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

November 17, 2018, 2:33 pm

≫ Next: November of Terror and Silence in Loliondo has Turned into Christmas of Terror and Silence

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

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 …

In this blog post:

Brief recent background

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

Summary of developments of the past decades

Brief recent background
On 26^th October 2017 the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla, stopped an illegal operation invading village land in Loliondo. The operation had been ordered by DC Rashid Mfaume Taka, officially funded by Tanzania National Parks Authority (Tanapa), and included arson of hundreds of bomas, seizing of cattle, beatings, illegal arrests, blocking of water sources, and rangers raped women. Those implementing the criminal orders, starting with burning bomas in Oloosek on 13^th August 2017 were rangers from Serengeti National Park, assisted by Ngorongoro rangers, local police, KDU (anti-poaching) rangers, OBC rangers, and others. Besides stopping this operation, Kigwangalla made some big promises like saying that OBC would have left the country before January 2018 never to be given another hunting block, and that he would deal with the syndicate at the service of the hunters, which was reaching into his own ministry. He accused OBC’s director Isaack Mollel, of wanting to bribe him more cheaply than he had bribed his predecessors. The minister fired the director of wildlife, but OBC, Mollel included, stayed on. Then Kigwangalla made a complete U-turn, including a Twitter meltdown in which he went as far as claiming that nobody had ever lived in Loliondo GCA… On 6^th December 2017, PM Majaliwa announced a vague and threatening decision that a “special authority” would be formed, via a legal bill, to manage the land. Fortunately, this decision has been delayed. Not much more information about it has surfaced, except that the whole of Loliondo GCA is to be placed under NCAA that rule over Ngorongoro Conservation Area where subsistence agriculture is prohibited, grazing areas keep being alienated, and malnutrition is rampant.

A similar operation, full of human rights crimes, committed by the Field Force Unit and OBC rangers took place in 2009. After that, OBC tried a more legal way, funding a draft district land use plan that proposed tuning their 1,500 km2 core hunting area, that’s important dry season grazing land belonging to several villages, into a protected area. This land use plan was rejected by Ngorongoro District Council in early 2011. In 2013, then minister Kagasheki tried to alienate the 1,500 km2 via bizarre lies and threats but was after big protests and support for the Maasai from both opposition and ruling party, stopped by Pinda who was PM at the time. Then divide and rule worsened, and the always present efforts to silence everyone speaking up were intensified with more threats, slander, illegal arrests, and malicious prosecution. When most people in Loliondo had been silenced, the current PM Majaliwa set out to “solve the conflict” tasking Arusha RC Gambo with setting up a select non-participatory committee that reached a sad compromise proposal that was presented to the PM who much later decided something even worse, the “special authority”, but while waiting for this decision the “unexpected” massive human rights crimes of 2017 erupted. OBC aren’t alone in working for land alienation, it’s supported by all heads of parastatals under the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism, and last year Mwakilema, Serengeti Chief Park Warden, announced that German development funds were subject to the approval of the land use plan proposing the alienation of the 1,500 km2. The Germans haven’t denied this.

Intimidation and violence has continued after the illegal operation of 2017 was stopped. In May 2018, an intimidation campaign, led by OCCID Marwa Mwita, to derail the case against the Tanzanian government that was filed by the villages of Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien, and Arash on 21^st September 2017 during the illegal operation. This intimidation campaign consisted of summons to Loliondo police station, threats, arrests – also for unrelated issues - and it prevented the village chairmen from attending a court hearing. The most frightening aspect of the intimidation campaign was the complete silence. Not only weren’t there any statements or protests, but it was initially not mentioned with one word in social media. Though the villagers’ main counsel Donald Deya wrote an urgent letter, then turned into application, to the East African Court of Justice.

Then entered the Tanzania People's Defense Force – JWTZ – into the abuse against the Maasai of Loliondo. Around 24^th March 2018 a military camp was set up in Lopolun, near Wasso “town”. Some people worried that the reason for this was to further intimidate the Maasai, while others said that it was for border issues with Kenya, or “normal soldier activities”. The first case of soldier violence I heard of took place on 29^th June when soldiers in the company of district anti-poaching rangers and one OBC ranger attacked and tortured several people in Orkirkai in Ololosokwan, while claiming to be protecting Serengeti National Park that’s far from Orkirkai. Another case that I heard of much later, since it concerned Thomson Safaris that claim ownership of 12,617 acres of Maasai land and have benefitted even more than OBC from the intimidation campaigns to silence everyone, took place on 19^th and 20^th July when four men from Sukenya, accused of inciting others to graze on the land occupied by Thomson, were tortured. Then on 27^th August at Kilamben in Ololosokwan village, six men, among them the former councillor Kundai, were at a meat-eating camp in the bush (orpul) when some fifteen soldiers arrived to torture them and interrogate them about guns, Kenyans, and cattle encroaching on protected areas. The soldiers clearly showed that they had come looking for a man with many cows who was in Mairowa because of the passing of the former long-term chairman of Ololosokwan, Mzee Yohana Saing’eu.

On 25^th September the East African Court of Justice delivered a ruling ordering interim measures restraining the Tanzanian government, and any persons or offices acting on its behalf, from evicting the applicant villagers from the disputed 1,500 km2, destroying their homesteads or confiscating their livestock on that land, until the determination of the main case, and restraining the Inspector General of Police from harassing or intimidating the applicants.

The frustration of some young people can partly be explained with the fact that recently all opposition councillors in Ngorongoro have joined the ruling CCM party, after getting offers they couldn’t refuse, whether it was personal safety or personal gain. This doesn’t mean that the opposition was better at protecting the land. The leaders that most vocally used to speak up against the government’s land alienation plan belong to CCM since forever, but 28-0 could have been seen as another defeat, and sign of weakness, by the increasingly repressive central government.

I heard unsettling accounts from people from Ololosokwan who were working or studying elsewhere that rangers would be blocking herders from accessing areas of the 1,500 km2, but they didn’t have any details about how and to whom this was being done, other than mentioning the attacks by soldiers that had seemed more about intimidating individuals than blocking areas, and took place before the court ordered the interim measures. Meanwhile, people on the ground in Ololosokwan denied that any areas were being blocked. They were accused by those in town of being corrupted and in the process of leasing out the land to new investors (a worrying issue that I need to dig deeper into), but also some people from other villages, and not involved in the Ololosokwan dispute said that the only problem was the dry season, and not even that was very bad since cows were in good condition, and there were certainly not any violent rangers around. I didn’t know what to believe, and I still don’t.

On Saturday 10^th November, vague reports about herders being beaten in areas around OBC’s camp started coming in. All three sides mentioned above, as well as others, confirmed that serious abuse was indeed being committed, but didn’t provide much detail. I started screaming at some of those who are still able to receive messages from me without passing out with fear that we had to get full information and report to the East African Court of Justice, but they seemed strangely passive, or at least silent, and apparently since-long silent activists didn’t start communicating with the lawyers until several days later.

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

I had for some time been hearing that OBC were preparing their camp for guests, or the guest, when I on Saturday 10^th November was contacted by someone whose relative in Kirtalo was telling him that OBC were setting up the camp in Mambarashani and that people were being beaten, not detailing who was beating them. Two days earlier a big plane had landed in Wasso, which usually happens when OBC are bringing supplies, or whatever, while their guest always land on OBC’s own airstrip. Later I was told that the beatings had started already on 8^thNovember. I was contacted by more people, mostly from Kirtalo, several of whom I’d never been in contact with before, while some who should have been speaking out were silent as the tomb. Information came in pieces between long silences, in various varieties of languages, and as usual with Loliondo, those who said they’d be back in fifteen minutes were often never heard from again. What most have observed is that the attackers are JWTZ army soldiers, according to some accompanied by OBC rangers, district natural resources rangers, and others.

