Forced Evictions, Rights Abuses of Maasai People in Tanzania

Indigenous Maasai people in Loliondo region,Tanzania have been facing new cases of forced evictions and human rights violations, a major international organisation supporting indigenous peoples’ struggle for human rights and self-determination warned.

“Forced and illegal evictions of Maasai pastoralists and serious human rights violations are right now happening in Tanzania,” the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) has alerted quoting “reliable information.”

The reported violations have been taking place on registered village land in Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region, IWGIA informs in an “evidence-based urgent alert.”

“Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo are at the moment being subjected to serious human rights violations including forced evictions, burning of houses, loss of property and livestock and serious harassment,” Marianne Wiben Jensen, IWGIA’ senior advisor on Land Rights (Africa), confirmed to IPS.

“They find themselves in a very serious situation with food insecurity and impoverishment and many are suffering from psychological trauma,” she added.

Asked if it is about an unprecedented case, Wiben Jensen told IPS “The Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo have been subjected to similar forced evictions and human rights violations previously, such as in 2009.”

It is very important to find “a long lasting solution that will guarantee that no further evictions will take place and that the rights of the pastoralists to their legally registered village lands are secured,” she stressed.

A lot of evictions and human rights violations toward pastoralists have reportedly taken place over the years in Tanzania, as documented in IWGIA’s report: Tanzania Pastoralists threatened: eviction, human rights violations and loss of livelihood.

The report explores the evictions of pastoralists and other conflicts over pastoralists’ land in Tanzania, with focus on the past decade. “Although most of these evictions and land based conflicts have been documented, the associated human and legal rights violations have increasingly lead to concern” amongst civil society.
 “According to community testimonies provided in field work, it was found that not only are pastoralists losing their legitimate village land through government endorsed evictions and land encroachments, but these eviction processes and conflicts lead to loss of livelihood and loss of property.”

It was further alleged that serious human and legal rights violations are committed during eviction processes, none of which have been addressed, warns the study.

“Reports indicate that Maasai houses/bomas have been burned down, livestock have been lost, people have been forced to pay fines, and have been harassed and threatened,” IWGIA informed in its latest alert, adding that it has been reported that there is lack of water and food and that men, women, children and the elderly have to sleep out with no shelter.

“Families are being separated, and many people are now suffering from psychological trauma because of the evictions and harassment.” The evictions are creating food insecurity and lead to impoverishment.

The Copenhagen-based international human rights organisation supporting indigenous peoples right to territory, control of land and resources, cultural integrity, and the right to development, also informs that precise data at this time is not available, but according to the information received the following violations have taken place:

— On the 13 and 14 August 2017, an estimated 185 Maasai bomas (homesteads) were burned down by Serengeti National Park (SENAPA) and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) rangers, supported by police from Loliondo.

As a result, it is estimated that approximately 6.800 people have been rendered homeless, had most of their property destroyed and been left without any shelter, food or water. The number is  still increasing since the violent eviction is still going on.

People’s livestock are also unprotected and many have scattered into the surrounding areas.

— It is yet to be established how many livestock have been lost. However, it is reported that more than 2000 livestock have been lost in Ololosokwa village alone.

The eviction operation started on the 13 August in Ololosokwan village, and on 14  August the operation reportedly continued in several other areas: Oloosek, Illoibor Ariak, Endashata areas in Ololosokwan village, Oleng’usa area in Kirtalo village, Oloorkiku area in Oloipiri village and Loopilukuny area in Oloirien village.

“All the affected areas are classified as legally registered village land as per the Village Land Act no. 5 of 1999 under the formal administration of their respective village governments as per the Local Government Act, adds IWGIA.

Although accurate figures are hard to arrive at since ethnic groups are not included in the population census, the estimated number of Maasai in Tanzania is around 430,000.
 

The evictions take place at a point of time where pastoralists are trying to cope with a serious drought in the area, which has diminished the quantity and quality of pastures for their livestock, IWGIA adds.

There are reported incidents of pastoralists grazing their livestock within the Serengeti National Park, and having to pay massive fines to the [Serengeti National Park] SENAPA rangers, the organisation warns.

