Tanzania announced last week it plans to evict 30,000 Maasai herders from a hefty swath of their ancestral lands in order to create a game reserve offering exclusive access for a Dubai-based hunting company.
Maasai activists say the proposal, which reduces their space here by 40 percent, will destroy their traditional cattle-herding livelihood. But their attempts earlier this week to hold a mass protest fell apart -- causing Maasai women to organize their own sit-ins, with as many 1,000 camping out in one town.
The government says the corridor is a necessity for conservation in the northern Loliondo region bordering the Serengeti, and charges that Maasai cattle are overgrazing the land.
The Maasai once ranged across northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, following seasonal rains with their cattle. But over the years they have slowly been fenced into a few areas like Loliondo.
Now, they could be losing some of that land, too. According to the proposal, they would be locked out of the planned corridor, while Ortello Business Corp. (OBC), a Dubai-based hunting outfit that has operated in Loliondo since 1992, would be granted access. Full story...
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Maasai activists say the proposal, which reduces their space here by 40 percent, will destroy their traditional cattle-herding livelihood. But their attempts earlier this week to hold a mass protest fell apart -- causing Maasai women to organize their own sit-ins, with as many 1,000 camping out in one town.
The government says the corridor is a necessity for conservation in the northern Loliondo region bordering the Serengeti, and charges that Maasai cattle are overgrazing the land.
The Maasai once ranged across northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, following seasonal rains with their cattle. But over the years they have slowly been fenced into a few areas like Loliondo.
Now, they could be losing some of that land, too. According to the proposal, they would be locked out of the planned corridor, while Ortello Business Corp. (OBC), a Dubai-based hunting outfit that has operated in Loliondo since 1992, would be granted access. Full story...
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