I was told that people were being beaten in wide areas around OBC’s camp. That’s areas in Kirtalo village, and also Kilamben, or Mederi, in Ololosokwan. People and cattle were being chased away in serious violation of the interim orders issued by the East African Court of Justice on 25^th September. On Tuesday 13^th November I was told that Ngari Potot from Mbuken, who has a boma in Kishoshoro, had been beaten so badly that an arm and a leg were broken. The violence escalated on Wednesday 14^th November, more people were beaten, and chased away, and bomas were burned. At least one motorcycle was confiscated, and a goat was slaughtered by the soldiers. I wasn’t told how many bomas or exactly where. I got names of more people that had been assaulted,several taken to hospital in Wasso. Someone informed me that in the morning of 14^th November, Yohana Toroge, chairman of Kirtalo, and the former councillor, Daniel Ngoitiko, were threatened by the soldiers, so that they wouldn’t have the courage to intervene. The soldiers were telling some people that they are being beaten because they sued the government, and that they must leave because the area is a “corridor”, when it’s most definitely village land per Village Land Act No.5 of 1999.

On Friday 16^th November some people finally started to act, which is the only glimmer of hope.

The crimes continue. I’ve been told that bomas have been burned inKishoshoro and Oloirien (area of Kirtalo, not the village with the same name). Cattle from Ololosokwan were yesterday, Friday 16^th seized in Oloirien and driven to Lobo in Serengeti National Park by the soldiers who wanted to hand them over to park authorities, but the wardens refused, and the cows were released at night, among predators. It’s not known if all have been found. Last year it was Serengeti rangers who were driving cows into the park to be able to say that they were found there. Now apparently the army is providing the same service to OBC.

About the Shungur boma in Oloirien from someone who was in the area in the evening looking for a lost 9-year-old (who was found): “The soldiers invaded the boma around midday and started beating people. People scattered and fled to the bushes. I saw the burnt boma”.

The MP, or rather deputy minister, went silent already on 13^th August 2017, but currently all leaders are silent. I still hope and expect that some will soon come out of their hiding.

One analysis that’s been shared with me by someone from Loliondo is, “I think OBC is purposely doing some things to dishearten and discourage the Maasai and portray a certain picture that “even though ... still you can’t do anything“.

Anyone who can do anything, please help stop this brutal and illegal attack that’s been going on for too long in silence!

Summary of developments of the past decades

All land in Loliondo is village land per Village Land Act No.5 of 1999, and more than the whole of Loliondo is also a Game Controlled Area (of the old kind that doesn’t affect human activities and can overlap with village land) where OBC has the hunting block. Stan Katabalo – maybe Tanzania’s last investigative journalist - reported about how this hunting block was acquired in the early 90s. By 2018 there does no longer seem to be journalists of any kind.

In 2007-2008 the affected villages were threatened into signing a Memorandum of Understanding with OBC.

In the drought year 2009 the Field Force Unit and OBC extrajudicially evicted people and cattle from some 1,500 km2 of dry season grazing land that serve as the core hunting area next to Serengeti National Park. Hundreds of houses were burned, and thousands of cattle were chased into an extreme drought area which did not have enough food or water to sustain them. 7-year old Nashipai Gume was lost in the chaos and has not been found, ever since.

People eventually moved back, and some leaders started participating in reconciliation ceremonies with OBC.

Soon enough, in 2010-2011, OBC totally funded a draft district land use plan that proposed turning the 1,500 km2 into the new kind of Game Controlled Area that’s a “protected” (not from hunting) area and can’t overlap with village land. This plan, that would have allowed a more “legal” repeat of 2009, was strongly rejected by Ngorongoro District Council.

In 2013, then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, made bizarre statements as if all village land in Loliondo would have disappeared through magic, and the people of Loliondo would be generously “gifted” with the land outside the 1,500 km2. This was nothing but a horribly twisted way of again trying to evict the Maasai landowners from OBC’s core hunting area. There’s of course no way a Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism would have the mandate for such a trick of magic. After many mass meetings – where there was agreement to never again enter any MoU with OBC - and protest delegations to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, the then Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in a speech on 23^rd September the same year revoked Kagasheki’s threat and told the Maasai to continue their lives as before this threat that through the loss of dry season grazing land would have led to the destruction of livelihoods, environmental degradation and increased conflict with neighbours.

Parts of the press – foremost Manyerere Jackton in the Jamhuri – increased their incitement against the Maasai of Loliondo as destructive, “Kenyan” and governed by corrupt NGOs. OBC’s “friends” in Loliondo became more active in the harassment of those speaking up against the “investors”, even though they themselves don’t want the GCA 2009, and rely on others, the same people they persecute, to stop it…

Speaking up against OBC (and against Thomson Safaris, the American tour operator claiming ownership of 12,617 acres, and that shares the same friends as OBC) had always been risky, but the witch-hunt intensified with mass arrests in July 2016. Four people were charged with a truly demented “espionage and sabotage” case. Manyerere Jackton has openly boasted about his direct involvement in the illegal arrests of innocent people for the sake of intimidation.

In July 2016, Manyeree Jackton wrote an “article” calling for PM Majaliwa to return the Kagasheki-style threat. In November 2016 OBC sent out a “report” to the press calling for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to intervene against the destructive Maasai. In mid-December 2016, the Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo was tasked by the PM with setting up a committee to “solve the conflict”, and on 25^th January 2017 the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, in the middle of the drought stricken Osero, flanked by the most OBC-devoted journalists, and ignoring the ongoing talks, made a declaration that the land had to be taken before the end of March. In March 2017 Minister Maghembe co-opted a Parliamentary Standing Committee, and then Loliondo leaders’ “only ally”, RC Gambo’s, committee started marking “critical areas” while being met with protests in every village. German development money that the standing committee had been told was subject to the alienation of the 1,500 km2 was – after protests by 600 women – not signed by the district chairman. On 21^st March a compromise proposal for a WMA (that had been rejected in Loliondo for a decade and a half) was reached through voting by the RC’s committee, then handed over to PM Majaliwa on 20^th April, and a long wait to hear the PM’s decision started.

While still waiting, on 13^th August 2017 an unexpected illegal eviction and arson operation was initiated in the Oloosek area of Ololosokwan and then continued all the way to Piyaya. Beatings, arrests of the victims, illegal seizing of cows, and blocking of water sources followed. Women were raped by the rangers. Many leaders stayed strangely and disappointingly silent.

The DC and the Ministry of Natural Resources explained the illegal operation with that people and cattle were entering Serengeti National Park too easily, while Minister Maghembe lied that the land was already the “protected area” wanted by OBC and others.

There was an interim stop order by the government organ Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG), but the crimes continued unabated.

A case was filed by four villages in the East African Court of Justice on 21^stSeptember 2017.

When in Arusha on 23^rd September, President Magufuli collected protest placards against Maghembe, OBC and abuse, to read them later.

On 5^th October 2017 the Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, (who had met with people from Loliondo) told supporters that his friend Magufuli had promised him that all involved in the illegal operation in Loliondo would be fired.

In a cabinet reshuffle on 7^th October 2017 Maghembe was removed and Hamisi Kigwangalla appointed as new minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Kigwangalla stopped the operation on 26^th October 2017, and then made it clear that OBC’s hunting block would not be renewed, which he had already mentioned in Dodoma on the 22^nd. On 5^thNovember, he fired the Director of Wildlife and announced that rangers at Klein’s gate that had been colluding with the investor would be transferred. Kigwangalla emphasized that OBC would have left before January. He talked about the corruption syndicate at their service, reaching into his own ministry, and claimed that OBC’s director, Mollel, wanted to bribe him, and would be investigated for corruption. However, OBC never showed any signs of leaving.

Kigwangalla announced in social media that he on 13^th 2017 November received a delegation headed by the German ambassador and that the Germans were going to fund community development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the Serengeti”. Alarm was raised in Loliondo that the district chairman would have signed secretly, which some already had suspected.

On 6^th December 2017, PM Majaliwa announced a vague, but terrifying decision to form a “special authority” to manage the 1,500 km2 osero. He also said that OBC would stay. Manyerere Jackton celebrated the decision in the Jamhuri newspaper. Further information and implementation of this “special authority” has fortunately been delayed, even if it was mentioned in Kigwangalla’s budget speech on 21^st May 2018.

