The Worst Year Ever in Loliondo is Ending Without any Hope on the Horizon

 

This year has been the worst year ever. With extreme brutality, breaking every law, the Tanzanian government has turned 1,500 km² of important grazing land, legally registered village land in Loliondo and Sale divisions of Ngorongoro district, into a fake and illegal “Pololeti Game Reserve”.

 

This is not just a violent operation that took place in June – when mzee Oriais Oleng'iyo was last seen wounded by bullets and held by security forces. It is an ongoing brutal crime that continues, in a most deadly way, until the illegal boundary beacons are uprooted and the lawless Government Notice No.604, issued by the president, thrown into the waste bin.

 

The land has been stolen, the grass has been stolen, livestock keep being stolen and ransom fees demanded, everybody’s mental health is stolen, all leaders – they had some moments of usefulness early this year - have become useless cowards through terror. This terror has been caused by the locking up of all councillors from affected wards on bogus murder charges for over five months, reporting has almost stopped through confiscation of smartphones, arrests, and additions to the murder charges.

 

This crime is significantly worse than the illegal evictions with mass arson in 2009 and 2017. Those attacks had a start and an end when the Maasai could rebuild, while the current brutality goes on and on.

 

In Ngorongoro Conservation Area, not to be confused with Loliondo, restrictions have worsened and hate propaganda in the press and in parliament have gone mouth-frothingly insane in this year. It looked like it was there that the government’s violence would explode, but instead, it did in Loliondo.

 

However, it is not only Ngorongoro district. Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government is waging a war against pastoralists all over Tanzania. The repression and lawlessness of the Magufuli era have been kept while a crazy tourist cult has become state religion. A cheesy travel show is the gospel and there is a promise of 5 million tourists by 2025. Tanzania is a perfect candidate for a total tourism boycott. 

Let's hope that we will meet 2024 without these two, at least not in their capacity as head of state/emirate.

In this blog post:

The government’s continued war against land and livestock

The dropped bogus murder case

Fake and forced land use plans

The war against livestock

The chief criminal Samia and her German donors

Thomson Safaris

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Court cases

Brief Loliondo hunting block background

Briefly about 2022 threats leading up to the brutal illegal demarcation

Briefly about the brutal and illegal demarcation of a fake game reserve

Loliondo Bogus Murder Case Dropped after Over Five Months, While the Horror Worsens with Fake and Forced Land Use Plans

 

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 1^st November it was announced that President Samia Suluhu Hassan on 14^th 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.

Amidst Government Terror and Lawlessness, the East African Court Fails to Deliver Justice to the Maasai of Loliondo

 

Update: On 1st November, Miscellaneous Cause No.09 of 2022 – a parallel case to the one filed in the EACJ to stop the fake and illegal Pololeti GCA - was mentioned in the high court and met with the information that the evil Samia Suluhu Hassan had on 14^th October declared the land as a “Pololeti Game Reserve”.

On 22nd November the DPP dropped the bogus murder case, and the new blog post is basically finished, except for some terrible uncertainties. 

More updates at the end of this blog post, and a new post will be ready as soon as possible. 

NEW BLOG POST

On 30^th September 2022 in Arusha, the East African Court of Justice delivered its ruling in Reference No. 10 of 2017 Ololosokwan Village Council & 3 Others versus the Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania. The case was so very clear that it seemed impossible that the Maasai would not win, and the judges seemed to have understood. Still, the ruling was “dismissed for lack of merits”. The court argued that the applicant villages failed to prove that the mass arson operation in 2017 was carried out on village land and not in Serengeti National Park, as was the lie by the government (respondent) witnesses in 2018, after the attorney general in the initial response from November 2017 had lied that the 1,500 km² would have been declared a protected area, which is what Minister Pindi Chana – illegally – did on 17^th June this year. The court seems not to have noticed this glaring discrepancy between the attorney general (respondent) and the respondent’s witnesses.

 

TANAPA's map from the 2017 operation clearly shows that an overwhelming majority of bomas were illegally burned on village land.

The lawyer Joseph Moses Oleshangay tweeted, “The case has been dismissed. I believe the three months’ time delay was meant to rewrite the decision. No other means can explain more than 90 days delay.”

