa
and her children. On 31st March, Jambo TV uploaded a video in which some of the dispossessed Msomera villagers are again speaking up.
On 27th February, the opposition party CHADEMA held a demonstration
in Arusha calling on the government to address the high cost of living and
advocating for constitutional rights and electoral reforms. Also featuring
prominently in speeches and on banners was the denouncing of the government’s theft
of land for tourism and conservation all over the country, and particularly in Loliondo
and Ngorongoro. Peter Msigwa, who has earlier in a terrible way shared the
government’s views and misinformation about Ngorongoro, now walked behind a
banner that said that Ngorongoro is the land of the Maasai and calling for the
president to give them their freedom. I have earlier engaged in some
speculation about Msigwa’s previous terrible behaviour. Just forgiving without him
even apologizing seem frivolous, but there are people in CHADEMA with deep, authentic,
and informed support for the Maasai, notably Tundu Lissu. Boniface Mwabukusi
was speaking up strongly at the manifestation, as he has done elsewhere.
Several Maasai from Ngorongoro were participating, Lanyor Kuya, Julius
Laitayok, Tubulu Nebasi, Rotiken Babu, Ndalamia Taiwap, Isaya Olepose, Denis
Moses, Shayo Alakara, Thadeus Clamian, Ezekiel Sumare, Ramat Lonjumuya, Joseph
Oleshangay, those who are working in town as the security guards, and others.
On 7th March, various CCM leaders from Ngorongoro division held a press conference to once again denounce ongoing abuse and the Msomera madness. There was the Endulen village chairman, Thomas Oltwati, the councillor for Nainokanoka, Edward Maura, councillor for Alaitolei, James Moringe, and the women’s representative from Alaitole, Naayai Sung'ar, among others. The leaders issued another statement on 26th March. This time including the corruption during Richard Kiiza’s five months as chief conservator with some eyebrow-raising examples that could have a blog post of their own. Kiiza spent his five months paying 1,250 US dollars per night, staying at Ngorongoro Lodge Meliá (formerly Wildlife Lodge), while payments of university fees for Ngorongoro youths have been stopped and even sick rhinos and elephants aren't treated and samples collected to establish cause of death are lost for lack of transport.
On 28th March, the director of the prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau presented the agency's 2022-2023 report to President Samia. Among other cases, this report uncovers the misappropriation of 4 billion TShs by TANAPA, NCAA and the Tanzania Tourist Board, including a loss of 1.3 billion to NCAA for fictitious flights abroad.
On 19th March 2024, a letter, dated 15th March, from the acting District Executive Officer Emmanuel Sukums (otherwise known as educational officer) to headteachers in Ngorongoro division was shared. Sukums informs the headteachers that children to parents that have relocated out of Ngorongoro are not allowed to attend boarding schools in Ngorongoro division, without a permit from the chief conservator, claiming that this could be a strategy for people to return to Ngorongoro, which interferes with government strategy. According to Sukums there has been a big wave of students from outside moving to boarding schools in Ngorongoro. This kind of prohibition is of course just more hooliganism and has no legal ground. There are families from which only one parent relocated, and the children remained. This move is intended to limit their access to education.
According to government accounts, by mid-March 2024, 7,195 people (not
all of them genuine) have moved out of Ngorongoro in the relocation exercise
since it was initiated in mid-2022. The same government estimates the total population
of Ngorongoro division to 110,000, which experts regard as hugely inflated and
including staff from the tourism industry and NCAA employees.