Sheikh Mohammed, his crown prince, and other royal guests visited Loliondo in March 2018, and Kigwangalla welcomed them on Twitter. Earlier, in restricted access social media, Kigwangalla had been saying that OBC weren’t a problem, but only the director, Mollel, and that Loliondo, with the “new structure” needed more investors of the kind.

An ambitious report about Loliondo and NCA, with massive media coverage (and some unnecessary mistakes) was released by the Oakland Institute on 10^thMay 2018, and Kigwangalla responded by denying that any abuse had ever taken place, and threatening anyone involved with the report. He went as far as denying the existence of people in Loliondo GCA.

In May-June 2018 there was an intimidation campaign against the applicants in the case in the East African Court of Justice, and silence became worse than ever.

From late June to late August 2018 there were several incidents of soldiers from a military camp set up in Olopolun in March the same year attacking and torturing people.

On 25th September 2018 the East African Court of Justice ordered interim measures restraining the government from any evictions, burning of homesteads, or confiscating of cattle, and from harassing or intimidating the applicants.

In November 2018 while OBC were preparing their camp, reports started coming in that soldiers were attacking people in wide areas around the camp, while all leaders stayed silent. Information kept coming in piecemeal, and after a couple of days many people were telling that bomas had been burned in areas of Kirtalo. A terrifying silence and passivity that I hope will soon be broken lies over Loliondo.

"Conservation is our tradition, OBC leave us our land" and ""District Council, don't receive money from the Germans, since it's death to us", Wasso 15th March 2017

Susanna Nordlund

sannasus@hotmail.com

↧

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

December 26, 2018, 8:59 am

≫ Next: Innocent People Have Again been Illegally Arrested in Loliondo

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

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^stDecember 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.

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

Crimes of November

Soldiers from the military camp set up in Lopolun since March this year, together with rangers from Otterlo Business Corporation - that organize hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai and for years have been lobbying the Tanzanian government to turn their 1,500 km2 core hunting area into a “protected area”, and thereby deprive the Maasai of important dry season grazing – later joined by those from Serengeti National Park, spent most of the month of November beating up people, chasing them and their cattle away from wide areas around OBC’s camp in the village of Kirtalo (including areas of Ololosokwan), and burning down several bomas. This was done in violation of interim orders issued by the East African Court of Justice on 25^th September, and under unprecedented silence by everyone whose duty it would have been to speak up.

Around the beginning of November people on the ground reported that the situation was calm in the 1,500 km2 osero, without violent incidents after soldiers had tortured six men at a meat-eating camp in Kilamben in Ololosokwan on 27^thAugust. The only worry was the dry season, but not as worrying as in the catastrophic 2017, since this year the rains had been good. The November rains have since failed though, or were hopefully just delayed until December (there have now been some good rains since 10^thDecember). Many people said that OBC were preparing their camp for the guest.

On 10^th November I was informed that soldiers from the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (JWTZ) were beating people and chasing them and their cattle away from Mambarashani where OBC were preparing their camp. I was only getting piecemeal information, and nobody was speaking up publicly, but those who should know confirmed the information – that meant a very serious violation of the interim orders – and I kept getting incomplete messages from people I hadn’t heard from before. The beatings had apparently been going on since 8^thNovember. Reporting the violation was urgent, but it took a week for the first legal moves to be made, and I was very upset. After spending too much time chasing confirmed information, I published a blog post on 17th November.

At Kishoshoro, Ngari Potot was so badly beaten that the soldiers broke his arm and his leg. On 14^th November the attackers started burning down bomas in the areas from where they were chasing away people and livestock, while the silence continued. Motorcycles were confiscated, and the soldiers stole goats, supposedly to eat them. I was told that in the morning of 15^th November, Yohana Toroge, chairman of Kirtalo, and the former councillor, Daniel Ngoitiko, were threatened by the soldiers, so that they wouldn’t have the courage to intervene. Apparently, other leaders didn’t need direct threats to stay silent. Besides Kirtalo, areas of Ololosokwan, like Oloirien, Endashata, and Mederi were attacked by the so-called People’s Defence Force that had been set upon the people. The soldiers were telling their victims that they were beaten for having sued the government, and that the land was a “corridor”. On 16^thNovember, cows belonging to some people from Ololosokwan were caught in Oloirien (area between Ololosokwan and Kirtalo, not the village) and driven to Lobo in Serengeti National Park where the soldiers wanted to hand them over to the park rangers that refused, maybe remembering having been told off by Minister Kigwangalla when they had been driving cattle into the park in 2017. Instead the cows were released among predators at night. Some of the bomas burned were those of Shungur and of Cosmas Leitura in the Oloirien area, and a couple of days later, on 19^th November the Kuyo, Lukeine, and Masago bomas were burned in Orkimbai in Kirtalo. These were just some of the cases of arson.

Nobody was speaking up, nobody was coordinating information gathering, and nobody was getting photos or coordinates of burned bomas. Some Kenyan Maasai were astonished, saying that they would never accept the abuse that the meek Tanzanians were enduring. I asked them to cross the border to get photos and coordinates, but they didn’t, not then.

The Serengeti rangers, maybe feeling encouraged that Kigwangalla’s U-turn was complete, joined the attacks. On 22^nd November, some people from Arash were savagely beaten for hours by the rangers at Lobo when they were to pay so-called “fines” for their sheep and goats that had been caught outside the national park. At 10,000 Tanzanian shillings per head for the approximately 900 goats and sheep the financial pain was no less than the physical for the victims, some of whom required hospital treatment. Meanwhile, the soldiers had apparently moved on to Soitsambu “town” (a few bars and shops along the road, and a Saturday market) were they were beating up people accused of carrying Kenyan sugar. On 26^th November the Serengeti (TANAPA) rangers caught several herds of cattle at Mambarashani, and drove them to Lobo inside the national park to claim that they were found there. They demanded 100,000 Tanzanian shilling per head of cattle for the release, which would have been extortionate even if the “fines” had been legal, but now it was pure gangster extortion. The “fines” were paid, I don’t know if after negotiation, and the cows were released.

So far, no formal or informal document ordering these brutal and very illegal attacks has been revealed.

On 14^th December I was informed that some 150 cows belonging to Neromboi ole Lindi’s boma had been detained for three weeks, and the Serengeti rangers were seeking to auction them off! I’ve had problems getting updates, but apparently the cows are still detained, to be auctioned off, and already taken to Mara region for this purpose, or maybe sold. It seems like in this case they were caught inside the park, but auctioning is an extreme and cruel measure, before 2017 unheard of in a district with pastoralist majority.

Update 27/12: I’ve been informed that Neromboi's cows were sold at a cost of 24 million given the delay in the payment of the 16 million fine. The Serengeti National Park Authority refused to let Neromboi bid for his own cows at 146,000 per head, as he was interested in doing, or let other Maasai buyers do it. They seem to have their own buyers in Mara region. There was a total of 163 heads of cattle confiscated but at the time of auctioning 5 big bulls had gone missing. Arash people sought out the alternative of bribing Senapa’s cow buyers with 2 million so that they would lower the bid, The reason for this was the fact that it was a disgrace to let the family lose their cows and it could damage the image of the Loita for other subtribes, it could be seen as kind of weakness, the family could live in total abject poverty .

After the mission succeeded people from Arash raised money among themselves and the cash was submitted to the CCM chair and the Council Chairperson, who is also Arash ward councillor, to go to Serengeti to buy the cows.

Christmas crimes

On 19^th December mzee ole Shura was badly beaten by soldiers in Kirtalo, and on 20^th December the same crime was committed in Ololosokwan against mzee ole Masiaya. These old men were just out walking. There have been several other beatings in Ololoskwan since the November attacks, to the extent that it’s seen as almost “normal”, but some people in Kirtalo have said that nothing was happening there after November, and that some bomas had been rebuilt. Others said that Kirtalo wasn’t peaceful at all, and neither was Arash. Mzee ole Masiaya, who is from Ngorongoro looking for work in Ololoskwan, was too weak to get on a motorbike to the dispensary, but was brought medicine, and has now reportedly recovered. He was beaten for no reason, even when he’s the kind of person that the plan is to turn everyone in Loliondo into: destitute and under the yoke of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Mzee ole Masiaya after being beaten by soldiers on 20th December

Later I was informed that before attacking ole Masiaya the soldiers had beaten 15-year old Ngoiser Sumare, and 25-year old and pregnant Ntajiri Sirmange who reportedly was in the company of children. The soldiers claimed to be searching for Kenyan cows, but the only victim who was herding any kind of cows was Ngoiser.

