Betrayal and Abuse Continue in Loliondo

Nothing was done about the human rights abuse of February.

The RC came.

Kidupo kept getting worse.

A surveying team came and left.

Channel 10 attacked again.

Then Kenyans and those “helping Kenyans” were attacked.

Updates on the human rights abuse in February

The people whose houses were burned 10^th-14^th February did, according to reports I've got, not get any help.

The Aggressively Litigious Thomson Safaris with their Dollars Manage to Silence a Very Important Website

An alarm against injustice has been silenced. Armed with multiple lawyers, multiple law firms Thomson Safaris set out to stop the truth from being told, and the Stop Thomson Safaris website is no more.

To keep their anonymity – for explicable reasons being based in Tanzania - the creators of the website Stop Thomson Safaris have been forced to make a settlement with the land grabbing tour operator that sued them for “defamation and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage” and used a subpoena to try to make the web host Weebly disclose their identity.

A Model for Community-Based tourism Through Violence and Dispossession – More About Thomson Safaris’ “Enashiva” in Loliondo

In memory of Moringe ole Parkipuny, sadly missed for one year now.

-There have been some meetings.

-In a meeting with the District Commissioner an agreement was made that cows and herders will no longer be harassed on the occupied land, but will graze freely.

-What happened when Olunjai Timan was shot because of Thomson Safaris’ occupation of Maasai land.

-And a reminder of what the “philanthropic” land grabber has been doing during these years.

Olunjai Timan (I’ve earlier been spelling his name “Olonjai”) left hospital returning home to Mondorosi on 16^th July, one week after being shot by a policeman working for Thomson Safaris. His wound still needs regular cleaning and dressing.

The Negotiations – Another Update on Thomson Safaris’ Land Grab in Loliondo

I have got some information from Loliondo that I’ve tried to check with different sources and would like to share here on my blog.

Let’s start with the rare good news: the appeal was successful! On 31 May 2011 the case against Tanzania Conservation Ltd (Thomson Safaris) and Tanzania Breweries Ltd was dismissed on a preliminary objection. The objection was that it’s exactly the same case as in the late 80s, which is not correct. An appeal was sought and in May 2012 it was granted. Now there will be a full trial in the high court. The court case moves slowly delaying the deliverance of justice. I’m worried, but it seems people closer to the happenings seem confident that justice will prevail and the land will be returned to the community.

Some Updates on Thomson Safaris and Otterlo Business Corporation in Loliondo

Unfortunately I have not yet been able to return to Loliondo, but I think it’s time, one year after my visit, to write an update using the information that has reached me here in Sweden. For a – necessary - background of the issue at hand here’s my first blog post:

http://termitemoundview.blogspot.com/2010/03/sukenya-farm-conflict-what-thomson.html

Loliondo Women Say Enough is Enough

I was waiting to write something about recent developments in Loliondo until having the whole picture clear and some really good article to link to, but now it has occurred to me that a blog is a web log with ongoing commentary.

I’ve been told that on 6 April Maasai women had started gathering in the villages to go to Loliondo town and hand in their CCM (government party) cards. They were protesting against the July 2009 evictions to give way to the UAE hunting company Otterlo Business Corporation. The evictions included the burning of houses and other human (and animal) rights abuses. Several children were lost in the chaos and one of them has not been found. I have a summary of these events in my first blog entry. A parliamentary report into the evictions was supposed to be presented in Parliament in February, but was blocked by the CCM caucus. There’s considerable risk that the report is a whitewash, but a debate in parliament is needed.

The Sukenya Farm Conflict – What Thomson Safaris are up to in Loliondo and How I Became a Prohibited Immigrant in Tanzania

In a hidden corner of the world in the far north of Tanzania lies Loliondo Division, one of the three divisions – Ngorongoro, Loliondo and Sale - of Ngorongoro District where for hundreds of years people have lived of cattle, managing the land communally as wet and dry season grazing, like the wild animals migrate seasonally. This together with the Maasai pastoralists’ cultural aversion to eating game meat has been part in making the area the most spectacular place in the world for watching wildlife and the land has therefore become very valuable - which has been far from only a blessing. Under pressure from international conservation all people were evicted from the huge Serengeti National Park in 1959. The colonial government made a deal with the Maasai living in the eastern part of the National Park giving them land further east in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (some also moved to Loliondo Game Controlled Area) where their interests would be paramount, but instead the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority now reserves the right to decide where the Maasai can graze their cattle and to evict or relocate families that they don’t consider original inhabitants of the area. Human population has increased greatly since the 60s, but the number of cattle has not, while at the same time the NCAA has strict regulations limiting food cultivation. In 1975 families living inside the world famous crater were chased out, eviction threats have been a constant over the years and have recently intensified. In Loliondo Game Controlled Area land conflicts are as common as dust and many of these conflicts originated in the late 80s during Tanzania’s transition from socialism to a more market orientated economy. Some often corrupt and, in those times, even more often illiterate leaders of village councils sold off communal lands to investors without the consent of village assemblies, and land was alienated in many other fraudulent ways.