 

In this blog post:

The ruling

Reference No. 10 of 2017

Illegal annexation to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and recent violence there

 

The Horror Continues in Loliondo and the Tanzanian Government Must be Stopped

Update 30^th September: I will as soon as possible finish a blog post about today’s terrible ruling in the East African Court of Justice. The court ruled that the applicants had failed to prove that the mass arson operation in 2017 was carried out on village land and not in Serengeti National Park as claimed by the government witnesses. This ruling, besides a terrible blow, is stupid in many ways.

NEW BLOG POST on 2nd October

The Tanzanian government’s dirty war against the Maasai in Loliondo, despite of significant support from international organisations for the Maasai, goes on and on, and sanctions, instead of just words, are needed. The brutal and lawless government – while violating all laws and human rights, and hardly even pretending to follow any procedure – is robbing the Maasai of 1,500 km² of mostly less densely populated grazing land - all of it legally registered village land - expecting them to squeeze into the remaining 2,500 km² of the 4,000 km² Loliondo hunting block where there are towns, agricultural areas, forests, a grabbed “private nature refuge”, and other land occupation, while shamelessly lying that this means that out of love they are “giving” the Maasai the 2,500 km². Government representatives even lie that this operation would be “participatory” - when ALL councillors (except one who fled) from affected wards were arrested the day before the illegal demarcation started and continue locked up on trumped up charges.

Local leaders that for the past years have shown weakness, and worse than weakness, have with the new version of the threat against the 1,500km² this year made it very publicly clear that giving away this land for a protected area in any form is not an option.

 

For years, this land alienation has been lobbied for by Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC) that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai. Now, after dissenting views inside the government were killed, and the always present repression of activism worsened during the Magufuli regime, the government of Samia Suluhu Hassan has made tourism into state religion, while anti-Maasai hate speech in the one-party parliament flouting on blood has reached insane levels. Unlike in the past, the Maasai don’t have any allies at all in the government and less than a handful in parliament, and there isn’t anyone around to stop a cultural genocide, other than independent or opposition voices, when voices are not enough. Flagrantly violating the injunction in the ongoing case in the East African Court of Justice apparently doesn’t carry any consequences for the Tanzanian government.

 

The Maasai have been shot at, teargassed and beaten. Thousands have become refugees across the border in Kenya and illegal arrests and malicious prosecution are used for further intimidation. Houses have been demolished or razed. Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) rangers keep seizing livestock on village land illegally demarcated as a protected area and demanding extortionate fines for their release. The threat is much worse than during the major illegal mass arson operations in 2009 and 2017. And there are illegal beacons that must be uprooted.

 

Where is Oriais Oleng'iyo? Last seen injured and “accompanied” by security forces on 10^th June.

 

My delay in publishing this blog post is unacceptable. So many crimes are being committed, but due to a worse than ever coordination and lack of leadership getting confirmed information is very hard. I fear there are many, many horrors that aren’t being reported in any way. Like to blog post since the illegal demarcation started, updates will be added at the end. 

 

In this blog post:

The illegal, brutal and lawless land demarcation, and the government’s lies about it

Crimes committed to uphold and benefit from the illegal protected area

The bogus murder case

When will the Germans be driven out of the Serengeti ecosystem?

Thomson Safaris – as always, OBC’s copycats in using the Loliondo police state

Summary of previous efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in Loliondo

The Brutal and Illegal Land Demarcation Operation in Contempt of Court Continues in Loliondo. It Must be Stopped and the Beacons Uprooted!

 

With total lawlessness, massive deployment of security forces, senseless violence and shameless lies, the Tanzanian government continues planting beacons* in contempt of court to demarcate and alienate from the Maasai the 1,500 km² of vitally important grazing land that it – lobbied by OBC that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai - has attempted to steal so many times. This operation started less than two weeks before the East African Court of Justice is expected to deliver its ruling on 22^nd June. Many people have been injured, are missing or arrested, including local leaders who were lured by the DC and arrested the first day, kept incommunicado, and now charged with "murder" (for self defence exercised while they were locked up) together with ten others. This crime must be stopped, and the illegal beacons must be uprooted!

The ruling was the day before the scheduled date postponed to September!

In the evening of Friday, 24th June people are being told to leave the illegally demarcated area or livestock will be seized tomorrow! Please help!

 Updates at the end of the blog post. 

NEW BLOG POST on 7th July.

*Not sure if the word “beacon” is used this way everywhere, but they are concrete boundary posts.

