WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY?
The Tanzanian government has announced plans to divide up Maasai lands for reserves and wildlife management, leaving them with no land to survive off. If this plan goes through, this will be the end of the Maasai and the Serengeti Ecosystem.
Land will be divided up for game reserves, wildlife management and ‘public and international’ interests - what's left will be allocated to the Maasai. The pastoralists, who depend on this land, will be forced to have less livestock and will have little left after it is divided up.
THE END OF THE MAASAI IN LOLIONDO
Partners, The Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and the Ujaama Community Resource Trust (UCRT) tell us that;
“The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki has said the government of Tanzania is establishing the corridor of 1,500 sq Km for both public and international interests. He added the current Loliondo Game Controlled Area is 4000 sq Km and the government will take 1,500 for the corridor and the remaining 2,500 will be the village land. He added, wildlife management areas will be established from the 2,500 sq Km and the remaining will be left for pastoralism. He stressed that the government will provide social services to the Maasai, including livestock services. He also said the Maasai have got to keep fewer livestock as per the carrying capacity of the new area.”
This is, in effect, the end of the Maasai in Loliondo, affecting some 10,000 people. The "international interests" are the Otterlo Business Corporation Ltd, a hunting company from UAE. This organisation has been in conflict with local residents for several years, including the use of violence and evictions in 2009.
From the 27th of March until the 7th of April, women gathered in Magaiduru village, one of the nine villages in Loliondo Division that has recently been declared by the government as a wildlife corridor, essentially prohibiting any future use of the lands by the local communities. The women – some of whom walked more than a day and half to reach Magaiduru – gathered to protest this decision and to collectively demand that the land in Loliondo be returned to the communities.