Expulsion of the Maasai in Tanzania

Today, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) sent a reqest to German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, asking him to use his upcoming visit to Tanzania to advocate for the rights of the Maasai. “The government of Tanzania has been carrying out a concerted expulsion campaign against the Maasai since June 2022. The plan is to drive around 150,000 people out of two regions – allegedly as a means of nature conservation,” stated Christoph Hahn, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “The Frankfurt Zoological Society is partly responsible for the expulsions. Its activities in Tanzania are financed by the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). Thus, the German state is indirectly involved in the expulsions.” The German President should use his visit to get an impression of the situation – beyond the planned program – and speak with those who are affected.

Steinmeier will also visit the city of Dar es Salaam, where Maasai advocate Joseph Oleshangay works at the Legal and Human Rights Centre. Oleshangay is this year’s winner of the Weimar Human Rights Prize. “Mr Steinmeier should urgently meet up with Joseph Oleshangay and have the expulsion campaign explained to him from the viewpoint of the Maasai,” Hahn stated. “Surely, the government of Tanzania will hide the massive violence against its own population during his visit. Thus, he should ask for a meeting with the Maasai himself – and listen to them.” In the light of the German involvement in these serious human rights abuses, this is the least he could do.

The Federal President will visit the United Republic of Tanzania from October 30 to November 1.