 

Following the blog post that I’ve kept updating,

in this blog post:

The crime

Very brief and simplified background

NEVER, through decades of land rights struggle and an increasingly threatening government side, has any village council or village assembly agreed to a Game Reserve under any kind of name. Not even the most corrupt and “investor friendly” groupings (not that they’d have any such authority) have ever signed away the land for a Game Reserve. Losing 1,500 km² of vitally important grazing land would lead to such destruction that it just isn’t anything anyone can contemplate. The community reports handed over to PM Majaliwa on 25^th May, though over-ambitious considering the time frame, did certainly not agree to any Game Reserve. The PM was going to “work on the recommendations”, but instead the government went to war against the Maasai. A pattern can be seen in the PM’s behaviour.

 

Pindi Chana in Her Budget Speech Announces Planned Contempt of Court in the Loliondo Case and Threatens Maasai Land All Over Tanzania

 

On 3^rd June, in her budget speech for 2022-2023, Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Pindi Chana said that her Ministry expects to upgrade Loliondo Game Controlled Area to a Game Reserve. This is not only a criminal threat of violence and destruction of thousands of lives and livelihoods, but if in any way implemented, contempt of court in the case, in its final stages, in the East African Court of Justice. This comes only days after local leaders, on 25^th May, in their futile dance to PM Majaliwa’s tune - at the same time as those from NCA – handed in explanations that the land is theirs, that they need it, that they care for it, and that they aren’t going anywhere. As if Majaliwa, or anyone in the government would listen … There must be loud protests, more court cases, perhaps even a reclaim of Serengeti if the government continues like this.

 

This blog post is about Loliondo and Sale Divisions, not to be mixed up with Ngorongoro Division (NCA), even if the issues are closely related.

 

In this blog post:

Chana’s land grab attempt via budget speech

Earlier criminal attempts

Escalation in 2022

How?

President Samia Keeps Threatening the Maasai of Ngorongoro, PM Majaliwa has Received Community Recommendations, and OBC’s Director is Back to Sharing His Views in Media

 

Another delayed blog post that’s too long, since too much is happening when I am about to publish, some information is impossible to obtain, I can’t keep up, and it must be put in context to avoid the confusion that will happen anyway. The president continues as a most significant threat to the Ngorongoro Maasai, OBC’s director has broken his media silence, harassment goes on, and then the Oakland Institute published a report about the anomalous relocation plans. “Community recommendations” on NCA and Loliondo/Sale have been handed over to PM Majaliwa to whose tune it’s not advisable to dance, which everyone has understood long ago, I hope. The NCA report is available and impressive. I must write more about it in another post.

 

In this blog post:

NCA:

The president insulting the Maasai and her hosts

The president’s Ngorongoro fixation

A reminder of the efforts for “voluntary” evictions

Dangerous dance with Majaliwa

Oakland report on resettlement plans

Some of NCAA’s “preparations” the past year

Transfer of local NCAA workers

Ngorongoro youths arrested by SENAPA rangers

Ngorongoro Conservation Area brief background

Loliondo:

OBC’s director Mollel breaks his long media silence

The confusion

OBC’s “journalist” again

This year’s Loliondo arrests

Brief reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in Loliondo

The Ngorongoro MP Spoke Up in Parliament About the Shocking Transfer to Handeni of Funds for Public Services, in Loliondo the Intimidation of Local Leaders Continues, and The Royal Tour is Used as Expected

 

Rest in peace Anny Daniel Laizer. My condolences to family and friends.

 

In the latest blog post, among several other issues, I mentioned that in addition to decades of other restrictions and harassment, obviously meant to drive the Maasai out of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, since 2021 the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has been blocking all new, already funded, public service projects. While writing (now long ago), I was asking for more details about what projects were being blocked, and since then such a list has been shared, and later letters were made public in which schools in Ngorongoro Conservation Area were being ordered to send Covid-19 funds already in their accounts to the account of Handeni District Council. On 13^th April, the Ngorongoro MP Emmanuel Oleshangai, spoke up in the national assembly, and in a confident way fought off several intervening ministers.

Update: on 6th May, Lendukai Kimaay, who was one of those writing the report on community views to be handed to PM Majaliwa, was arrested in Karatu and then taken to Arusha for interrogation. He was released on the 7th.

