Endangered
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 22, 2011
- 922
- 231
I. Introduction
In 1958 the British colonial Government of Tanganyika forcefully evicted Maasai pastoralists to give room for the establishment of Serengeti National Park. The victims were resettled outside the park including in the Loliondo Division which was later granted a legal status of Game Controlled Area which does not extinguish the Maasai land rights. In the 1970s some of the villages were registered under the Villages and Ujamaa Villages (Registration, Designation and Administration) Act No.21 of 1975. This Act was repealed by the Local Government District Authorities Act No.7 of 1982. The said villages (of which some new ones emerged after their subdivisions) were registered under the new Act. The villages have the same legal status as other villages in Tanzania whose residents have individual rights of occupancy and other rights provided under the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999.
In 1992 the Government granted a hunting concession, without the consent of the Maasai pastoralists, to a private company namely OBC from Dubai owned by the royal family of the United Arabs Emirates. Pastoralists resisted the invasion of their ancestral land unsuccessfully.
In 2009 the Minister for Natural Resources Tourism, then Shamsa Mwangunga, ordered eviction of pastoralists from the Loliondo Game Controlled Area in the name of environmental degradation. She also alleged that Maasai pastoralists of LGCA are Kenyans. The eviction led to gross human rights violations that have been reported at Africa Commission of Human and Peoples Rights, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Populations and the mass media.
Having failed to alienate the land, in 2010 with financial support from OBC and facilitation from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism the Government produced the Ngorongoro District Land Use Plan which set aside 1,500 km2 for the Game Controlled Area. The Ngorongoro District Council rejected the plan in total which was then shelved.
In 2013 the then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, claimed that 4,000 km2 LGCA, which is the entire Loliondo Division, is a reserve land. He added that the Government is retaining 1,500 km2 and giving the Maasai pastoralists 2,500 km2 as if the whole of 4,000 km2 do not belong to the pastoralists. This attempt also failed.
Having failed again in the attempt to regain 1,500 km2 as proposed by the minister explained above, in 2013 the Prime Minister, then Peter Pinda, after reviewing evidence submitted by the Maasai pastoralists of Loliondo Division admitted and declared that the land belong to the pastoralists villages.
In 2016 the incumbent Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism claimed that pastoralists are destroying the critical area adjacent to Serengeti National Park through increased human activities and livestock population from Kenya. Pastoralists reacted with extreme disquiet, which led the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, to visit the area in December 2016. The Prime Minister instructed Arusha Regional Commissioner to form a committee to come-up with recommendations for a permanent solution of the conflict.
The committee submitted a report to the Prime Minister in April 2017. It was expected that the Prime Minister would announce the Government decision. While this is awaited harassment, shooting, burning of homesteads, threats and unlawful evictions are climaxing in Loliondo.
II. Current situation
1. On August 8, 2017 park ranger from Serengeti National Park shot a Maasai warrior namely Parmoson Ololoso of Njoroi Village in Ololosokwan Ward. The victim is admitted at Waso District Designated Hospital. He is still fighting for his live at the hospital.
2. Livestock have been seized in the village land from several families. These includes, but not limited to, livestock belonging to Ole Piando, Cosmas Leitura, Paulo Ngaiseri, Kasosi Mbatiany, Ambai Meitaya, Olesimanga Parmwaat, Singooi Ndoinyo and Munga Tanin.
3. Unlawful fines amounting to TSh50,000 per head of cattle is charged. The family of Sekerot Lengume of Njoroi Village, for example, paid TSh16,000,000. Some are simply fined but they are not issued with any receipt when they pay. Many pastoralists are not ready to provide evidence because of fear of retribution from the Government.
4. Between August 13, 2017 and August 14, 2017 the game rangers and the police burnt to ashes 77 homesteads in Ololosokwan Village, 14 Kirtalo Village, 94 Arash and Piyaya Villages. A homestead has about 6 houses on average and on average about 4 people live in a house. Approximately 6,800 people have been rendered homeless and the number is likely to increase since the violent eviction is going on.
5. Four Maasai pastoralists have been arrested in Arash Village. They are: Mamayo Kukutia, Laanyu Keko, Ndikale Kerewa and Salangat Moti. So far their where-about remains unknown.
