By Osoro Nyawangah, MWANZA Tanzania
Three European politicians say the Tanzanian government has prevented them from visiting the country to investigate the evictions of indigenous Masai people.
The three MEPs from the Green
Party, Michele Rivasi, Claude Gruffat and Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, said
that less than 24 hours before they were due to set off on Monday, they were
informed that the visit had been postponed.
“Yesterday, I should have
travel to Tanzania to set up an independent observation mission following
reports of human rights violations against Maasai. The government denied us
entry to the territory, 24 hours before our departure.” She said on her Twitter
page adding that it is an unacceptable decision.
They said in their joint press release that it was the third observation mission to be denied access since the end of last year.
“The MEPs from the Green
Party, Michele Rivasi, Claude Gruffat and Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana were due to
travel to Tanzania on Monday 4th September as part of an independent
observation mission following civil society alerts on expulsions suffered by
members of the Masai indigenous community and the arbitrary arrests and
detentions of which they are alleged to be victims.” Reads the Press Release.
It states further that after months of preparation and while all the details of this mission were settled, the Tanzania government through its Ambassador to the EU said it had decided to” defer this visit to a later date”, 24 hours before the delegation should have left.
They said that it was an incomprehensible
decision that calls into question all the work done in cooperation with the Tanzanian
government, NGOs and EU representatives.
The Amnesty International allege
that in 2009, without gaining consent from the Maasai as required by
international human rights standards, the Tanzanian authorities restricted
human activities, including settlements and livestock grazing, in a network of
so-called “Protected Areas”.
These areas include
1,500square kilometres of villages where the Maasai have lived for generations,
using the land for livestock grazing, food production and as a source of water.
The restrictions left more
than 70,000 Maasai with insufficient land for their livestock as well as water
shortages, leaving their cattle at risk of death.
The forced evictions in
Tanzania are rooted in the country’s land governance policies, which fail to
provide thousands of people with the right to land.
Since 1959, when the Maasai
were moved from the Serengeti National Park to Loliondo, the Maasai have been
repeatedly evicted from their traditional pastoral lands by the government. The
authorities said the evictions were necessary for wildlife conservation, yet
the land was later used for tourism activities, including trophy hunting.
The Maasai were subjected to
forced evictions in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022 by numerous state security
forces, who were accompanied by representatives of a private company licensed
to operate tourism activities, including trophy hunting, in Loliondo.
"We will fight for our land to the end" |
The government says local
people have moved voluntarily, under a scheme that is necessary for
conservation.
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