Meanwhile I've got reports that new tourist camps and lodges are being built in the Ndutu area. There are others in the highland and crater rim. I’d say that the case for a tourism boycott on Tanzania is very strong.
 |
| Looluwa, Misigiyo |
Very brief NCA background
All permits for construction or renovation of schools or health
facilities in the 25 villages of NCA, even those already with government funds
in their accounts, or third-party donations, have since 2021 been denied by the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and since 2022 there’s a drive to
manipulate the in every way suffocated Maasai to relocate to other people’s
land, that in no way can accommodate pastoralism, 600 kilometres away. These
are not the first restrictions or eviction efforts, but the worst. There’s a
population panic – used as an excuse for any human rights violations - on part
of the government and some international organizations, notably UNESCO even
when Ngorongoro is less densely populated than most areas of Tanzania and has
become a huge tourism money-maker for government coffers and deep pockets, with
the Maasai living there, in their land.
The Maasai already lost access to over 14,000 km2 when evicted from
Serengeti in 1959 by the colonial government – accompanied by Bernhard
Grzimek’s rallying cry, “Serengeti Shall Not Die” (this Nazi-party member also
wanted the Maasai out of Ngorongoro and is still revered by the German embassy
in Tanzania) - 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,
as seen again and again, has turned into the paramount interest, with
restrictions for the Ngorongoro Maasai.
In 1975, after a change in the NCA Act in 1974, the Maasai 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 (or 2008), to
the whole of NCA, after many “grave concerns” in the recommendations 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. The Maasai are
not allowed to build permanent houses and suffer all kinds of harassment by NCA
rangers that want to restrict motorbikes, building materials, and demanding
permits for just anything, including demanding ID for the Maasai to pass
Lodoare gate.
In 2006, there were
relocations to Jema in Oldonyosambu ward of Maasai deemed not to be original
inhabitants of NCA. It’s said that most of these people have returned - and in
April 2021 they were threatened with eviction.
After a visit by PM Majaliwa in December 2016, the Maasai lost access to
the three craters Ngorongoro, Olmoti, and Empakaai – by Majaliwa’s order and
not by any change to the NCA Act - 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. This was done through order and not any
change in the law. Replacement salt donated by the NCAA was found to be
substandard, adulterated, and lead to the death of many cows.
In September 2019, the notorious chief conservator Freddy Manongi made
public a Multiple Land Use Model review proposal, with a zoning proposal that was
so destructive that it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and culture
in Ngorongoro District. The proposal included the Loliondo 1,500 km2 land theft
with annexation to NCA, which was committed in 2022, and has led to widespread
impoverishment.
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 and repeated way not used by any previous president. A week after her
first of many speeches of this kind there was on 12th April 2021 demolition
orders for private houses, and government buildings like primary schools,
dispensaries, Endulen police station, also churches, and a mosque, which after
protests was stopped until further notice. The government switched to the
tactic of denying permits for already funded constructions and repairs, defunding
social services, and blocking any new projects.
Also in 2021, in May, the NCAA headquarters were hastily relocated to
Karatu, promotional spectacles headed by the infamous chief conservator Freddy
Manongi were held on parliamentary grounds, and in September 2021 a clip was uploaded in which then Deputy Minister Mary Masanja complains about having seen
cattle on a trip with MPs and Manongi talks about a war, that pastoralists “have
many conspiracies” and that conservationists must start cooking their own
conspiracies.
2022 started with a leaked fast-tracked plan for “voluntary” relocations
of Ngorongoro Maasai. 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. On the ground in Msomera, Handeni, there was of course a
registered village with its land use plan and bewildered villagers looking on
as houses were speedily being built for Ngorongoro Maasai. Eventually some Msomera
villagers started speaking up about dispossession and abuse. Arusha RC John
Mongella was the recommended overseer of the project, and that’s what he become
for the whole of the war against the Maasai in both NCA and Loliondo/Sale. 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 2022 then DED Mhina sent letters to Ngorongoro headteachers ordering them
to transfer COVID-19 funds for Ngorongoro schools to Handeni District council.
Adding to
the assault, Flying Medical Service the only non-profit Air Ambulance Service
in Tanzania, was grounded for 16 months by the Ministry of health and the
Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, from April 2022 to August 2023 when they
were temporarily allowed to operate again, but only for emergencies. This
temporary clearance ended in November 2023.