“It is reported that even pastoralists grazing their cattle outside the park boundaries have been fined. In conjunction with this, it is also reported that at least one young man from Olosokwan village has been shot and seriously injured by SENAPA rangers outside Serengeti National Park.”

“Now the on-going evictions and harassment, coupled as it is with the drought, make the local peoples’ situation even more desperate.”

It is not entirely clear who ordered the eviction. Reportedly there was no consultation at either District Council or Village Government level, nor with the people directly affected, which means there was no agreement on the evictions either.

There was no warning given.

“The evictions and human rights violations are carried out by armed SENAPA and [Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority] NCAA rangers supported by Loliondo police officers.”

It is also not clear why the evictions are happening and no official reason has so far been given, adds IWGIA. “It will be important to clearly establish who ordered the evictions and why such that these relevant authorities can be held responsible.”

The latest development is that a press statement released by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism stated that the purpose of the operation is to remove livestock and housing from Serengeti National Park and also from the boundary areas, which are legally registered village land, and it is clear from the press release that houses/bomas are being burned on village land, warns IWGIA.

The evictions, harassment and human rights violations take place within an area of where several other attempts of forced evictions have taken place over the years (such as in 2009, 2010 and 2015 where thousands of people lost their homes and properties), the organisation reports.

“Local leaders say that the on-going eviction is an operation organised to ensure that there will be no more people or livestock living in the villages of the area. This area, which is legally registered village land encompassing 8 villages, covers 1.500 km2 and has long been leased by the Government of Tanzania as the key hunting block in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area.”

Taken from a report by Baher Kamel here.

Tanzanian Food Surplus and Poverty

 Lack of political will to invest in agriculture in Africa has led to a vicious cycle that could keep costing the continent billions of dollars annually. The president of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr Kanayo Nwanze, says Africa spends $35 billion a year to import food, money that could have been used to create jobs in agriculture. While Africa has a quarter of the world's arable land, it only generates 10 per cent of global agricultural output. "If even a portion of the money used for food imports was spent on creating jobs in rural areas, not only would the world's largest youth population see a viable future on the continent, but Africa would be able to feed itself," Mr Nwanze adds. 

Employing directly and indirectly about 65.5 per cent of Tanzanians, contributing 29 per cent to GDP and comprising 30 per cent of exports and 65 per cent of inputs to the industrial sector, agriculture is the veritable backbone of the Tanzanian economy. But one could be forgiven for thinking that adequate public investment is being poured into the sector to add value to the livelihoods of at least 35 million Tanzanians. Budgetary allocations in the agriculture sector are inadequate and have been the cause of its slow growth, making higher earnings for the rural population a far-fetched dream.

Poor investment in agriculture has made Tanzania in particular and Africa in general a net food importer, wasting the limited financial resources that could have been invested in the sector and create millions of jobs.

Tanzania's food import situation is worrying. Available statistics show that the country spent Sh885.8 billion ($421.8 million) on food and foodstuff imports in the 12 months between May 2015 and May 2016, according to the Bank of Tanzania. This is equivalent to 88.5 per cent of the total budget for the agriculture sector in 2015/16.

Tanzania spends significant resources on food imports despite the fact that the country is considered food self-sufficient with food production exceeding 100 per cent of demand "in years of adequate rainfall". Tanzania had a food surplus of 2.6 million tonnes following more than adequate rains and harvests during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 farming seasons. The country harvested about 15.5 million tonnes of food in 2014/15 (to be consumed in the 2015/16 financial year). Among these, 8.9 million tonnes were grain and 6.6 million tonnes non-cereal harvests. The total food demand in 2015/16 was 12.9 million tonnes (8.2 million cereal and 4.8 non cereal) Food supply analysis shows that Tanzania is food sufficient by 120 per cent, down from 125 per cent in 2014/15,

Among the 25 Mainland regions, however, only nine regions had food surplus, six were food sufficient and six had food shortages in the period under review. Despite good harvests, at least 69 district face serious food shortages.

Experts say famine persists in Tanzania due to extreme poverty as well as poor infrastructure and inadequate distribution channels.

