UN World Wildlife Day (March 3)

Starting in February 2022, the Maasai were forced to relocate from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the Serengeti ecosystem to the village of Msomera, which is 600 kilometers away, allegedly as a means of nature conservation and species protection. However, the region has long been a home to semi-nomadic Maasai and their cattle, as well as for the Zigua, who practice subsistence agriculture. Based on interviews with those affected, the report “Die Maasai in Msomera – Konflikt und Enteignung für den Naturschutz” [The Maasai in Msomera – conflict and expropriation for nature conservation] shows how the Tanzanian government is systematically dispossessing these people – illegally and without any compensation. The authorities are now giving stolen land to those who were forced to leave Ngorongoro, thus fueling conflicts between the different Maasai communities and between the Maasai and the Zigua. Further, this procedure entails a series of human rights violations.

We have received reports about arbitrary arrests and outrageous legal actions, based on the demonstrably false claim that the people of Msomera are illegally living in areas that were not designated as residential areas. People from Msomera have told us about a climate of fear. Anyone who disagrees will be arrested. In at least one case, a mother was separated from her three-month-old baby, who needed medical care. Affected individuals testified to us that they were forced to exhume the bodies of their ancestors – as those who were forced to resettle from the Ngorongoro would otherwise have refused to accept the land.

In interviews, people affected also stated that ranger personnel of the Serengeti National Park authorities SENAPA were involved in the land grab. The organization is a project partner of German development cooperation and is thus funded, among other sources, by German taxpayer money.

The STP therefore demanded the German Federal Government to stop financing all projects that are connected to SENAPA as a partner. Further, Francisco Cali Tzay, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, should be allowed to conduct independent investigations.

The memorandum “Die Maasai in Msomera – Konflikt und Enteignung für den Naturschutz” can be downloaded here.

Further information on the evictions in Ngorongoro and Loliondo can be found in the STP report “Die Maasai in Tansania – Vertrieben für den Naturschutz” (in German), which was published in December 2023. You can download it here.