Also on 20^th December, the army soldiers drove cattle from village land in Oloosek to Klein’s gate. Empirpiri, Enalubo, Oldonyio Keri were mentioned as well as areas from where cattle were taken. Apparently, the park warden didn’t want the cows, and they were released without charge.

In the morning of 21^st December, the soldiers descended upon the Leken area in Karkamoru sub-village of Kirtalo burning to the ground 12 bomas with all belongings inside. The cows were out, but young lambs and goat kids died in the fire. The names of whom the bomas belonged to that have been reported to me are Toroge, Moniko, Salaash, Shura, Kimeriay, Parmwat, Sepere, and Nguya. A 65-year old man and two pregnant women were beaten. Then, around 2 pm it started raining heavily.

At the Saturday market in Soitsambu on 22^nd December people from Leken were buying big polyethylene sheets. The victims of arson in Leken stay in place in makeshift tents, and are rebuilding.

I haven't got any better picture of the criminals than this one.

The DC comments

The day after the mass arson of 12 bomas the strangest message from DC Rashid Mfaume Taka was shared in Whatsapp groups. “Nimepata taarifa (nikiwa nje ya WILAYA kikazi) juu ya madhila yaliyowakuta baadhi ya wananchi wa Karkamoo. Nawapa pole na nimeagiza timu (advanced party) ya wajumbe wa KUU waende kukutana na viongozi wa kijiji na wakawaangalie wananchi wale na hali ilivyo. Niwatoe hofu wananchi kuwa hakuna operesheni yeyote na watu ni lazima wabaki kwenye maeneo yao na waendelee na shughuli zao za kujutafutia maisha bora.”

(“I’ve got information (while out of the district for work reasons) about the atrocities that befell the wananchi at Karkarmoru. I want to say sorry and I have commissioned a team (advanced party) of high official members to go to the village to meet the village leaders and check those wananchi and their state of affairs. I want to assure the wananchi that, there is not any operation in the area and people should stay in their areas with their economic activities for betterment of their livelihoods”.) “Wananchi” is citizens/residents/grassroots/the public. And this Christmas the DC has assured them that they can go on with their lives as usual in their makeshift tents.

This is the message from the highest central government representative and enforcer in the district the day after soldiers from the national army have again committed mass arson, burning down 12 bomas, after since June having attacked and tortured people, and in November chased them away from areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan, burning down their houses – while authorities haven’t done anything whatsoever stop them. The DC comments as if it would be a case of “unknown assailants”, or a natural disaster unknown to authorities. This is being interpreted as a “mind trick”.

The silence

Even if Loliondo, for as long as I’ve known about it, has been something of a police state in which those speaking up have been threatened and defamed, maybe even killed in two cases a decade ago, the Maasai of Loliondo have not always been silent. Quite the contrary sometimes.

In the drought year 2009, the paramilitary Field Force Unit together with OBC rangers, in an illegal operation evicted thousands of people and livestock from OBC’s 1,500 km2 preferred hunting area, burned down hundreds of bomas, and 7-year old Nashipai Gume was lost in the chaos, and has still not been found. Telele, the MP at the time, made a big noise demanding explanations in parliament, travelled to Loliondo to meet the victims of the operation, and tabled a private statement with a 14-point submission. A wide alliance of local and national NGOs organized fact-finding missions and issued statements. The EU sent its own fact-finding mission, and the Danish ambassador spoke up about Loliondo. These were just some of the reactions.

In 2010, the government started sending out signals that it would alienate the 1,500 km2 osero as a “buffer zone”, and in April the same year there were big protests by women marching on Loliondo town to protest any such plan. A “constitutional case” was filed by several CSOs against the Attorney General, the Ngorongoro DC, the Officer Commanding District, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, and OBC. When in early 2011 a draft district land use plan, in its totality funded by OBC, was revealed proposing the conversion of the 1,500 km2 into a protected area, a video was prepared, the ward councillors held a press conference, and Ngorongoro District Council rejected the plan.

In 2013, Kagasheki, the then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, made statements shamelessly lying that the whole 4,000 km2 Loliondo GCA would be a protected area, the Maasai “landless”, and in a maliciously twisted way he presented alienating the 1,500 km2 as gifting the people of Loliondo with 2,500 km2. By this time MP Telele had been made useless and totally befriended by “investors”, but there were mass meetings, crystal clear statements, protest delegations to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, and both the opposition and important parts of the ruling party expressed their support for the Maasai. In a speech in Wasso on 23^rd September 2013 Pinda, the PM at the time, declared that the land belonged to the Maasai that should continue their lives as before Kagasheki’s threats.

Then the always present divide and rule was intensified by the investors and their “friends”. In 2016 people thought to be able to speak up were illegally arrested, and several of them maliciously prosecuted on bizarre espionage and sabotage charges, based on the presumption that that they would have communicated with me. The two (the “friends of investors” like to say that they are more than 30) NGOs that used to speak up were effectively silenced. With the highly intolerant and repressive Magufuli government the whole country became like Loliondo and almost all Tanzanians were silenced. Persecution of journalists, activists, and opposition politicians intensified. Many people in Loliondo became too afraid to even answer messages, thinking that they were being “hacked”.

When an “unexpected” illegal operation was initiated in August 2017 while everyone was waiting to hear PM Majaliwa’s decision about the 1,500 km2, the formerly very much trusted MP Olenasha, who had been a great hope for Ngorongoro, decided not to speak up with one word while hundreds of bomas were burned to the ground, people were beaten, illegally arrested, and even raped by rangers, cattle illegally seized, and water sources blocked. This silence was shockingly and painfully disappointing, and very demoralizing, but still other leaders spoke up in media, and sued the government in the East African Court of Justice.

I don’t know if the MP’s silence, that continues, is due to that as deputy minister he’s more afraid than anyone and knows more closely what terror regime the current government is, or if he has simply switched sides. His current stance – in stark contrast to before becoming a deputy minister - is that the “land conflicts”, of which the osero is just one, should be “solved” slowly, inside the government, while not speaking up at all against torture and burning of people’s houses. He keeps all loudness for infrastructure, or development, projects that in Tanzania are highly personalized in which prominent people, foremost the president, and in this case very much the MP, should be praised as were they bringing the projects on their own and paying with their own money. They scandal of how the district council in January 2018 decided to withdraw planned projects in opposition led wards seems forgotten. The MP also celebrates, as were it an election win, the final switching over of all opposition councillors to the ruling party, which allegedly happened due to the same gangster tactics as in the rest of the country. I do of course not have any idea if he’s fighting for the land behind the scenes. I can only hope. In May 2018 it surfaced, “thanks” to the worried outbursts by the worst anti-Loliondo journalist, that ward and village leaders, together with NGO people, held a secret meeting to prepare a “friendlier” special authority proposal than that of the PM. This top-down approach that was somewhat strange when there’s an ongoing East African case to stop any kind of alienation, was at least something reportedly done together with the MP, but as far as I know didn’t result in anything.

By 2018 absolutely everyone was silenced. I’m not sure why, and the only visible difference is that the Tanzania People’s Defence Force set up a camp in Olopolun near Wasso in March, but I didn’t get any reports about the soldiers attacking innocent herders until 29^th June. Still, when in May the Officer Commanding Criminal Investigations Division of Ngorongoro District, Marwa Mwita, led an intimidation campaign to derail the case in the East African Court of Justice, the silence was complete from everyone in Loliondo. Only the main counsel, Donald Deya, wrote an urgent letter, then turned into application, to the East African Court of Justice, and talked to journalists. When the soldiers started showing up attacking and torturing groups of people, apparently with a focus on those who have many cows in Ololosokwan, but also some men from Sukenya accused of inciting others to graze their animals on the land occupied by Thomson Safaris, nobody was speaking up.

