Tanzania:Loliondo controversy boils up again

01 September 2012, 19:50

http://kenyadailyeye.jibostudios.com/?p=35185

Loliondo controversy boils up again

By In2EastAfrica Reporter on August 31, 2012

Local organizations here have h3the ongoing global protest campaigns petitioning for the alleged eviction of Maasai communities in Loliondo and sale divisions of Ngorongoro district.

The Coalition of Feminist Civil Society (FEMACT), Tanzania Land Alliance (TALA), the Pastoralists Indigenous Non-Governmental Organization (PINGOS) Forum and the Ngorongoro Non-Governmental Organization Network (NGONET), have released a joint statement protesting against plans to force Maasai pastoralists off their land to make way for game hunting by royals from the United Arab Emirates.

The joint statement presented here by Ms Neema Duma of FEMACT, the Community Based Organization said a total of seven villages with a population of 48,000 stand to be affected by the state’s recent move to clear 1,500 square kilometres of land in Loliondo.

“We are here to support the campaigns by Avaaz, a human rights network group which is also conducting a world-wide petition against the move,” stated Ms Duma.

Nearly 750,000 people have signed the online petition coordinated from the Avaaz.org the online activism site which is also pushing messages through Twitter, Facebook and email accounts.
Disputes over the land on which the Maasai live and graze their livestock have been running for 20 years since 1992 when the Emirates’ Ortelo Business Corporation (OBC), set up a hunting camp in Loliondo.

The organizations claim that more than 48,000 Maasai communities face eviction in a deal that could hand over huge swaths of land for the commercial hunting of prize game such as leopards and lions by UAE royals.

Mr Samwel Nangiria of NGONET said the local people were still yet to recover from the eviction exercise of 2009 in which three children got lost, five women suffered miscarriages, 350 houses torched, 50 per cent of cattle killed and 20,000 people displaced.

Mr Nangiria added that two villages of Ololosokwan and Engaresambu have been asked to submit their certificates which according to him, was a move towards revoking their status but the villagers have refused to comply.

The Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Mr Elias Wawa Lali refuted plans to evict the Maasai and explained that what is taking place at the moment was simply land use planning process.

By MARC NKWAME, Tanzania Daily News