A hate campaign against the Ngorongoro Maasai was sharply escalated in
media, led by the editor/owner of the Jamvi la Habari newspaper, Habib Mchange,
the stupidly screaming sports presenter turned frontpage reviewer turned
inciter of ethnic hatred, Maulid Kitenge, and the old anti-Maasai Jamhuri paper
with Manyerere Jackton and Deusdatus Balile. While in the one-party parliament on 9th February 2022, parliamentarians competed in being wilfully or genuinely
ignorant, hateful, and calling for evictions from. 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. Then meetings about Ngorongoro were
held with Maasai imposters from other parts of Tanzania. Minister Ndumbaro held
lying sessions with diplomats to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and
Loliondo. Then some in-authentic, compromised, or naïve Maasai registered to be
relocated to Msomera and much paraded in media, with former MP Kaika Saning’o
Telele (who in 2023 started complaining) as the worst example.
A meeting was held on 12th October 2022 between government
representatives and Endulen Hospital. The government plan was announced as to
further suffocate key life serving services downgrading the hospital to a
clinic, which has not been implemented. This was adding to the harsh defunding
of clinics and dispensaries and the unexplained grounding of Flying Medical
Service for 16 months.
On 29th March 2023, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG),
Charles Kichere, announced that 2.5% of Ngorongoro households had been
“relocated” at a cost of TShs 24.7 billion. In a threatening way, he said that
the cost for “relocating” the remaining 22,000 households would be TShs 988
billion. The CAG did not disclose where the money is coming from.
In his budget speech of early June 2023, the then still Minister of
Natural Resources and Tourism, Mohamed Mchengerwa, in a militaristic way
promised that there will be no turning back, no surrender, in completing the
relocation exercise to Msomera.
On 13th July 2023, 15-year old Joshua Olepatorro from Nainokanoka was
attacked by NCAA rangers when returning from having grazed cows in Olmoti
crater. The ranger identified as Elibariki Israel Namungu - beat him with the
butt of his gun, so that three of his upper front teeth were smashed out, and
then they left him there in the bush, until he was picked up by his friends.
The artist Sifa Bujune was arrested for incitement and then charged with
specifically the lines about Joshua Olepatorro as “false, deceptive,
misleading, or inaccurate”, violating the Cybercrimes Act. This case was
eventually dismissed.
In August 2023, there were weeklong protests against blocked repair
permits for Ndian Primary School, which was followed by a crazy manhunt in
which over 30 people were abducted and tortured for up to a week. Even the
Ngorongoro MP was “arrested” and his whereabouts were unknown for two nights.
On 9th September 2023, Tundu Lissu was blocked from visiting
NCA, and then arrested and charged with illegal assembly for having held two
meetings in Loliondo the previous day. This led to protests by women in
Ngorongoro division, heavy presence, and harassment by the Field Force Unit,
including arrests and beating of women perceived as leaders.
On 25th September 2023, Chief Conservator Manongi signed a MoU with the army,
or more exactly the national service, Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa (JKT), about
building 5,000 houses in Msomera, Kitwai and Saunyi villages, half of them in
Msomera. The construction was initiated in a very militaristic way on 6th
October.
On 12th October 2023, it was announced that the notoriously
horrible NCA Chief Conservator Freddy Manongi has been replaced, two years
after he was supposed to retire. Then, on 15 March 2024, his successor, Richard Kiiza, was removed.
Loliondo
Not much is heard from Loliondo. From Ololosokwan there have been
reports that there is no longer any patrolling or seizures of cattle, but
that’s also because there’s been plenty of rain and grass in all areas. I’d
wish that the reason were that the High Court has stayed operation of the
illegal game reserve until determination of the case concerning the president’s
Government Notice – a court order that’s ignored by the lawless government.
There have been reports with little details about illegal seizures in Malambo
and in Arash I’ve been told that such crime is so common that people don’t even
bother to report it.