Then the most unthinkable happened. The East African Court of Justice had on 25^thSeptember 2018 issued interim orders restraining the Tanzanian government, and any persons or offices acting on its behalf, from evicting the applicant villagers from the disputed 1,500 km2, destroying their homesteads or confiscating their livestock on that land, until the determination of the main case, and restraining the Inspector General of Police from harassing or intimidating the applicants. Still, Tanzanian army soldiers started, in November 2018, torturing people in wide areas around OBC’s camp, chasing them away with their livestock, and burning down their bomas – while all leaders, activists, and other people stayed silent.

I’ve been looking for people who can analyse these horrible crimes in complete violation of court orders, and I’ve more or less been told – also by those within the ruling party - that the current government just likes to show its power, crush dissent, and keep everyone living in silence and fear. Meanwhile some people say that due to the current meekness of all Loliondo Maasai, the government is forced to move on with its very long-term plan of crushing Maasai livelihoods and culture. Some of these people also think that the leaders gave the land away already with the RC’s select committee in 2016-2017 that came up with a compromise proposal (WMA) that would mean land alienation in everything but name, the proposal that the PM then disregarded to instead present his own delayed “special authority” plan, but some of those who were in that committee have actually supported the East African case.

One person summed it up as, “Unyanyasaji huu umetufanya tukumbuke ulikotoka. Mean colonial period” (This abuse has made us remember where it comes from. I mean the colonial period), while another said that people are suffering like slaves, and he cannot even explain it.

Manongi and the Jamhuri anti-Maasai rag

One detail about PM Majaliwa’s vague, terrifying and delayed “special authority” plan that has been revealed is that Loliondo GCA is supposed to be placed under the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority that rule over Ngorongoro Conservation Area where subsistence agriculture is prohibited, grazing areas keep being alienated, malnutrition is rampant, and eviction threats are a recurring fear. On 13^th November an article by the NCA chief conservator Fredy Manongi was published in Tanzania’s most anti-Maasai newspaper the Jamhuri, in which Manyerere Jackton has written over 50 articles viciously inciting against the Loliondo Maasai, and with fervour defended the alienation of the 1,500 km2. Manongi confirms the current anti-pastoralist direction of the NCA, adding to the fears. He has earlier expressed support for the alienation of the 1,500 km2 osero in Loliondo, as in the Citizen newspaper in November 2017, in which the report prepared by OBC in 2016 is quoted.

Manyerere Jackton himself published two of his anti-Loliondo “articles” while the crimes were being committed in Kirtalo and Ololosokwan, on 13^th and 27^thNovember, not mentioning the attacks on the Maasai and focusing on his very sadly baseless worries that some activists would speak up while on a London trip. The since long pre-planned trip to decolonise narratives about museum artefacts was already announced online and anyone could google it, like I did, but as usual this “journalist” wrote about it as something revealed by his sources, and instead of facts, as usual the article was entirely based on his own, and his sources’, confused imagination and malicious lies. The claim of the first article was that 20 (instead of four) Maasai from Loliondo were going to England to fundraise for the court case against the government (instead of decolonising museum artefacts). The “journalist” mentions people and organisations that don’t have anything to do with the whole thing, and makes up stories about sadly non-existing cooperation between Loliondo NGOs and the Oakland Institute. I’m yet again … in the most absurd way for anyone who knows me, or listens to facts, mentioned as a “donor” to the NGOs, but that’s far from the most malicious slander I’ve experienced from this “journalist”. In the second “article” Manyerere Jackton had adjusted the number of travellers to reality, but kept to his sadly baseless fantasies about the reason for the trip, going on about that the aim was to “oppose conservation in Loliondo”, and making strange guesses about NGOs, like saying that the Loliondo attendants were to meet with the organisation Avaaz that in Manyerere Jackton’s fantasy would have opposed the Mto wa Mbu-Makutano road. Years ago, Avaaz spoke up, in their own way, about Loliondo, and a strange petition got two million signatures, but then when an illegal operation actually took place last year they didn’t say a word. Manyerere Jackton has been told stories by his sources about giraffe poaching in Karkamoru, but seems to have missed that killing wildlife for fun is the official main reason that OBC are in the area. He claims that NGOs have incited people to rebuild their bomas in the area under dispute, and he is very happy about the plans for land alienation, and inclusion of Loliondo into NCAA, after preparing a legal bill (hunting isn’t allowed in NCA but “must” of course continue in Loliondo) for this purpose, which he says is expected to significantly raise the district council’s income from investors. Then on 11^thDecember, when I’d hoped to have published this blog post, this “journalist” published yet another “article” in his campaign to take the 1,500 km2 away from the Maasai. This time he writes about the mysterious deaths of some elephants in Arash (similar deaths have happened elsewhere in the country and in Kenya), feels sorry for “investors” that must do all conservation work in Loliondo, and continues his fantasies about the England trip, and about the danger of the now since years silenced and shamefully toothless NGOs. He congratulates Minister Kigwangalla for his spectacular U-turn, made after he over a year ago promised that he would deal with the syndicate at the service of OBC that was reaching into his own ministry. According to Manyerere Jackton the abrupt change does not mean that Kigwangalla was bought, but that he has seen the truth about Loliondo…

The knife cuttingly cruel and painful irony is that the people who went to England didn’t say a word about what was happening in Kirtalo, even though as a political leader and an NGO coordinator it’s their basic duty to speak up, and it’s what they’ve done many times in the past. Decolonising museum artefacts, and showing that they belong to a “living culture” may be important, but at that time it was like fiddling while Rome was burning. Land rights were, as I was told by a British attendant, not even mentioned in the final panel! The only - very understandable - reason for the silence was personal safety and safety for family members. However, being effectively prevented from performing one’s basic duty is a reason to resign from one’s position. Though in this case there isn’t anyone prepared, or even willing, to take those positions, so the silent England visitors better stay and do whatever they can behind the scenes.

Charity as a very dirty weapon

While people were being beaten and bomas burned to the ground in Kirtalo, on 19^thNovember an account named “Ngorongoro District Council”, probably someone in or around the DC’s office, uploaded a video of the board of Thomson Safaris’ charitable branch, FoTZC, visiting the Sukenya dispensary – that in better days during its inauguration in 2015 saw protests against Thomson’s land grab and against then MP Telele - together with the DC. Like OBC, Thomson use charity as a weapon of war in their fight to control Maasai land. They claim ownership of 12,617 acres of Maasai land as their own private nature refuge, have the same “friends” as OBC, and copied their mix of charity, divide and rule, and violence, employing the local police, and in July this year also soldiers, to intimidate the legitimate landowners. Thomson spend considerable money on lawyers and online reputation management (as per the owner’s own declaration). The people of Mondorosi know this very well, and for years the chairman refused to accept Thomson’s projects, even though he was under hard pressure and threats from government employees in the district, and suffered arrest. The chairman has yielded to the pressure and appears in the video looking sheepish. Most of this video consists of the talk by the confessed human rights criminal, who officially ordered last year’s illegal operation, DC Rashid Mfaume Taka. The DC’s message is that the government of John Pombe Magufuli, is bringing development, and so are Thomson Safaris, and the people of Mondorosi should maintain peace and calm, and leave to one side those that say and write a lot, but don’t bring development. I don’t know to what extent the FoTZC board members know what kind of dirty war they are involved in, but Judi Wineland, co-owner if Thomson Safaris, no doubt knows very well and thoroughly enjoys it. The individuals donating the money may be clueless though.

On 13^th December the European Union issued a resolution against Tanzania over human rights issues, which they should be thanked for, even if the writing was somewhat soft and vague. “whereas tourism development in recent years has led to increased activity, particularly in the Serengeti region where the Maasai live; whereas the control of arable or scarce land for speculative purposes has led to strong tensions in the area;” probably refers to Loliondo, and maybe NCA, both east of Serengeti National Park, even if geography and the description of the threat are confusingly vague. It’s about highly dangerous land-grabbing schemes by central government for the benefit of certain “investors” and “conservation”, and extreme violence and intimidation to repress any resistance.

