Current:Home > MarketsIn an Attempt to Wrestle Away Land for Game Hunters, Tanzanian Government Fires on Maasai Farmers, Killing Two-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
In an Attempt to Wrestle Away Land for Game Hunters, Tanzanian Government Fires on Maasai Farmers, Killing Two
View Date:2024-12-23 16:35:49
Tanzanian security forces fired gunshots at Maasai farming communities on Friday during what appears to be an eviction operation aimed at clearing land for the establishment of a game-hunting preserve, according to witnesses, photographs, videos and non-governmental organizations familiar with the situation.
In the videos, the sound of gunfire can be heard as groups of about 100 or more Maasai, dressed in traditional red cloaks, run across the green Serengeti and away from security forces. Some of the Maasai are holding spears or bows and arrows. In one of the videos, what looks like explosions are going off in the distance, and in another video a group of about 100 Maasai are holding bows and arrows at the ready, purportedly protesting and resisting the evictions.
Images show some Maasai with bloody bullet wounds. Two people were killed during the incident, according to Anuradha Mittal, founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a California-based think tank specializing in social and environmental issues.
The affected Maasai communities, who depend on the land for their livelihood, are “legally registered owners” of the property at issue, which is about the size of the city of Phoenix, according to a court order from the East African Court of Justice. In that 2018 order, the court issued an injunction restraining the Tanzanian government from evicting the Maasai, confiscating their livestock and destroying their property. The court is expected to issue a final ruling in the case later this month.
Mittal, who has been monitoring the alleged evictions, condemned the government’s plans to rezone Maasai land for game hunting, and the planned evictions.
“The government is willing to defy the court injunction, grab the ancestral land of the Maasai and hand it over to the royal family of the UAE for their hunting pleasures, indicating its ruthless disregard for its citizens, international law, and due process,” Mittal said in a written statement, referring to the UAE-owned Otterlo Business Company, which the Oakland Institute says has a license to run commercial hunting operations on the land at issue.
The raid is part of a wider government effort to remove about 70,000 Maasai from their ancestral territory, some of which now consists of Tanzanian wildlife conservation areas bordering Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Land in and around the parks has become an explosive issue as commercial businesses and conservationists vie for control over the “Lion King”-like landscape filled with herds of wildebeest, packs of lions, zebras and giraffes. The parks are popular with tourists from the United States, Europe and China.
The land is biologically important because it is home to threatened and endangered species, and culturally significant to the Maasai and other Indigenous peoples who have historically occupied the territory. Those groups’ way of living and long-time stewardship of the land is why iconic species have survived there, according to Fio Longo, a campaign manager at the Indigenous rights group Survival International.
Survival International, the Oakland Institute and other human rights groups and experts have pushed back against global conservation efforts that displace Indigenous and local communities, and which are sometimes linked with other human rights abuses like killing, torture and rape.
Among the most high-profile reports documenting such abuses is a 2019 Buzzfeed News investigation that exposed a series of alleged abuses carried out by park rangers against Indigenous people in conservation parks in Africa and Asia. Some of those parks were funded, in part, by the conservation giant World Wildlife Fund.
The evictions carried out against the Maasai this week happened as world leaders moved to conserve 30 percent of the world’s land by 2030 under a global plan to protect biodiversity. Human rights experts are worried that the so-called “30 by 30 plan” will result in abuses and violations of Indigenous and local communities’ rights.
“We are in front of a humanitarian catastrophe that reveals the true face of conservation,” Longo said. “The Maasai are being shot just because they want to live in their ancestral lands in peace—and all of this to make room for trophy hunting and ‘conservation.’”
In the East African Court of Justice case, four Maasai communities asked the court to recognize their ownership of the land at issue. They argued that the attempted evictions are a violation of their property rights and alleged that the government has burned their homes, carried out arbitrary arrests, confiscated their livestock and carried out a campaign of intimidation and harassment against their people.
The Tanzanian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in the East African Court of Justice case has argued that the evictions are lawful. The government also denied responsibility for burnt homes and destroyed property. The basis for the evictions, according to the government, is to avert alleged ecological damage to the land caused in part by pressures from a growing Maasai population.
The court’s delay in making a final ruling in the case is due to pauses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Mittal.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misrepresented the relationship of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature with the Tanzanian government.
veryGood! (27728)
Related
- Brands Our Editors Are Thankful For in 2024
- Project Runway All Stars' Designer Anna Zhou Talks Hard Work, Her Avant-Garde Aesthetic & More
- Islanders, Get Your First Look at Ariana Madix on Love Island USA
- Love endures for Ukrainian soldier who lost both arms, sight during war
- Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’. What happens next is less clear
- Disney Singer CoCo Lee’s Funeral Details Shared
- 4 stabbed in series of unprovoked attacks; suspect shot dead by officer: Police
- Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' Matilda Date Night Is Sweet as Honey
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Barack and Michelle Obama's Chef Dies While Paddleboarding Near Their Martha's Vineyard Home
Ranking
- Florida State can't afford to fire Mike Norvell -- and can't afford to keep him
- Karlie Kloss Reveals Name of Baby No. 2 With Joshua Kushner
- Kylie Jenner, Cardi B and More Stars Who've Shared Plastic Surgery Confessions
- Woman found dead after suspected bear encounter near Yellowstone
- GM recalls 460k cars for rear wheel lock-up: Affected models include Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac
- Vanderpump Rules' Scheana Shay Claps Back at Claim She's Forgiven Tom Sandoval for Cheating
- Gilgo Beach Murder Suspect's Wife Files for Divorce Following His Arrest
- Millie Bobby Brown Shares Glimpse Inside Six Flags Trip With Fiancé Jake Bongiovi
Recommendation
-
'Red One' review: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans embark on a joyless search for Santa
-
Who Is Ethan Slater? Everything You Need to Know About Ariana Grande's New Boyfriend
-
Ethan Slater Makes Instagram Account Private Amid Ariana Grande Romance
-
Oppenheimer's Cillian Murphy Underwent a Drastic Transformation—& So Did These Movie Stars
-
'Wanted' posters plastered around University of Rochester target Jewish faculty members
-
Islanders, Get Your First Look at Ariana Madix on Love Island USA
-
US heat wave lingers in Southwest, intensifies in Midwest: Latest forecast
-
The Baffling Story of Teen Rudy Farias: Brainwashed at Home and Never Missing Amid 8-Year Search