Update: On 6^th 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.

 

Meanwhile, I’m worried that not enough attention is given to protect the 1,500 km² in Loliondo that this year has been seriously threatened by both the Arusha RC, the PM and the former Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, and as reported in the latest blog post, in a new turn of the Loliondo police state the councillor of Arash was arrested, or abducted, by his own CCM party for speaking up. On Easter Eve the illegal arrests of councillors continued with those from Malambo, Piyaya, and Maaloni. The councillors of Arash and Malambo must keep reporting to the police. The latest I heard is that the Malambo village chairman and a traditional leader are summoned to the Loliondo police tomorrow, 6th May.

 

In President Samia’s own “documentary” The Royal Tour, the words about the Maasai were as if preparing for evictions from Ngorongoro, and in a related interview she now also mentioned Loliondo, trying to engage in the usual anti-Loliondo rhetoric by the MNRT and investors, without getting even that right.  

 

In this blog post:

Blocked public services in Ngorongoro Division

Ngorongoro Conservation Area brief background

NCA developments since 2021

Public services as weapon of war

Intimidation continues, but Loliondo is not back to silence, I hope

Brief reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km² in Loliondo

The Royal Tour

Anti-Maasai Genocidal Frenzy in the Tanzanian Parliament when Discussing Ngorongoro

 

Genocidal anti-Maasai frenzy has been exhibited in parliament, almost without pushback. The plan is now to review the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Act, and to receive more lecturing from the biggest enemies of the Maasai.

 

Remember that Loliondo and Ngorongoro Conservation Area are two different, but closely related issues.

 

In this blog post:

Loathsome spectacle in parliament

Statements

Adulterated saltlicks

Permanent Secretaries have arrived in Loliondo

Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the MLUM review proposal

Ndumbaro

The Arusha RC Sends a Message that the Government Must Grab Land in Loliondo to Please Investor for the Broader Interest of the Nation – He can Forget About it!

 

The Tanzanian government is again preparing to grab grazing land in Loliondo for the benefit of the “investor” and this time it’s the Arusha Regional Commissioner who’s been sent as the messenger. Let’s stop any such plan!

 

The RC was also expected to drop a terrible message about Ngorongoro Conservation Area. He didn’t, but let’s prepare to stop that as well!

 

The enemies of the Maasai are very repetitive, but don’t let that divert your focus. There is a pattern of violence from authorities when local leaders are weak and ready to compromise, and when the rains fail and the dry season turns terrible, like now, but for some reason the Maasai are leavened up and ready to defend their land, after years of lying flat.

 

The Osero will never be grabbed!

Oloirien 13th January 2022

 

In this blog post:

The visit by the RC and the threat

Community Press statement delivered in Oloirien

The president appoints a human rights criminal as head of TANAPA

Despite credible information beforehand the RC was silent about NCA

Update: on 21^st January the villages of Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien, and Arash filed an application in the East African Court of Justice.

In Malambo there were very worrying developments.

I’ll write a new blog post as soon as I’ve got more details.

 

List of people in one way or other involved in the long-time slander, terror, and corruption syndicate in Loliondo

In this blog post:

Introduction

The List

Summary of Osero developments of the past decades

Since long before it became the condition of the whole of Tanzania, Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district has been a virtual police state. Everyone who has ever dared to speak up against plans to alienate 1,500 km2 of important grazing land from the local Maasai have at some point had their citizenship questioned, been threatened, slandered, illegally arrested, and even maliciously prosecuted. The same has happened to those who have just been suspected of being able to speak up … This is done by government officials, and others, that seem overly eager to please Otterlo Business Corporation, OBC, that since the early 1990s organize trophy hunting for Sheikh Mohammed, the current billionaire ruler of Dubai.

Hearing in the East African Court of Justice, but Perjurers not yet Cross Examined

On 10^th – 11^th June there was a hearing of Reference No. 10 of 2017, Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien, and Arash versus the Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania. As mentioned in the previous blog post, my plan was to write extensively about this, but the defendants had only set aside two days, and their witnesses will be cross examined at a later date, and that was the matter of most interest to me. Now besides being delayed, I may repeat mostly old news here, but it wouldn’t be the first time, and I need to keep repeating the basic facts until they stick (it doesn’t work that way, but I can try...)

All information from readers is, as always, more than welcome.