“Expresses concern at the situation of the Maasai people; denounces the use of force by the authorities and security forces;” is the minimum that I wish that everyone would express. Thank you, EU, and those working to get this included.

There was a more extensive Loliondo writing by the EU a couple of years ago, but I’ve sadly been unable to mention it much, since not a single point was correct.

Now

2018 has been a most horrible year. I’m writing on another blog post, but will probably not be able to publish it this year. For 2019, I hope that the evil spell keeping all leaders, activists, and everyone else silent and terrified can be broken. At least the case in the East African Court of Justice, filed by the villages of Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien and Arash, goes on and will include the November attacks that were brutally resumed just before Christmas, in complete violation of court orders.

Advice about how to fight back against this extreme brutality and impunity would be very much appreciated, and influential people and organisations speaking up even more appreciated.

Summary of developments of the past decades

In 2007-2008 the affected villages were threatened into signing a Memorandum of Understanding with OBC.

People eventually moved back, and some leaders started participating in reconciliation ceremonies with OBC.

In 2013, then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, made bizarre statements as if all village land in Loliondo would have disappeared through magic, and the people of Loliondo would be generously “gifted” with the land outside the 1,500 km2. This was nothing but a horribly twisted way of again trying to evict the Maasai landowners from OBC’s core hunting area. There’s of course no way a Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism would have the mandate for such a trick of magic. After many mass meetings – where there was agreement to never again enter any MoU with OBC - and protest delegations to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, the then Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in a speech on 23rd September the same year revoked Kagasheki’s threat and told the Maasai to continue their lives as before this threat that through the loss of dry season grazing land would have led to the destruction of livelihoods, environmental degradation and increased conflict with neighbours.

Parts of the press – foremost Manyerere Jackton in the Jamhuri – increased their incitement against the Maasai of Loliondo as destructive, “Kenyan” and governed by corrupt NGOs. OBC’s “friends” in Loliondo became more active in the harassment of those speaking up against the “investors”, even though they themselves didn’t want the GCA 2009, and rely on others, the same people they persecute, to stop it…

In July 2016, Manyeree Jackton wrote an “article” calling for PM Majaliwa to return the Kagasheki-style threat. In November 2016 OBC sent out a “report” to the press calling for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to intervene against the destructive Maasai. In mid-December 2016, the Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo was tasked by the PM with setting up a committee to “solve the conflict”, and on 25^th January 2017 the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Maghembe, in the middle of the drought stricken Osero, flanked by the most OBC-devoted journalists, and ignoring the ongoing talks, made a declaration that the land had to be taken before the end of March. In March 2017 Minister Maghembe co-opted a Parliamentary Standing Committee, and then Loliondo leaders’ “only ally”, RC Gambo’s, committee started marking “critical areas” while being met with protests in every village. German development money that the standing committee had been told was subject to the alienation of the 1,500 km2 was – after protests by 600 women – not signed by the district chairman. On 21^st March a compromise proposal for a WMA (that had been rejected in Loliondo for a decade and a half) was reached through voting by the RC’s committee, then handed over to PM Majaliwa on 20^thApril, and a long wait to hear the PM’s decision started.

While still waiting, on 13^th August 2017 an unexpected illegal eviction and arson operation was initiated in the Oloosek area of Ololosokwan and then continued all the way to Piyaya. Beatings, arrests of the victims, illegal seizing of cows, and blocking of water sources followed. Women were raped by the rangers. Many, but not all, leaders stayed strangely and disappointingly silent.

There was an interim stop order by the government organ Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG), but the crimes continued unabated.

A case was filed by four villages in the East African Court of Justice on 21^stSeptember 2017.

When in Arusha on 23^rd September, President Magufuli collected protest placards against Maghembe, OBC and abuse, to read them later.

In a cabinet reshuffle on 7^th October 2017 Maghembe was removed and Hamisi Kigwangalla appointed as new minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Kigwangalla announced in social media that he on 13^th November 2017 received a delegation headed by the German ambassador and that the Germans were going to fund community development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the Serengeti”. Alarm was raised in Loliondo that the district chairman would have signed secretly, which some already had suspected.

Around 24^th March 2018 a military camp was set up in Lopolun, near Wasso town, by the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (JWTZ). Some were from the start worried the aim was to further intimidate those speaking up against the land alienation plans, non-alarmists were saying that it was there for border and for normal soldier issues.

An ambitious report about Loliondo and NCA, with massive media coverage (and some unnecessary mistakes) was released by the Oakland Institute on 10^th May 2018, and Kigwangalla responded by denying that any abuse had ever taken place, and threatening anyone involved with the report. He went as far as denying the existence of people in Loliondo GCA.

In May-June 2018 there was an intimidation campaign against the applicants in the case in the East African Court of Justice, and silence became worse than ever.

From late June to late August 2018 there were several incidents of soldiers from the military camp set up in Olopolun attacking and torturing people.

On 25^thSeptember 2018 the East African Court of Justice ordered interim measures restraining the government from any evictions, burning of homesteads, or confiscating of cattle, and from harassing or intimidating the applicants.

In November 2018 while OBC were preparing their camp, reports started coming in that soldiers were attacking people in wide areas around the camp, while all leaders stayed silent. Information was piecemeal, and after a couple of days many people were telling that bomas had been burned in areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan.

Beatings and seizing of cattle continued in some areas, and on 21^st December the soldiers descended upon Leken in Kirtalo and burned 12 bomas to the ground.

Help is urgently needed, but I don’t know who can help the Maasai if they don’t help themselves.

Susanna Nordlund

sannasus@hotmail.com

↧

Innocent People Have Again been Illegally Arrested in Loliondo

January 14, 2019, 2:52 pm

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

≪ Previous: November of Terror and Silence in Loliondo has Turned into Christmas of Terror and Silence

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

Illegal arrests

Late in the evening on 8^th January people started commenting in social media that the secondary school teachers Clinton Eng’wes Kairung and Supuk Olemaoi would again have been illegally arrested, and that this would have happened the previous day, without anyone taking action, even to inform those who could help. The following day two people from Mondorosi were added to those arrested: Manyara Karia, former chairwoman of Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC), and Kapolonto ole Nanyoi from Enadooshoke (Mondorosi). PWC used to be active in the land rights struggle, not least against Thomson Safaris, but have now been silenced for years, and the Nanyoi family’s boma is next to the land rabidly claimed by the safari company as their private nature refuge, which has caused the Nanyoi’s many problems through the years, but I'm not updated on the current situation. I was told that someone had reported as incitement a meeting, attended by Manyara, to organize the burial of a recently deceased old man. Authorities wanted to arrest the boma owner, but due to his health problems they instead looked for his eldest son, who wasn’t around, and they settled for Kapolonto. I can’t imagine any connection whatsoever between Clinton and Supuk, and the burial meeting, not only for the fact that they were arrested the day before.

It’s still very unclear to me how and why Manyara and Kapolonto were illegally arrested, but I expect more information, and names of those behind it to emerge (I have my suspicions, but those are just suspicions).

(For newcomers: please note that Thomson’s claim to a 12,617 acres/51 km2 private nature refuge, and OBC’s lobbying for a 1,500 km2 “protected area” are two different issues, even if Thomson and OBC have the same “friends” and slander their critics in the same way).

On Thursday 10^th January, advocate Nicholas ole Senteu suffered an accident when on the way to help with the release. He wasn’t seriously injured, but his mission was interrupted. Authorities kept blocking access to those detained, and denying bail, claiming that the Ngorongoro Security Committee first had to investigate and interrogate, which had been delayed due to the RC’s visit to the district. Per Tanzanian law, after 24 hours a detained person must be either granted bail, or taken to court, but as known, Loliondo is lawless.

