TANZANIA government reneges on its promise to 40,000 Masai pastoralists and plans to evict them from their ancestral homeland around Serengeti Park, and sell the land to Ortelo Business Corporation (OBC), a luxury safari company affiliated with the UAE Dubai royal family, for safaris and big game hunting. OBC clients include UK Prince Charles, a world leading conservationist. theguardian/world/2014/nov/16/tanzania-government-accused-serengeti-sale-maasai-lands salon/2014/11/17/tanzania_will_sell_masai_homeland_to_dubai_royal_family It is unfathomable that oil rich Arab royal sheiks want to buy and own ancestral land and displace 40,000 Masai tribesmen who have lived there for thousands of years. Masai, as do Native Americans feel that land belongs to mother earth and shared by everyone. There has been a long history of displacement of the Masai from their tribal lands. In the 1950s, The World Bank encouraged the Kenyan government to sell Masai land to ranchers, to secure title as a basis for development credit. This lead to considerable disintegration of the areas around Serengeti, and displacement of thousands of Masai. Over the next few decades, this pattern continued, more Masai were killed, beaten and displaced, to force them off their turf as more land was purchased by outsiders. The last displacement of Masai occurred in 2009, when over 300 bomas (thorn bush homes) were torched, dozens of people beaten, including allegations of Masai women raped by the Tanzanian police. ecology/2012/09/10/tanzanias-land-rights-violations In 1989, the UN International Labour Office (ILO) adopted a resolution, called The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (Convention 169) that states that The rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognized. The Serengeti is one of the worlds oldest national parks, and a lasting legacy of the work of Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael (who died in a light plane crash there), who wrote the book Serengeti shall not die and renowned conservationist and author, George Schaller. Part of the Grzimek and Schallers efforts were to also protect include the Masai as custodians of this World Heritage Site. Prince Charles, one of worlds leading conservationists, has remained silent on this. He needs to speak out and stop his Emirati royal friends and OBC. Imagine the outlying conservation areas and towns around Yellowstone National Park being bought out by Arab or any wealthy investors, to hunt buffalo, bears, and wolves, and fifth generation ranching families and towns like Gardiner, West Yellowstone ordered to leave their homes by the end of the year? Two years ago, the Tanzanian government denied plans to evict the Masaai over this purchase, but that promise has not stood its ground in the promise of millions of dollars, which will go to the Tanzanian government. theguardian/world/2012/aug/15/tanzania-evict-maasai-uae-royals Mzee Orosikos, a Maasai elder, said: For us, our land is everything, but these Arab princes have no respect for the animals or our rights. Many of us would rather die than be forced to move again. Anyone who loves Serengeti and the Masai, please speak out. 1. Please sign this petition, already signed by 1,781,000 people to stop this atrocity. avaaz.org/en/save_the_maasai 2. Contact UAE Embassy in Washington DC. Speak out about a UAE private luxury safari and hunting company purchasing land and displacing 40,000 native Maasai. uae-embassy.org/contact-embassy 3. Contact Prince Charles Charitable Foundation. Request Prince Charles and his charities personally ask OBC and his UAE royal family friends to stop this purchase. princeofwalescharitablefoundation.org.uk/contact-us 4. Please this on social media. Likes dont do anything, spread the word! I am not apologetic about this, as I grew up in Tanzania, and consider it my home. The proud Masai warriors, women were some of the most hospitable people on the planet. Ashe (thanks in Masai) and Asante sana (thank you very much in Swahili)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 01:05:11 +0000
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