Read the statement on the shocking Forced Removals of Maasai Pastoralists in Loliondo, Tanzaniaas well as spontaneous and moving preliminary reflections from a member of a fact-finding mission to Loliondo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanazuoni/message/4495.

For more background on Loliondogate refer to NPA’s article on Violence Against Pastoralists Continues and Prof. Chachage’s (2003) piece on ‘Citizenship and Partitioned People in East Africa: The Case of Wamaasai’ at www.codesria.org/Links/Publications/ad1_03/chachage.pdf .

In the latter text you will read the following revelation:

“There are numerous examples of resources deprivation as a result of the liberalization policies. Some are such as the 1992 granting of a lease of over 4,000 sq. km of Loliondo game reserve (Arusha) secretly to an Arab Sheikh, Brigadier Mohammed Adulrahim Al-Ally of United Arab Emirates, for hunting purposes through Ortello (a Kenyan based hunting company—presumably with secret powerful interests locally). There was a public outcry against this action, the result of which the government was forced to defend the legitimacy of its action to no avail. In this case, 25 Wamaasai villages were being affected.”