Coming together in Tanzania

For decades, farmers and herders in a village located 65 km from Iringa region in Tanzania’s southern highlands, have been vying with one another for water for irrigate fields or pastures for feeding animals; triggering many fatal conflicts. The Pawaga division is considered one of the bread basket areas of Tanzania where people grow maize, rice and vegetables in the valleys whereas others keep animals in the highlands. Despite a clear demarcation of the areas that are controlled by farmers and those controlled by herders, there have been frequent clashes. Deadly conflicts have been raging in Tanzania for years as farmers and herders scramble for resources as climate change continues to take its toll. The worst conflict between pastoralists and farmers occurred in December 2000 in Kilosa district, Morogoro region, where 38 farmers were killed. Hostilities re-ignited in 2008 and eight people were killed, several houses set ablaze. Pastoralists, who are considered more affluent than farmers, are often accused of influencing political decisions by bribing local leaders who allow them to let cattle graze in farmland and trample on crops. Tanzania has approximately 21 million head of cattle, the largest number in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan. Livestock’s contribution is at least 30 per cent of agricultural gross domestic product.

At the remote village of Itunundu, farmers and pastoralists met to discuss the best way to share land resources while charting out a strategy to prevent unnecessary fights among themselves. No one in the village ever imagined that this meeting would ever take place as the two groups had for long considered themselves enemies: they often clashed for water and pastures to feed their animals thus causing deaths and loss of property.

There are now promising signs that hostility between the two groups may be coming to an end, thanks to an initiative by Tanzania Natural Resources Foundation (TNRF) – a civil society-based initiative on land-based resources that has brought farmers and herders to the negotiating table to build an understanding of the political economy of resources-based conflicts and suggest alternative solutions. Godfrey Massay, TNRF’s land-based investment coordinator, said “Farmers and herders need to know that there are people who benefit from their conflicts and do not wish to see the conflicts resolved.” Massay said the recurring fights is a symptom of a bigger problem that requires joint efforts to resolve them because they involve externally- driven factors of bigger agricultural and conservation interests. A study conducted by TNRF in the area in 2014 revealed that resource-based conflicts in Pawaga are caused by the lack of land use planning, ‘green’ grabbing, increased large-scale agricultural investments, weak policy, corruption and scepticism toward pastoralism as a viable livelihood option. According to Massay, TNRF separately initiated talks with village leaders, farmers and pastoralists group last year to understand their point of view and establish a common area of interest. Both groups have agreed to allow pastoralists graze on rice husks after harvesting seasons for a small fee which is payable to the village government. This innovation has succeeded in eliminating the existing animosity between rival groups.  The number of violent clashes have dropped, Pawaga division officials said. “This shows that no matter how deep the conflict is, it can be resolved by just talking”said Donald Mshauri, Iringa district land officer.

Henry Mahoo, professor of agricultural engineering at Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture, told IPS that in order to resolve tensions between the two groups, a land use plan, which will clearly identify areas under pastoralists’ ownership and those controlled by farmers, should be drawn up. “All concerned parties must be involved in the negotiation process, and there must be a forum where farmers and pastoralists openly talk about their problems,” he said.

Marriage and Poverty

Tanzania has one of the highest adolescent pregnancy and birth rates in the world with one in every six girls aged between 15 and 19 getting pregnant, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

While Tanzania has made huge progress in enrolling children in primary schools, few girls in rural areas manage to finish their education due to pregnancy said Consolata Mabula, a district social worker in Shinyanga region.

Zulmira Rodrigues, the UNESCO representative in Tanzania explained that “Education is the only key to allow young girls make informed decisions about their lives to improve their social economic wellbeing,” she said. According to her, most adolescent girls in rural areas often succumb to sexual violence and unwanted pregnancies due to a lack of proper reproductive health information.

“Some parents would rather marry off their daughters to get a dowry than let them go to school” said Leah Omari, a lecturer at the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam. According to UNESCO, teachers in Shinyanga region reported that some parents have been instructing their daughters to deliberately fail so that their education would be terminated and then they could get married.

While sex with underage girls is criminalised in Tanzania, activists say parents often use this tactic to marry off their daughters under special dispensation granted by the marriage law. According to Tanzania’s Marriage Act of 1971, a girl as young as 15- years old can get married with parental or a court consent.

“Poverty is a key factor,” says Eda Sanga, the Executive Director of Tamwa - a women’s rights organisation based in Dar es Salaam. “Parents force underage girls to marry so they can escape the role of taking care of their daughters and grandchildren.”

http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/01/tanzania-girls-struggle-to-avoid-forced-marriage-yearn-to-learn/

Aid for Farmers Fails

The message from farmers’ groups in Tanzania is clear. They don’t want an agricultural system that is dominated by large transnational companies; they don’t want to be dependent on purchasing synthetic fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides; and they certainly don’t want a commercialized seed system that sees them being forced in to purchasing new seeds every season.

‘Tell your government to stop helping big corporations coming to Tanzania and profiting from small-scale farmers in order to build their corporate empires,’ was just one of Janet Moro’s impassioned messages she had for the UK. As the founding director of Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT). SAT’s focuses on organic farming techniques that use only locally available resources means farmers are entirely self-sufficient and the soils and local environment are protected.

It’s not just SAT; there are other projects across the country where small-scale farmers are rejecting synthetic inputs and mechanized production methods. Chololo Eco-village in Dodoma, a particularly dry part of the country, is another such example. Between 2011 and 2014 farmers have more than doubled their crop yields following the adoption of techniques such as crop rotation, intercropping and open pollinated breeding for improved seeds.

Tanzanian farmers do not need schemes like the G7’s New Alliance to improve their yields and continue to feed the world’s population. This argument is all the more convincing because these farmers aren’t driven by an inherently anti-corporate agenda; they simply want to see their produce flourish. And what increases yields the fastest involves utilizing local natural resources, rather than purchasing foreign synthetic inputs and technologies. It is clear that the future of our food systems rests on ensuring small-scale farmers – not corporations – are the ones in control.

Schemes such as the G7’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which, despite its name, is all about pushing policy reforms to expand industrial agriculture and attract private investments. In the three years since its launch, the New Alliance has been widely criticized by numerous civil-society groups that have highlighted how the policy reforms and investments have had an array of disastrous outcomes. From landgrabs to farmer debts, and from policy reforms that favour businesses over farmers to seed law amendments which endanger century-old farming practices, the evidence is clear: the New Alliance is going against the interests of small-scale farmers, rather than supporting them.

Stanslaus Nyembea, the policy analyst and legal officer at Mviwata, a nationwide farmers’ group that represents some 200,000 small-scale Tanzanian farmers is worried about the encroaching takeover of Tanzania’s agriculture sector by transnational corporations. ‘We see a big risk that foreign corporations want to control the agricultural sector in Tanzania, especially the markets around seeds, fertilizers, chemicals and other agro inputs,’ he said. ‘This is a serious risk to small-scale farmers who might lose their land, which is integral to their livelihoods.’

The former rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, an expert on food security reports that the New Alliance is ‘seriously deficient in a number of areas’, in particular for its silence ‘on the need to shift to sustainable modes of agricultural production’, its failure to ‘support farmers’ seed systems’ and its inability to recognize ‘the dangers associated with the emergence of a market for land rights’. He goes on to berate the New Alliance for ‘only selectively [referring] to existing international standards that define responsible investment in agriculture’ and only paying ‘lip service’ to addressing the needs of women, which is ‘effectively creating the risk that women’s rights will be negatively affected as a result’. Most crucially for a programme designed for food security and nutrition, it is ‘weak on nutrition, hardly acknowledging the links between agricultural production, food and health, and the need to support healthy and diversified diets’.

Heritage or Profit?

Mining, oil and gas exploration poses a threat to 61% of Africa's Unesco-approved Natural World Heritage Sites.

"We are going to the ends of the earth in pursuit of more resources," said David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF in Britain, adding that minerals, oil and gas "are becoming more difficult and more expensive to extract."