Surprisingly, a brief article was published in the Mwananchi newspaper. In this article, the usual “uchochezi” (incitement) is mentioned as the reason for the arrest. An anonymous policeman is quoted as saying that some of the accusations concern associating with activists from outside the country and sharing fake information about Loliondo in social media. I would say that sadly, since terrible abuse took place in November and December, none of those arrested have recently shared any information at all in social media that I have access to, except for one of them timidly lamenting the suffering of innocent people, victims of violence in total violation of the temporary orders by the East African Court of Justice, but this was something that everyone knew about anyway. Manyara and Kapolonto have never even been sighted in social media, and I’ve never had any communication with them. I’ve now been told that Manyara can write her name, but doesn’t know how to use social media, and that she has enemies, since she hates injustice. The anonymous policeman then refers to Arusha Regional Police Commander Ramadhani Ng'azi for information about the arrests, but the journalist was unable to get hold of him for a comment.

Clinton and Supuk are the preferred victims when authorities in Loliondo want to engage in illegal arrests for the sake of intimidation, and this isn’t even for any particularly good reason at all. It started in 2016 when Clinton came to see me, as my friend, when I visited Kenya, since I was a prohibited immigrant and my fingerprints registered in Tanzania. Then I was contacted via threatening one-liners from the worst anti-Loliondo journalist before being told that Clinton had been arrested. He was illegally kept in the disgusting, freezing and mosquito infested cells at Loliondo police station for over ten days while several people were added to the arrests, and Supuk for the longest time of those added (and beaten together with the Ngonet coordinator). After that, followed months of truly bizarre malicious prosecution based on charges of espionage and sabotage for having communicated with me, until this case was dismissed, since the accusation couldn’t come up with anything of substance. These arrests were nearly the worst time of my life, but then the horrors have just kept piling up, with the earlier unimagined silence by some leaders during the mass human rights crimes of 2017, and the silence by everyone during the human rights crimes in violation of court orders in November and December 2018, just to mention the very worst. In September 2018, a Belgian nurse was arrested after attending Clinton’s wedding, since she was “believed” to be me. This shows the under other circumstances farcical stupidity of Loliondo authorities, and the “friends of investors”, that could easily have contacted me, and who were seeing me active in social media. People, in the current manner … waited several days with informing about these arrests, but when they finally did I posted a picture to prove that I was in Sweden, but still the Belgian and Clinton weren’t released before her fingerprints had been checked in Arusha and found not to match with mine… Supuk, years ago, used to be an outspoken activist, who shared information in open social media groups. He was somewhat dampened by the illegal arrests, and even more by the illegal operation in 2017 when he after a while went silent and started working in an inexplicable way with the madly and disappointingly silent MP and the council chairman. He used to be a very visible supporter of the Chadema opposition party, and unlike some councillors that apparently joined the opposition for frivolous reasons and this year all returned to CCM, it seemed to be an important part of Supuk’s identity, but in October 2018 he too joined the CCM ruling party and a picture of him with an ill-fitting CCM cap on his head while standing between the MP and the council chairman was paraded as a trophy in social media. Not even such humiliation saved Supuk from being baselessly targeted again, so maybe it’s time for people in Loliondo to stop accepting humiliation.

Manyara was released in the evening of Friday 11^thJanuary but was ordered to return to the police station on Monday 14^th. Clinton, Supuk, and Kapolonto stayed locked up. Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition engaged a lawyer to file a habeas corpus on Thursday, and it was filed on Friday.

On Saturday 12^th January RC Gambo made a statement about the burned bomas, which at the same time was sensationally good news (considering the current climate of fear), and totally absurd for the way in which he did it, and what he was pretending. I didn’t hear about his statement until the following day. See below for more comments on Gambo’s statement.

On Sunday 13^th January, Onesmo Olengurumwa of Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) – the only person from Loliondo, even if he lives in Dar es Salaam, who still dares to sometimes speak up - issued a statement condemning the illegal arrests, briefly describing the situation in Loliondo, and the fact that illegal arrests are far too common in Tanzania. THRDC called on the Loliondo police to immediately release those arrested, on the Minister of Home Affairs and the Inspector General of Police to take measures against the Ngorongoro Officer Commanding District and against the Arusha Regional Police Commander.

In the evening Clinton, Supuk, and Kapolonto were released on bail, but must keep reporting at Loliondo police station. It was still unclear exactly what they had been accused of, some mentioned being a threat to national security, but there wasn’t any written document specifying anything. Several people had all the time been saying that it was all about me, which of course would be bizarre enough for the Loliondo police.

The right of Clinton, Supuk, Manyara, and Kapolonto to be granted bail or taken to court after 24 hours was ignored, they were denied access to lawyers and relatives, and it wasn’t properly explained to them what they were accused of. The cells at Loliondo police station are freezing cold and frankly disgusting, this was a textbook example of illegal arrest, and besides that, those responsible knew that the four hadn’t committed any crime whatsoever.

I can’t wait any longer to publish this blog post, but many questions remain: like what exactly the victims of illegal arrest were interrogated about – if anything - and why Manyara and Kapolonto were dragged into this insanity. I hope to update the blog post with this information.

Silence isn’t stopping the terror in Loliondo, so just speak up!

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

As mentioned, Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo, on his visit to Ngorongoro district, made a statement against the burning of bomas committed by soldiers in November and December. In a way, this is sensationally good news, since nobody, other than myself, has previously spoken up, but in other ways it doesn’t make sense at all.

In a video clip, sitting next to the DC, who doesn’t look happy at all, Gambo starts by embroidering with words that there is a conflict between people and wildlife, that nobody opposes conservation, and that we must live together in Ngorongoro with wisdom and following the law, and so on. Then he tells about something in the district, people’s bomas have been burned, and the process doing this wasn’t very pleasing to see. He warns leaders against being used for private interests by someone controlling things in Ngorongoro via remote control. Measures must be taken through the district and regional security committees, following the law, and showing an element of humanity. Then he praises the MP (and deputy minister) – who in the clip doesn’t say anything, and looks quite flattened, even if he probably said something that isn’t included – for being very diplomatic, wise, and a great lobbyist, and he talks about the government as a just government that exercises due diligence, which obviously isn’t true at all. Neither “soldiers” nor “OBC” are mentioned by name. The attackers appear as “wasiojulikana”, the in Tanzania much feared “unknown people” that aren’t that unknown.

Starting in late June 2018, JWTZ soldiers that since March had a camp set up in Lopolun near Wasso, showed up in a couple of places torturing innocent people, apparently focusing on those with many cattle in Ololosokwan, and those accused of inciting others to graze on the land occupied by Thomson Safaris in Sukenya. Then from 8^th November these soldiers began beating up people in wide areas around OBC’s camp and chasing them away with their cattle, and between 14^th and 19^th November they were burning bomas in several areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan, while all leaders stayed silent, including some that had gone to England to talk about their living culture. The soldiers seized cattle on village land, driving them into Serengeti National Park to hand them over to the rangers that refused, and instead the cows in at least one case were released among predators at night. Though later the Serengeti rangers joined in seizing livestock on village land, extracting fines, and beating up herders.

The week before Christmas the soldiers were attacking people again, apparently anyone they came cross on the road, and wasn’t fast enough to run away, like a destitute old man from NCA looking for work in Ololosokwan, who was very badly beaten. Again, the soldiers seized cattle on village land and tried to hand them over to Serengeti rangers that refused. On 21^st December the soldiers burned down 12 or 13 bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo, with all belongings inside, and lambs and goat kids perished in the fire. All leaders stayed silent.

These attacks happened after the East African Court of Justice on 25^thSeptember had issued interim orders restraining the Tanzanian government, and any persons or offices acting on its behalf, from evicting the applicant villagers from the disputed 1,500 km2 osero, destroying their homesteads or confiscating their livestock on that land, until the determination of the main case, and restraining the Inspector General of Police from harassing or intimidating the applicants.

