Stop meddling in our issues, Tanzanian Maasais tell Kenyan Embassy
The Maasai community in Dar es Salaam has protested to the Kenyan Embassy, urging Civil Society Organizations and Kenyan institutions to stop associating themselves with the Tanzanian government over the ongoing evictions in Ngorongoro conservation area.
The community claims Kenyan activists have been inciting residents of Loliondo division of the Ngorongoro district following evictions by the Tanzanian government.
“We are here to protest against media reports on the ongoing Ngorongoro, Loliondo land tussle. We have come to ask the Kenyan embassy to stop causing friction between us and the Tanzanian government,” one member of the community said.
President Samia Suluhu intends to resume the eviction of about 70,000 Maasai community to make room for trophy hunting and elite tourism.
Thousands of the Maasai people have staged protests and are adamant that they will not leave until the decision is reversed.
The land is legally registered in the Loliondo Division, Ngorongoro District, and vital for Maasai pastoralists, who have sustainably protected the area for generations.
Last week, Tanzania’s prime minister Kassim Majaliwa assured Loliondo residents that no one would be evicted, maintaining that the government was just demarcating the areas.
Loliondo has an estimated 4,000 square kilometres with 1,500 of them allocated for conservation while the rest is for human activities. The conservation area is an important source of water that flows through Serengeti and is the wildebeest breeding ground.