•The government was served notice of the upcoming judgment before it moved to forcefully evict about 70,000 indigenous Maasai from disputed land in Ngorongoro on June 9.
•In the statement, Majaliwa said the government is working on three areas of Loliondo, Sare, and Ngorongoro where it plans to demarcate the conservations areas.
Image: REUTERS
Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Sunday defended the government's evictions in Ngorongoro and Loliondo areas saying it is aimed at conserving the Serengeti ecosystem.
One man has died and 31 others injured in clashes between local Maasai inhabitants and authorities as the state seeks to evict the residents.
Non-government agencies working in Loliondo and Ngorongoro areas with the communities said 31 of the injured people who suffered bullet wounds crossed over to Kenya to seek treatment.
A statement released on Sunday by the Prime Minister comes days before the East African Court of Justice is set to rule this week on the merits of a case filed by supporters of the Maasai against Tanzania’s government.
The government was served notice of the upcoming judgment before it moved to forcefully evict about 70,000 indigenous Maasai from disputed land in Ngorongoro on June 9.
According to the Pan African Lawyers Union's lead lawyer, Donald Deya, the court in 2018 issued an interim order that stopped the government from moving the Maasai from Ngorongoro and Loliondo to create space for wildlife conservation.
In the statement, Majaliwa said the government is working on three areas of Loliondo, Sare, and Ngorongoro where it plans to demarcate the conservations areas.
“We are doing this after a public participation with the local representatives and explaining to them the need to conserve the Serengeti ecosystem for the country’s posterity,” Majaliwa said.
Majaliwa said the cause of trouble, that has even caused fracas between the locals and the security forces are the non-governmental organisations that are opposed to the government’s conservation plans.
He said a proposal was floated by the government to the local Maasai people early in the year and they were told the state would compensate them if they move out voluntarily.
The Prime Minister said some of the Maasai, who live more than 8 km from the conservation area, started moving out after understanding the government’s need to preserve the area.
He said all the Maasai clans in Loliondo are on the Kenyan side and have very close ties.
“In that context, neither Purko, Loita nor Laitayok of Loliondo will prevent those from Kenya from equally importing livestock into the wildlife management area and the Serengeti National Park,” he said.
The Prime Minister said Tanzania’s government value the rights of her people, saying doors are still open for talks with the affected people.
The activities that take place in the Loliondo Game Reserve are hunting and photography.
Hunting takes place in an area that includes the Loliondo and Sale Division.
Under the rules and regulations of horticulture, the area has been set aside as a hotspot for horticulture and leased by Ortallo Business Corporation to run hunting activities since 1993 on a five-year contract.
However, through the village authorities, some investors have agreed with the village to conduct photo tourism activities in contravention of the laws and regulations governing spatial hunting and village land law number 5 of 1999.
The Land Act, Section 76 (1-3), which is permitted to provide a legally recognised area as part of a village and not exceeding the size of 50 acres for investment.
There are currently three photographic tourism camps where Klein's and Buffalo companies have entered into contracts with Ololosokwan village while Thomson Safaris is licensed within the conservation area.
Due to the violation of the law, photographic tourism activities have become one of the sources of conflict in the area.
There are villages registered in the Loliondo Game Reserve under the Local Government Act No. 7 of 1982.
Despite the registration, they have not yet been assessed for land titles.
Registration of villages on protected land without transfer is against the rule of law.
Many livestock from various parts of the district and even from the neighbouring countries are currently grazing in the game reserve and so the area is plagued by environmental degradation and grazing scarcity.
The 1500 km area is very important for the ecology of the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro conservation area.
The area is a wildlife sanctuary, water sources for the Serengeti ecosystem, and a wildlife movement corridor from the Serengeti and Ngorongoro to and from the Masai Mara-Kenya.
The area is one of the key archaeological sites in the Serengeti - Ngorongoro - Masai Mara.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris