LOLIONDO – On January 11, 2022 the Arusha Regional Commissioner met with village chairmen and councilors in Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District to inform them of the government’s decision to designate the 1500 km2 area of their legally registered village land as a wildlife corridor. If carried out, the creation of a wildlife corridor would result in the Maasai losing ancestral land vital to sustain their pastoral livelihoods.
This latest threat is a continuation of past efforts to evict Maasai from their land in Loliondo to allow for safari tourism and trophy hunting. The Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Otterlo Business Company (OBC) — which runs hunting excursions for the emirate’s royal family and their guests — will reportedly control commercial hunting in the area despite the company’s past involvement in several violent evictions of the Maasai, burning of homes, and the killing of thousands of animals in the area.
“That the Maasai are once again facing eviction to please the UAE (Dubai!) royal family shows the Tanzanian government continues to prioritize tourism revenues at the expense of the Indigenous pastoralists who have sustainably stewarded the area for generations,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute and author of Losing the Serengeti, a 2018 report from the Institute that extensively documented OBC’s impact on the area.
Past violent government-led evictions of Maasai from Loliondo in 2009, and 2017 led four villages to seek recourse in the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). In September 2018, the EACJ granted an injunction, which prohibited the Tanzanian government from evicting the villagers, seizing their livestock, destroying property, or engaging in harassment against Maasai communities living in Ololosokwan, Oloirien, Kirtalo, and Arash villages. The renewed attempt to seize this same 1,500 km2 of land appears to be in blatant violation of the injunction and legal action has been taken at the EACJ, where the village chairmen have applied for urgent stop orders.
In response, thousands of Maasai gathered to protest the illegal planting of beacons in several places in the affected area in Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district. After people demonstrated “peacefully” in Ololoaokwan”, the Field Force Unit, anti-riot police. opened fire against the Maasai people, injuring more than 40.
Talking to Joseph Moses Oleshangay, an Human Rights Lawyer, activist for democracy and indigenous land rights, our agency was informed that:
“The community filed a case in the East Africa Court and in 2018 the court issued temporary orders against the government pending determination of the main suit. The judgement is scheduled on 22/06/2022
Now, the government has deployed militia groups to force the annexation of over 1500 sq.km maasai land, which over 70,000 Maasai depend on for their livestock. To make this happen, the government has deployed hundreds militia to enforce the annexation of the land. The deployment was on 7/06/2022.
From 10/6/2022 sign of violent process started to emerge with police telling the gathering community that they will enforce the annexation and if they have any issue they should consult civilian leadership. On the 10th, they started teargasing people and then turned to firing live bullets.
At least 29 people has been badly wounded in Ololosokwan, six are missing and 2 people reported dead but it’s difficult to verify.
Ten councilors has been arrested on 9/6/2022 and their whereabouts remain unknown to date. This morning, the militia has been roaming teargasing in the maasai homestea”, said Oleshangay.
Our agency will continue to observe the situation of the Maasai people in Loliondo. For more information on the subject, Susanna Nordlund is researching and exposing the theme for more then 10 years.