In this blog post:

East African hearing 10^th–11^th June, without as much happening as I’d expected

The questions

Summary of Osero developments

Science Magazine Article with Huge Media Coverage, Anti-Loliondo Co-Author, and a not so Hidden Wish to Influence the Tanzanian Government

In this blog post:

Article in Science Magazine

Summary of Osero developments of the past decades (important for newcomers)

Like all blog posts this one is delayed, since among other problems, at the same time I had to write about the District Security Officer who’s been charged with corruption, and about the JWTZ soldier brutality that recently led to the death of 26-year old footballer Yohana “Babuche” Saidea. Probably over thirty articles have now been published about the Science Magazine article “Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem”, and none of them include any criticism at all, so my delay is unacceptable. I wish more people could have a critical look at it. My post is from a perspective of land rights and human rights in Loliondo.

Why now?

On 29^th March, Science Magazine published an article titled Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (behind a paywall, but there are easy ways of opening it), about which the Director of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Simon Mduma, says (apparently in a press release, since it shows up in several newspaper articles from around the world, and at a press conference in Arusha), 

"These results come at the right time, as the Tanzanian government is now taking important steps to address these issues on a national level,". 

The Case Against OBC’s Director has Got Closer to Serious Crimes in Loliondo – and then Tragedy Caused by Soldier Brutality has Struck Wasso Town

The bad news of an article in Science Magazine (no news in the actual article, but its massive media coverage at this particular time is bad news,) and the good news of former District Security Officer Issa Ng’itu being charged with receiving money from Isaack Mollel have come at the same time, and I’ve got stuck with a delayed blog post that’s too long and confusing, and that I couldn’t get anyone to read and comment on, but then I was advised to separate the two issues into two blog posts. The post about the Science article will follow very shortly.

Then there was tragic news as well… On 2^nd April Yohana Saidea, also known as Babuche, passed away in Wasso town from injuries inflicted by the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (JWTZ) soldiers stationed at Lopolun, who on 7^th March had tortured him. The information I’ve got so far is found at the end of this blog post.

Poleni sana familia na marafiki. Pamzika kwa amani Yohana.

In this blog post:

District security officer charged in the Mollel case

The questions

Death caused by the bullying and torturing soldiers in Wasso

Summary of osero developments of the past decades

Outrageous Perjury about Loliondo in the East African Court of Justice

In this blog post:

Outrageous perjury in the EACJ

The cases against OBC’s director

The question

Summary of osero developments of the past decades

People who know what’s going on in Loliondo continue completely mute, and even some who are on the ground ask me if I know anything... Far too late I’ve got hold of some affidavits with the most deplorable perjury in the East African Court of Justice case. A court hearing has been held in the case – or one of the cases – against OBC’s director. The important questions remain unanswered.

Fear, Confusion, and Cautious Hope in Loliondo - and OBC’s Director Charged with Economic Crimes

In this blog post:

Reactions to the president’s statement

The very unexpected arrest of OBC’s director Isaack Mollel

Remaining questions about the attacks by soldiers in 2018

“Reasons” for the illegal arrests in January

Extreme police brutality

Now

Summary of osero developments of the past decades

This is another unacceptably delayed blog post that’s become too long. Much is happening, some very unexpected and somewhat promising, but exact information is harder than ever to come by. Those who know are silent, and even people on the ground in Loliondo ask me for information… Too many dots remain unconnected, and I’d need some assistance with this. For the first time since the 1990’s it looks like OBC are no longer untouchable. I hope to soon be able to write a blog post with answers to all the questions here, but for that I need some help.

Innocent People Have Again been Illegally Arrested in Loliondo

When the situation in Loliondo seemed to have calmed down after soldiers stationed at the camp in Lopolun had the week before Christmas again gone on violent rampage, beating up innocent people, and burning down 13 bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo, somehow authorities decided that silenced and terrified people still needed more intimidation, and again engaged in illegal arrests. Innocent people were arrested for six days, which is very illegal indeed.

This blog post is unacceptably delayed for the usual reasons. One of them is that people keep telling me that I will get important information “tomorrow” and then such information isn’t delivered… 

Many questions remain unanswered.