On 17th February there was an incomplete, but significant victory in the
Resident Magistrates' Court of Musoma for Loliondo pastoralists against the
Serengeti National Park cattle rustlers and fraudsters (DPP/Republic). The
amount in the Forfeited Assets Revenue Collection account after auctioning must
be reimbursed to the cattle owners. This is not the value of the livestock and
sales/theft had started before the auctioning. Still a victory, since the court
makes it clear that procedures were not followed. I’ve earlier written in more
detail about this outrageous case of Serengeti National Park rangers again
joining the crime in Loliondo – where the NCAA could not manage to fake any
legal ground for having seized cattle auctioned off. Serengeti rangers on 26th
October 2023, seized cattle on village land and drove them to Lobo inside
Serengeti, rushing to have them auctioned off as “unclaimed property” while the
owners and local leaders were working hard to have them released. The
magistrate court authorized the selling on 31st October, and it went ahead,
even after the high court in Musoma issued a stop order against it on 1st
November. The auctioning order was reversed on 10th November and Judge Komba
ordered the matter to be heard interparty. There were no receipts from the
auctioning that apparently had started already on 27th October. On 7th
November, MP Shangai – who had got involved and been in contact with Serengeti
representatives and ministers - spoke up in parliament. And in the interparty
rerun of the case, the judge found that procedures were not followed at all.
Where is Oriais Oleng’iyo?
MNRT presentation of massive land
alienation plans for the northern zone
In early March started circulating a presentation by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism , dated January 2024, for Minister Angellah
Kairuki, of evaluation on how to commit the same theft of pastoralist land as
in Loliondo and using the same lies – in areas all over northern Tanzania. This
intention of crime was presented already in the MNRT budget speech on 3rd
June 2022, there as a threat to areas all over Tanzania, and long before that
as a local threat in many parts. The Maasai in this zone have already lost
massive land to several national parks.
What’s presented is to "upgrade" huge parts of game controlled
areas (legally registered village land, often containing hunting blocks) into
game reserves, which is the same radical dispossession of land as a national
park - but with tourism hunting as its main money maker. As said, the same
crime as was committed in Loliondo in 2022, and the illegal and destructive
"Pololeti Game Reserve" in Loliondo is presented as a done deal when
there is a myriad of court cases, and the high court has stayed operation of
the game reserve while the case regarding the president's GN is ongoing. The
lawless government is however ignoring this court order. The first GN (government
notice), by the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, declaring the 1,500
km2 a protected area was declared null and void in the High Court for lacking
mandatory consultation. The same applies to the president’s GN, so that one too
should be thrown into the dustbin.
I must write a blog post dedicated solely to this game reserve
presentation that if implemented would destroy Maasai culture and livelihoods
in the whole of northern Tanzania.
As known, "upgrading GCA to GR" is not the only tool in the
government's war against the Maasai and other rural Tanzanians. As described in
this post, we have Ngorongoro where the Maasai are supposed to be driven out by
restrictions, illegal defunding, and harassment, under loud propaganda for
relocation. Kilimanjaro International Airport is an excuse for dispossessing
eight villages and an eviction order has been issued even when there’s an
ongoing court case, national parks expansions are a threat in many areas, like
Ruaha NP massively, on 27th March, 547 heads of cattle were
illegally seized in Iyala village that’s claimed for expansion of Ruaha NP, while
others must hand away their land "voluntarily" as WMAs, or else ...
I have sometimes, but not enough, brought up Lake Natron threats and resistance in this blog, and those have included WMA, game reserve or annexation to NCA. The illegal “Pololeti Game Reserve” in Loliondo is both “game reserve” and placed under NCAA management, which adds another layer of illegality. This presentation to the minister proposes an extreme 3,918 km2 “Lake Natron Game Reserve” affecting massive village land in both Ngorongoro (Sale division) and Longido districts. There are currently four investors in hunting blocks in the area, including Green Mile Safaris that received international protests years ago when a video of terrible hunting abuse was revealed. Kilombero North – owned by Akram Aziz - that are currently under criticism for the hunting of two more or less habituated trans-boundary “super tusker” elephant bulls that were being studied by researchers in Amboseli, Kenya.