Reportedly, in November the district council chairman, the district CCM chairman, and some village chairmen went to ask the DC why people were being beaten, and the DC denied any knowledge. For Christmas, a message from the DC was shared by both good and bad people in Whatsapp groups. In this message the DC said he was sorry for the abuse suffered by people in Karkamoru (Leken), that he’d been out of the district, was sending a team to establish what had happened, and that there wasn’t any “operation” in the area. What had been happening for months was that soldiers from the national army, fully visible in their uniforms, had been driving around beating up people and burning down homesteads, reportedly telling people that they were being beaten for suing the government, and that the land was a “corridor”…

The only explanation I got for the fact that nobody, absolutely nobody, in Loliondo was speaking up against this brutality was intense fear, and the belief that the attacks were ordered by the highest levels of government, and public protest would not only lead to arrest at Loliondo police station, but anywhere in the country, or something worse than arrests, as soon as being found by authorities.

Aborted visit by the King of Morocco

After the bomas had been burned in Leken on 21^st December, I was told that the King of Morocco, “or Comoros” was expected in OBC’s camp for several days. Mohammed VI of Morocco had visited Loliondo once before, but people in Loliondo aren’t always very specific identifying “visitors”, and when preparation of the camp had begun in November, followed by violent attacks by the soldiers from the camp in Lopolun, and then burning of bomas, I thought it was Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai who was expected. Sheikh Mohammed is OBC since 1992, together with the owner, Al Ali, about whom not much is heard these days. There were reports of cargo planes landing as is usual when “the king”, as Sheikh Mohammed also is known as, is coming. Though many times when the camp is being prepared, and cargo planes landing, I never hear about any actual visit. The same happened this time, and I was told that the visit by Mohammed VI of Morocco had been postponed.

Not until after New Year’s Eve, when OBC’s community liaison, Mohammed “Marekani” Bayo sent me a friend request on Facebook did the postponed Moroccan visit seem more or less confirmed. He had recently made the picture of a cargo plane on a rainy airstrip (it hasn't rained for a three weeks) into his profile picture, and this plane very visibly belonged to the Royal Moroccan Air Force (not that I’m a planespotter, but I can google). I didn’t accept the request, but asked some questions without getting a reply. I wondered if Mohammed VI was supposed to be the guest of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, or of Tanzania, and why there are so many cargo planes when there’s food in Tanzania and OBC have equipment. These are just some of the many old unanswered questions that should have a somewhat easy answer.

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

As known, in March 2017, in the work for the alienation of the 1,500 km2 osero, Serengeti chief park warden, William Mwakilema, told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Tourism on a Loliondo tour, co-opted by then Minister Maghembe, that that German development funds for the “Serengeti Ecosystem Development and Conservation Project (SEDCP)” were subject to the approval of the land use plan proposing the alienation of the 1,500 km2 osero. This was while the Arusha RC’s (tasked by PM Majaliwa) select committee was working on a proposal for “solving the conflict” and finally reached the compromise proposal of a WMA that’s land alienation in everything but name, and had been rejected in Loliondo for a decade and a half, but was now supported by leaders (by some suspected of having stopped defending the land) while Mwakilema and Maghembe wanted a Game Controlled Area as in Wildlife Conservation Act 2009, which is a totally alienated protected area that allows hunting, of course. After this, a manifestation of 600 women marched on Wasso, and the District Council decided not to accept the German money. While waiting to hear from PM Majaliwa an “unexpected” illegal operation including mass arson, beatings, seizing of cattle, and rape was initiated on 13^th August 2017 and stopped by Minister Kigwangalla on 26^th October, after which Kigwangalla also made some splendid promises that he later U-turned upon. This operation was officially funded by TANAPA and implemented by Serengeti National Park rangers assisted by other rangers – and it’s TANAPA that together with Frankfurt Zoological Society implements the SEDCP. Alarmingly, since the District Council had decided to reject the German funds, Kigwangalla on 13^thNovember 2017 received a delegation headed by the German ambassador and announced that the Germans were going to fund community development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the Serengeti”. The fears that District Chairman Siloma had secretly signed the money seemed confirmed. On 6^th December 2017 Majaliwa announced his decision that was neither a WMA nor a GCA, but a legal bill to be prepared for a “special authority” to manage the land. It has later been revealed that this means that the whole of Loliondo is supposed to be placed under the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where grazing area after grazing area is alienated, subsistence cultivation is prohibited, and malnutrition a very serious problem among children. Majaliwa’s decision was much celebrated by the anti-Loliondo journalist Manyerere Jackton who for years had campaigned for the Maghembe/Mwakilema/OBC side, and against the Maasai of Loliondo.

I know that this introduction is too long for those who follow this blog, and too short for newcomers… Anyway, the Germans never confirmed nor denied chief park warden Mwakilema’s claim about their requirement. Abuse, fear, and silence are worse than ever in Loliondo, but PM Majaliwa’s special authority has so far been delayed.

On 9^th January 2019, almost two years after Mwakilema’s announcements to the standing committee, Chris Lang who runs the website Conservation Watch, which aims to facilitate discussion about the real impacts of protected area policy and practice in the Global South, had interestingly got some replies from Dr Klaus Müller, Director, and Dr Matthias Grüninger, Senior Project Manager (Principal) at KfW, the German government-owned development banks that funds the SEDCP.

Conservation Watch asked KfW, “Could you please confirm whether rangers from the Serengeti National Park have been involved in the evictions of Maasai people, taking the Maasai’s cattle and charging fines in 2017 and 2018.”

KfW’s reply was: “This question should be directed to the responsible authorities. KfW is not in the position to comment on this.”

We do of course not need KfW to confirm the illegal mass arson operation of 2017, since the authorities they refer to have already done so via the written order by the DC, the letter confirming that TANAPA was funding the operation, the statement from the ministry, and TANAPA’s map of bomas to be burned illegally on village land per Village Land Act No.5 of 1999, and the only thing their reply shows is that they don’t want to comment on the lead role that the implementers of the SEDCP have in human rights crimes. A clue about how much the Germans care is that in the middle of the human rights crimes of 2017, a smiling German ambassador, was seen all over media in the framework of the SEDCP handing over office and residential buildings for park staff in Fort Ikoma in Serengeti National Park to an equally smiling Minister Maghembe, while commenting on the long and successful partnership between Germany and Tanzania in protecting the Serengeti.

More interesting is KfW’s reply to Conservation Watch’s question whether German development funds are subject to the alienation of this 1,500 km2. The Germans said:

“German Development Funds implemented through KfW are not subject to such a requirement.”

KfW are with this saying that Serengeti chief park warden Mwakilema was lying to the standing parliamentary committee in March 2017 in his efforts to alienate this important grazing land. It was very threatening times for the Maasai, and Mwakilema’s supposed lie was repeated by several journalists without any correction from the Germans. It should be noted that FZS haven’t said anything about the plans for alienation of the 1,500 km2 osero, or the illegal operations to assist the “investor” lobbying for this alienation, but in all meetings, they are seen firmly at the side of the heads of departments of the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism.

Then Conservation Watch ask KfW to describe how their project is working with the Maasai living in these districts (even if not many people in Serengeti district are Maasai), and what actions KfW’s project is supporting in Serengeti and Ngorongoro districts in order to help to address the land rights conflicts faced by the Maasai. KfW describes for what they are working, with whom, an add examples of what they are doing, showing that “help to address the land rights conflicts faced by the Maasai” isn’t one of their concerns, in case anyone had any doubt.

In short, the Federal Republic of Germany is basically a supporting extension of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, and is silent about human rights and land rights, but will because of the way of handing out funds hardly be seriously dealt with by local leaders.

"Conservation is our tradition, OBC leave us our land" and ""District Council, don't receive money from the Germans, since it's death to us", Wasso 15th March 2017

Summary of osero developments of the past decades

All land in Loliondo is village land per Village Land Act No.5 of 1999, and more than the whole of Loliondo is also a Game Controlled Area (of the old kind that doesn’t affect human activities and can overlap with village land) where OBC, that organises hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, has the hunting block. Stan Katabalo – maybe Tanzania’s last investigative journalist - reported about how this hunting block was acquired in the early 90s. By 2019 there does no longer seem to be journalists of any kind.