World Wildlife Fund's findings flagged Tanzania's 50,000km2 Selous game reserve, a World Heritage Site since 1982 that "covers an area larger than Denmark and is one of the few remaining examples in Africa of a relatively uninhabited and undisturbed natural area." But legislation passed in 2009 allowed licensing of mineral extraction inside Tanzania's game reserves. Since then, five active mines, more than 50 mining concessions and six oil and gas concessions have sprung up that "could potentially impact the Selous game reserve," according to the report. "The reserve was added to the World Heritage danger list in 2014 in part due to concerns regarding extractive activities within the reserve," it said.

UK Aid Donors' Investment Displaces Tanzanian Farmers

Oakland/Johannesburg/London: Norfund, the UK aid department, and Capricorn are funding the British company Agrica’s industrial rice plantation in Mngeta, Tanzania, which is destroying the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, driving them into debt and impacting the local environment, according to new research by The Oakland Institute released today in collaboration with Greenpeace Africa and Global Justice Now.

Agrica’s rice plantation in Tanzania has been used as a showcase project of the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition [1] and the Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania [2]. But the new report, Irresponsible Investment – Agrica’s Broken Development Model in Tanzania, documents a catalogue of devastating impacts on local communities.
Norfund, the UK aid department, and the US investment firm Capricorn Investments (co-founded by eBay philanthropist Jeff Skoll) have all invested several million US dollars in Agrica, a British company registered in the tax haven of Guernsey.

“Although Agrica is portrayed as a responsible investment venture, its takeover of fertile land has brought misery to local communities. Labelled ‘squatters,’ smallholders were forced off the land, lost their livelihoods, received a meagre compensation for their losses, and have had to face debts resulting from doing business with Agrica,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.

Local farmers who planted rice for Agrica were required to purchase chemical fertilizers manufactured by the Norwegian fertilizer company Yara. They also had to sell the rice at a price determined by the company. “Agrica peddled chemical inputs to smallholders, leaving many in debt. In an area known as Tanzania’s food basket due to its fertile soil, this uncovers the real agenda of Agrica. They have opened up new markets for the products of international agribusiness that are damaging for both people and the environment,” explained Glen Tyler, agriculture campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.

The research findings raise concerns about the environmental impacts of Agrica’s industrial rice plantation. The prolonged use of agro-chemicals as well as the expansion of irrigation from 215 hectares to 3,000 hectares - resulting in up to one-third of the nearby Mngeta River’s dry season water flow being diverted - threatens the Ramsar protected wetlands, within which the plantation is located [3].
“This project undermines the rhetoric of aid-sponsored large-scale agricultural investments and exposes the true beneficiaries to be agribusiness multinationals rather than small-scale farmers and local communities,” said Heidi Chow, food campaigner for Global Justice Now.

Despite claims that this is the only possible model for agricultural development, the approach is deeply flawed. More effective avenues would focus on meeting the needs of the smallholder farmers and assisting them to develop appropriate farming practices. Providing support to agroecological methods would boost yields and improve food security while preventing the debt cycle that comes with the regime of intensive chemical inputs.

The Oakland Institute, Greenpeace Africa, and Global Justice Now are demanding that all of Agrica’s investors cease funding and review their other agriculture investment schemes in Africa for similar abuses against African farmers. A global campaign is being prepared to mobilize against such wrongdoings by international donors in coming days.

Please download the full report here: Irresponsible Investment: Agrica’s Broken Development Model in Tanzania

Notes
1. The G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa
The G8 launched the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa in 2012. Its aim is to lift people out of poverty by bringing African governments and the private sector together, primarily international corporations. This public-private partnership has been criticized by over a hundred African and international civil society organisations and farmers groups on process and its policies, which dictate major legislative changes in African countries, enabling private corporations to exploit the best agricultural resources.
2. SAGCOT
The government of Tanzania started the programme Kilimo Kwanza (Agriculture First) to support industrial agriculture, and created the public-private partnership Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) within a designated region of high agricultural potential as a showcase to attract agribusiness.
3. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
The Ramsar Convention’s mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world.”
Wetlands are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world. They provide essential services and supply all our fresh water. However, they continue to be degraded and converted to other uses. See www.ramsar.org for more information.

from here

We are all the same under the skin

Albinism is a rare, non-contagious, genetically inherited difference occurring in both genders regardless of ethnicity, in all countries of the world. BOTH the father and mother must carry the gene for it to be passed on even if they do not have albinism themselves. The condition results in a lack of pigmentation in the hair, skin and eyes, causing vulnerability to sun exposure and bright light.