In this blog post:

Illegal arrests

Sensationally good, and the same time absurd, statement by RC Gambo

Aborted visit by the King of Morocco

Conservation Watch interviewing Germans that say that Mwakilema lied in March 2017

Summary of osero developments of the past decades
Update 15^th January: the president suspends exercise to remove villages in protected areas

November of Terror and Silence in Loliondo has Turned into Christmas of Terror and Silence

Fear and silence have continued into December. In November Tanzanian soldiers could torture and chase away people, and burn their bomas, in serious violation of interim orders issued by the East Africa Court of Justice, while all leaders in Loliondo stayed silent – and cattle were illegally detained on village land.

Beatings continue, and on 21^st December 12 bomas (or per other accounts 11 bomas/24 houses) were burned in the Leken area of Kirtalo village.

This blog post has kept being unacceptably delayed and contains some parts that may to some seem irrelevant considering currents atrocities.

The situation is far, far too painful and help is needed from anyone with some influence.

Update: people are again illegally arrested and I’m working on a blog post, even if information is scarce. THRDC have published a brief news alert.  

In this blog post:

Crimes of November

Christmas crimes

The DC comments

The silence

Manongi and the Jamhuri anti-Maasai rag

Charity as a very dirty weapon

The EU

Summary of developments of the past decades

Extreme Violence Has Again Erupted in Loliondo, Violating Interim Orders, and Nobody is Speaking Out

In wide areas around the camp of OBC, that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, people are being attacked and beaten, and chased away together with their cattle. This is not only a crime against human rights and Tanzanian law, but it’s a serious violation of interim orders issued by the East African Court of Justice on 25^th September this year.

Beatings in areas of Kirtalo village have been reported since 10^th November, and bomas are again being burned, under unprecedented silence. The situation has kept deteriorating as I’ve been writing on this blog post while getting piecemeal information from many people on the ground.

This time the crimes are mostly being committed by soldiers from the Tanzanian army that have a camp set up in Lopolun since March this year.

A young man studying far from home tells me: “Very stupid, let them be beaten until they learn to report all sort of inhumane happening to them”, “If they can bear brutality let them move on WITH their stupidity”, “Let them be beaten mercilessly until they demonstrate”, “It doesn't start today or the day after today but the issue is a long planned process that gonna drag the life of Maasai”. I will never accept this, and I know that there are many Tanzanians who don’t accept living in a gangster state, and will do what they can to stop the brutality, however stupid, or not - at least they have not always been this passive … - the Maasai of Loliondo may be.

Never has an urgent blog post been more delayed …

Update: on 21^st December 11 more bomas were burned down by soldiers in Leken, Kirtalo. Blog post on the way. 

In this blog post:

Brief recent background

Massive violation of interim orders in wide areas around OBC’s camp, with updates

Summary of developments of the past decades

The Spectacular U-turner Kigwangalla has Commented on Loliondo in a TV Interview

In this blog post:

The interview on Kwanza TV

A reminder of the spectacular U-turn
Summary of developments of the past decades

Update: I’ve since 10^th November been hearing reports about beatings and evictions in wide areas around OBC’s camp, in serious violation of the interim orders, and will publish a blog post as soon as I’ve got more details. 

On 31^st October, Kwanza TV aired a lengthy interview with the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla, and in this interview he talked about Loliondo for a few minutes. As known by followers of this blog, almost exactly a year ago Kigwangalla made the most splendid promises about Loliondo, including promising that OBC would have left before January 2018. Then sadly he made a complete U-turn that I’ve also written about in several posts. In advance, Kwanza TV had been asking the public to submit questions for the minister. The question I submitted wasn’t asked though… “Mh @HKigwangalla, tufanyeje na”syndicate”ya OBC inayotesa wananchi Loliondo?Ulilisemea hili mwaka jana, hata kuahadi OBC ingaliondoka kabla ya 2018! Tunafahamu ulishabadilika kuhusu OBC. Umebadililika pia kuhusu mkurugenziMollel uliesema alitaka kukuhonga? @kwanza_tv #chukuahatua” (translation: what should we do about OBC’s syndicate that persecute people in Loliondo? You talked about this last year, even promising that OBC would have left before 2018! We know that you have changed about OBC. Have you also changed about director Mollel who you said wanted to bribe you?)  I hope it didn’t sound like I believe that Kigwangalla accepted Mollel’s supposed offer. I think his reason for throwing the Maasai of Loliondo under the bus are far more ambitious and long-term than US dollars 100,000, or 200,000 into his pocket.