6. Although the park rangers are claiming to be evicting people from Serengeti National Park, the current trend of burning homesteads shows that the intention is to evict Maasai pastoralists from the entire 1,500 square kilometers area as all of the burnt homesteads are in the village land outside the park.
7. The eviction is denying about 118,213 (as per 2010/2011) livestock access to water in Olosai, Ilmolelian, Esiteti, Edarpoi, Olembuya, Kirung’a, Pololet and Oloirien Rivers and pastures in the 1,500km2.
8. The eviction is denying about 60% of the population of Loliondo Division that stood at 63,288 in 2010 access to land, water and shelter. It is creating food insecurity and in effect leading to impoverishment.
9. The livelihoods of Maasai pastoralists who depend on mobility of their livestock as a way to mitigate shocks of climate change is at stake.
10. Given the previous intimidations of the mass media, civil society, human rights activists and any other independent entity access to the area is risk.
III. Recommendations
1. Immediately cease the ongoing violent eviction and violation of human rights and further its plan to alienate land belonging to villages for whatever reason including allegation of trespassing into Serengeti National Park or to hand it over to the foreign investor.
2. The Government desists from its deliberate misleading propaganda that the 1,500km2 land it is gabbing is not within the boundaries of legal villages. It should leave alone the villages to manage their land according to the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999 and Local Government (District Authority) Act No.7 of 1982.
3. The minister and ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism should inform the President, Prime Minister and the public the plain truth of its intention to allocate the land for an investor instead of providing baseless claims, which are intended to deceive the public support.
4. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism should stop intimidating pastoralists of Loliondo and Sale Divisions through their representatives, human rights activists, civil society organizations and journalists who are following up this conflict as this is contrary to their right to information and freedom of expression protected by the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.
5. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development should assume its legal mandate through the Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development to protect the village land as the custodian of village land.
6. The Government should desist from misusing the peace and security organs particularly the police force which it often uses to forcefully evict people leaving behind untold damages to the vulnerable especially women and children.
7. We call upon the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance to investigate on the violations and take to task the violators including individuals from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
8. Responsible ministries should evaluate the humanitarian needs caused by the eviction and provide response in terms of food and shelters.
In 1958 the British colonial Government of Tanganyika forcefully evicted Maasai pastoralists to give room for the establishment of Serengeti National Park. The victims were resettled outside the park including in the Loliondo Division which was later granted a legal status of Game Controlled Area which does not extinguish the Maasai land rights. In the 1970s some of the villages were registered under the Villages and Ujamaa Villages (Registration, Designation and Administration) Act No.21 of 1975. This Act was repealed by the Local Government District Authorities Act No.7 of 1982. The said villages (of which some new ones emerged after their subdivisions) were registered under the new Act. The villages have the same legal status as other villages in Tanzania whose residents have individual rights of occupancy and other rights provided under the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999.
In 1992 the Government granted a hunting concession, without the consent of the Maasai pastoralists, to a private company namely OBC from Dubai owned by the royal family of the United Arabs Emirates. Pastoralists resisted the invasion of their ancestral land unsuccessfully.
In 2009 the Minister for Natural Resources Tourism, then Shamsa Mwangunga, ordered eviction of pastoralists from the Loliondo Game Controlled Area in the name of environmental degradation. She also alleged that Maasai pastoralists of LGCA are Kenyans. The eviction led to gross human rights violations that have been reported at Africa Commission of Human and Peoples Rights, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Populations and the mass media.
Having failed to alienate the land, in 2010 with financial support from OBC and facilitation from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism the Government produced the Ngorongoro District Land Use Plan which set aside 1,500 km2 for the Game Controlled Area. The Ngorongoro District Council rejected the plan in total which was then shelved.
In 2013 the then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, claimed that 4,000 km2 LGCA, which is the entire Loliondo Division, is a reserve land. He added that the Government is retaining 1,500 km2 and giving the Maasai pastoralists 2,500 km2 as if the whole of 4,000 km2 do not belong to the pastoralists. This attempt also failed.
Having failed again in the attempt to regain 1,500 km2 as proposed by the minister explained above, in 2013 the Prime Minister, then Peter Pinda, after reviewing evidence submitted by the Maasai pastoralists of Loliondo Division admitted and declared that the land belong to the pastoralists villages.