Further, the presentation proposes a 448 km2 “Longido Game Reserve”, in
the area where Michel Mantheakis, chairman of Tanzania Hunting Operators Association
has a hunting block. It leaves out Enduimet WMA, but as seen in Wami-Mbiki,
WMAs do not always protect against game reserves. Then there’s a huge 1,501 km2
“Mto Wa Mbu Game Reserve” and a 747 km2 “Lolkisale-Simanjiro Game Reserve”. Left
out of this plan are forest reserves and commercial farms and ranches. It’s
Maasai grazing land that’s targeted. The areas left out in the presentation are
already there and hunting blocks are never in their entirety effective hunting
areas, so any talk about that they are “reduced” is, like in the Loliondo case,
complete nonsense.
In a hyperbolic way, I’ve suggested that the Tanzanian government may
just as well empty the whole country of people and focus solely on tourism, but
that’s basically what this plan is about for the northern zone … Stop it!
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
Please contact me with any questions about Loliondo. Never guess and never copy hurriedly written newspaper articles, or even reports by serious organizations, without double checking. Also, please contact me with any information you may have. Don’t assume that I’m getting it automatically. I must chase people 24-7 for information. While anyone with good intentions is allowed to use anything written in my blog, and I’ve long ago understood that many fear being associated with me, I appreciate being given credit or at least having my blog linked to.
Updates:
3rd April
Mongella was appointed as CCM Deputy Secretary General (Mainland).
8th April
At PM Majaliwa's budget presentation, Ngorongoro MP Emmanuel Oleshangai asked why, if relocation is "voluntary", the Maasai of Ngorongoro are suffering abuse, restrictions and blocked social services, including denied permits for building school toilets.
https://youtu.be/C1e2Mn9SJs4
In the High Court, the contempt of court case - Miscellaneous Civil Application No. 106 of 2023 – against former DC Mwangwala and four others was dismissed for technical reasons. Miscellaneous Civil Cause No. 178 of 2022, the case dealing with the president’s GN No.604 of 2022 was postponed to 24th June.
The article This Will Finish Us, by Stephanie McCrummen, was published in the Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/maasai-tribe-tanzania-forced-land-evictions-serengeti/677835/?gift=dE9IA9454Gh2KxkQPEYbCs3T48XX0c6V6Z0ThjSBklc&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social
10th April
135 Ngorongoro migrants to Msomera issued a statement about forgotten promises, warning others from relocating, and saying that they will return to Ngorongoro. https://youtu.be/jKbV6cNEduI
11th April
An article was spread online claiming that a meeting would have been held by traditional leaders in Meshili, Olbalbal, the previous day and that these unnamed leaders would have announced that they were relocating to Msomera to get a better life complained that politicians and activists were paying and misleading them to stay.
12th April
A letter by real leaders from Olbalbal set the records straight. There were no meeting as described in the fake article, they were not relocating, and that anyone wanting to do so, was free to relocate.
13th April
Maasai traditional leaders from nine districts issued a statement against the GR presentation by the MNRT, and basically against the war against the Maasai.
15th April
Deputy PM and Minister for Energy, Doto Biteko, visited Loliondo.
16th April
The Oakland Institute released two reports,. I received the one about Thomson Safaris with very mixed feelings.
18th April
On World Heritage Day, protests were held in five wards in Ngorongoro Division: Alaitole, Endulen, Ngorongoro, Olbalbal and Alaililai and in Ngaresero ward in Sale division.
27th April
The Maasai message was prominent also at the Chadema demonstration in Babati.
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