Life in Africa for people with albinism is hard enough at the best of times. Half of them, according to some estimates, develop skin cancer by 20 and 80 per cent by 30. The lack of, or reduced levels of, melanin in the skin creates high risk for skin cancer due to sun exposure. Combine this with the profound lack of protective sunscreens, wide brimmed hats and proper clothing in Tanzania and you find epidemic rates of skin cancer in all ages. As a result, the average life expectancy for an albino in Tanzania is 30 years, with only 2% living beyond 40 years. In countries and circumstances where adequate health care is provided and widely known, people with albinism ahave the same life expectancy as the general population. Almost all people with albinism are visually impaired, with the majority being classified as “legally blind”.

Albinism is relatively rare—perhaps one in 20,000 births overall—but worldwide in occurrence. But in East Africa, the high incidence is one birth in 1,400 or perhaps even higher. It is estimated that there are about 34,000 people living with albinism in Tanzania, with many of the attacks reported in rural areas where people are particularly vulnerable. There, people with albinism have been, and still are, subject to infanticide, ostracism, violence and murder because of it. More gruesomely, they have been dismembered—while alive or after death, their graves dug up and corpses hacked to bits—because of the conviction that their body parts, used in rituals and potions, transmit magical powers and protection to those who consume them.

Peter Ash, founded Under the Same Sun, a non-profit aiming to improve the lives of people with albinism in Tanzania, issued a report a year ago listing 129 recent killings and 181 other attacks—including mutilation and the violation of graves—in 23 African nations. Most of the victims are young, Urquhart reports, because they’re easier to attack and because—as in the sex trade—younger flesh is always more valuable. Earlier this month, Tanzanian police announced the arrest of 32 “witch doctors” implicated in the murder of 75 people with albinism since 2000.

The horror of a rapidly growing industry in the sale of albino body parts is an unimaginable evil driven by the belief (in some areas of the country) that the body parts of PWA possess magical powers capable of bringing riches if used in potions produced by local witchdoctors. A U.S. survey in 2010 found although most Tanzanians are Christian or Muslim, 60 percent believed certain people could cast spells and curses.  Leaders in the albinism community believe that many of the attacks and killings remain undocumented and thus the numbers are likely much higher than our records show. While Tanzanian police first started documenting them in 2006, it is widely known that these witchcraft related assaults against PWA have been going on since time beyond memory. Reports also indicate that albino body parts are being exported outside of Tanzania. In one instance, a Tanzanian trader was caught traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the head of an infant with albinism in his possession. He told police that a businessman there was going to pay him for the head according to its weight.

In sub Saharan Africa, there has been a long standing and widespread lack of public awareness about albinism. Powerful myths surround albinism, including these:

There are many prevalent myths. People With Albinism (PWA) never die - They simply vanish - They are not human - They are ghosts. PWA are born to black women who have slept with a white man, or a European ghost. (Most women giving birth to a baby with albinism are abandoned by the father of the child. In most cases, neither parent knows that the father always carries the gene as well as the mother.) A PWA is a curse from the gods or from dead ancestors. As a result, touching a PWA will bring bad luck, sickness or even death.

As a result of these and other myths, many families do not bother to educate their children with albinism. Also, employers avoid hiring a PWA due to fears that their customers and staff will "catch" the condition, or that food would be contaminated. Sadly, in some social settings, many PWA are not offered the same kind of social & physical contact, due to this kind of misinformation.

Recently a six-year-old boy had his hand chopped off by gang members who attacked him in his own home.

 “The build-up to elections in Africa seems to be something that almost all people with albinism fear. Especially if you go into the rural regions. If their country is going to the polls or close to the border where they are, they fear for their lives,” says Don Sawatzky, Director of Operations at Under the Same Sun, an advocacy group for people with albinism working in Tanzania.