In 2016 the incumbent Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism claimed that pastoralists are destroying the critical area adjacent to Serengeti National Park through increased human activities and livestock population from Kenya. Pastoralists reacted with extreme disquiet, which led the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, to visit the area in December 2016. The Prime Minister instructed Arusha Regional Commissioner to form a committee to come-up with recommendations for a permanent solution of the conflict.
The committee submitted a report to the Prime Minister in April 2017. It was expected that the Prime Minister would announce the Government decision. While this is awaited harassment, shooting, burning of homesteads, threats and unlawful evictions are climaxing in Loliondo.
II. Current situation
1. On August 8, 2017 park ranger from Serengeti National Park shot a Maasai warrior namely Parmoson Ololoso of Njoroi Village in Ololosokwan Ward. The victim is admitted at Waso District Designated Hospital. He is still fighting for his live at the hospital.
2. Livestock have been seized in the village land from several families. These includes, but not limited to, livestock belonging to Ole Piando, Cosmas Leitura, Paulo Ngaiseri, Kasosi Mbatiany, Ambai Meitaya, Olesimanga Parmwaat, Singooi Ndoinyo and Munga Tanin.
3. Unlawful fines amounting to TSh50,000 per head of cattle is charged. The family of Sekerot Lengume of Njoroi Village, for example, paid TSh16,000,000. Some are simply fined but they are not issued with any receipt when they pay. Many pastoralists are not ready to provide evidence because of fear of retribution from the Government.
4. Between August 13, 2017 and August 14, 2017 the game rangers and the police burnt to ashes 77 homesteads in Ololosokwan Village, 14 Kirtalo Village, 94 Arash and Piyaya Villages. A homestead has about 6 houses on average and on average about 4 people live in a house. Approximately 6,800 people have been rendered homeless and the number is likely to increase since the violent eviction is going on.
5. Four Maasai pastoralists have been arrested in Arash Village. They are: Mamayo Kukutia, Laanyu Keko, Ndikale Kerewa and Salangat Moti. So far their where-about remains unknown.
6. Although the park rangers are claiming to be evicting people from Serengeti National Park, the current trend of burning homesteads shows that the intention is to evict Maasai pastoralists from the entire 1,500 square kilometers area as all of the burnt homesteads are in the village land outside the park.
7. The eviction is denying about 118,213 (as per 2010/2011) livestock access to water in Olosai, Ilmolelian, Esiteti, Edarpoi, Olembuya, Kirung’a, Pololet and Oloirien Rivers and pastures in the 1,500km2.
8. The eviction is denying about 60% of the population of Loliondo Division that stood at 63,288 in 2010 access to land, water and shelter. It is creating food insecurity and in effect leading to impoverishment.
9. The livelihoods of Maasai pastoralists who depend on mobility of their livestock as a way to mitigate shocks of climate change is at stake.
10. Given the previous intimidations of the mass media, civil society, human rights activists and any other independent entity access to the area is risk.
III. Recommendations
1. Immediately cease the ongoing violent eviction and violation of human rights and further its plan to alienate land belonging to villages for whatever reason including allegation of trespassing into Serengeti National Park or to hand it over to the foreign investor.
2. The Government desists from its deliberate misleading propaganda that the 1,500km2 land it is gabbing is not within the boundaries of legal villages. It should leave alone the villages to manage their land according to the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999 and Local Government (District Authority) Act No.7 of 1982.
3. The minister and ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism should inform the President, Prime Minister and the public the plain truth of its intention to allocate the land for an investor instead of providing baseless claims, which are intended to deceive the public support.
4. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism should stop intimidating pastoralists of Loliondo and Sale Divisions through their representatives, human rights activists, civil society organizations and journalists who are following up this conflict as this is contrary to their right to information and freedom of expression protected by the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.
5. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development should assume its legal mandate through the Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development to protect the village land as the custodian of village land.
6. The Government should desist from misusing the peace and security organs particularly the police force which it often uses to forcefully evict people leaving behind untold damages to the vulnerable especially women and children.
7. We call upon the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance to investigate on the violations and take to task the violators including individuals from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
8. Responsible ministries should evaluate the humanitarian needs caused by the eviction and provide response in terms of food and shelters.
