Tanzania accused of backtracking over sale of Masai’s ancestral land

((Mods: The first source I am using is from a petition site so I won't be providing a link. I will include who wrote the article. I would still like to use it because of the message it has. I will also be including a news article that was also done about the issue the first source talks about))

The Tanzanian government plans to kick 40,000 Maasai people off their ancestral land to make way for a luxury big game hunting reserve. A section of the famous Serengeti plains, which teems with lions, leopards, elephants, wildebeest, zebra and buffalo, is to be sold to a Dubai-based company, the Ortelo Business Corporation, for a commercial hunting ground.

The Tanzanian government has been forced to back down once before -- last year, after massive local and international opposition to the plan, Tanzania's president promised the Maasai they could stay on their lands. Now the government has made a sudden u-turn, and told them the deal is back on and they must leave their ancestral territory by the end of this year.

The Maasai have been fighting the commercialisation of their traditional lands for decades, battling greedy investors eyeing the area's extraordinary wildlife and trying to get hunting and tourism permits. The nomadic herders are furious at the news that this deal has come back to life.

“This is the worst kind of betrayal ever,” said Ole Kulinga, a Maasai elder and traditional leader. “This government’s promises are clearly worth nothing. They said our lands were safe -- the lands where the Maasai have lived and died for generations -- but now they are going to take them from us, and sell them to rich royals from overseas who want to come and slaughter animals. We will never accept this deal. Our land is not for sale.”

There is a lot of money riding on the Dubai deal. Local activists opposing the hunting reserve over the last two years have been threatened, and even killed. So international attention and pressure has a crucial part to play in exposing the Tanzanian government's betrayal and forcing it to keep its promises. Please stand with the Maasai people who could lose everything, and help them keep their homelands

Written by: Kaytee Riek



Second source from the news article:

They insist the sale of the land would rob them of their heritage and directly or indirectly affect the livelihoods of 80,000 people. The area is crucial for grazing livestock on which the nomadic Masai depend.

Unlike last year, the government is offering compensation of 1 billion shillings (£369,350), not to be paid directly but to be channelled into socio-economic development projects. The Masai have dismissed the offer.

...
Activists opposing the hunting reserve have been killed by police in the past two years, according to Nangiria, who says he has received threatening calls and text messages. “For me it is dangerous on a personal level. They said: ‘We discovered you are the mastermind, you want to stop the government using the land’. Another said: ‘You have decided to shorten your life. The hands of the government are too long. Put your family ahead of the Masai.’”

Tanzania accused of backtracking over sale of Masai’s ancestral land

It's bad enough they are forcing people from their ancestral homeland, but they want to build a luxury big game hunting reserve that is to be sold to a Dubai-based company, the Ortelo Business Corporation. *roll eyes & shakes head in disgust*

The Maasia aren't even getting the money for the compensation. Instead the compensation of 1 billion shillings (£369,350) is to be channelled into socio-economic development projects. Let met get this straight, their lives are being ruined, they are being forced of their ancestral land & they don't even get direct compensation?

Something is terribly wrong with this picture, maybe it's the fact that it's happening in a place where no one else in the world cares what happens there.

a reply to: Sabiduria

Welcome to Big Corporation logics.

For those who know not the Massais:



I Just want to put a face on these people which the Big Corps are about to kick out from their home lands.

a reply to: swanne
Thank you for posting a picture

This is a real sad story about someone in the Tanzanian government who made a deal with the devil a long time ago.

a reply to: vataOsadhi

When you are so poor, a large amount of money will look great. When you are in charge of poor people & some greedy company comes & wants to set up a hunting ground, the money is very tempting. With last years deal falling through, this time around more money was offered & will be going to socio-economic development projects instead of to the people who are displaced.

$1,000,000,000 to go to socio-economic development projects seems worth it even though it will directly or indirectly affect the livelihoods of 80,000 people.

Big corporations or even other countries can bribe the poor guy because they know how desperate they are for any bit of money. The bad guys can give bribes to get their way, this can be seen with trying to stop the slaughter of dolphins on the political side of things. (Watch the documentary 'The Cove'. Warning, it can be sad & disturbing to some)

a reply to: Sabiduria

I believe you are right when you said "No one else cares". The lack of response to this, even just in flags or stars shows how uninterested everyone is in this subject. This does not effect them & it's not police brutality so they don't care.

It is a shame

a reply to: knoledgeispower

We can't totally fault them for it, after all, the MSM is keeping them very distracted & riled up about other issues.



((Off topic: your new avatar is awesome! Nice pick Kip))

@knoledgeispower soon they'll be caring, but then it'll be too late

a reply to: vataOsadhi

I don't think it will be soon, I agree that if/when they do care it will be too late. The hunting ground will already been built and who knows how many animals killed in the name of entertainment.

That's the problem today, people care the most about things effecting their hometowns & their country. "Let everyone else take care of their own countries, if the U.S and other leading nations can do it, so can you guys". They don't know how easily those smaller countries can have their minds changed by large amounts of money.