“There is the belief that their body parts will make a person instantly prosperous and wealthy,” he explains, adding that people interested in political positions can often still hold these superstitions.

A complete set of body parts from a person with albinism can sell for up to $150,000 (€140,000).

The consumer of this product is wealthy,” continues Sawatzky. “The average cannot afford any of that. We have come to realise it is wealthy businessmen, they tend to be politicians. Because of the money that has gone into this trade, it has escalated.”

The practice is a very old one. People with albinism were sacrificed to volcanos in Cameroon; their heads buried with chiefs in Guinea; and up to eight buried alive in the grave of a chief to escort him to the afterlife in Tanzania.

That was to ensure success and power in heaven too. During the tribal days, these ‘powers’ were only afforded to chiefs and elders. Consent was given rarely and only to a few. Although the tribal way of life has broken down, the superstitions have remained, increasing the dangers for people with albinism.

“Some of the boundaries that contained the practice have been lost, but the belief is still there that these body parts can be valuable.”

“To date, the Tanzanian government has done little more than talk and promise,” continues Sawatzky.

Tanzanian police banned a demonstration on Monday to protest against attacks and murders of albinos, fuelling concerns that authorities are not committed to ending violence against albinos whose body parts are highly valued in witchcraft. The protest, organized by the Tanzania Albinism Society, initially received police approval amid growing anger over the lack of protection for albinos in the wake of the recent abduction and suspected killing of two albino children. A one-year-old boy, Yohana Bahati, was snatched from his home in Tanzania's northwestern Geita region last month. His body was found days later with his limbs severed. A four-year-old girl kidnapped in December in Mwanza region is still missing.

Simiyu Regional Commissioner Eraston Mbwilo has ordered release of all witchdoctors arrested by police last week in connection to PWA killings. Speaking at a public rally held at Mwabayanda village in Maswa District, Mbwilo said he had reached the decision to order the release of the traditional healers following complaints from the suspects. The police crackdown on witchdoctors is meant to stop the killings of people with albinism which has of recent resurfaced in the Lake Zone regions.

Vicky Ntetema, head of Under The Same said "When a person with albinism has been murdered or mutilated, the government is numb. You don't hear leaders from the central government decrying the kidnapping, the mutilation or the killing. Nobody at the top says anything. It's something that the government has to be ashamed of." 

Away with superstition

A string of murders that began in 2000 has now left more than 72 albinos in Tanzania dead. These killings are believed to be motivated by the lucrative trade in albino body parts, which some Africans believe possess magical powers.

Tanzania has now been listed by the United Nations as the African nation where albinos are targeted for murder the most. According to long-standing traditions in the country, albinos are believed to be ghosts who are cursed, but whose body parts can ward off bad luck, and bring the owner wealth and success. In response to these killings, in January 2015 Tanzania banned witch doctors.

In East Africa, one child in 3,000 is born albino which rises to one in every 1,400 Tanzanians, compared to one in 20,000 in the United States.  In Tanzania, albino advocacy groups estimate the number of albinos to be somewhere above 100,000 in a population of nearly 50 million people. 

A one-year-old albino boy, abducted from his home in northwestern Tanzania over the weekend, was found murdered on Tuesday with his "arms and legs hacked off," according to the local police chief. This gruesome discovery shows that despite new laws banning the witch doctors who prey upon them, people with albinism are still vulnerable in the East African nation.

In Tanzania the body parts of albinos are prized by witch doctors and their superstitious followers as they are said to bring wealth and luck when used in charms. A complete set of body parts can be sold for as much as $75,000, according to the Red Cross.

This victim, Yohana Bahati, was kidnapped from his family home in the Geita region by an armed gang. Police said his mother, Esther, was struck with a machete as she tried to protect him. "Unfortunately this family resides in a protected forest area," Joseph Konyo, the regional police commander, told Reuters. "It was extremely difficult for the police to immediately arrest the suspected robbers." Two other albino children who were in the house were not taken.

As albino body parts have become more valuable, family members have been tempted to sell their own albino family members to witch doctors for money. "I have found many parents who have been convicted for this," said Josephat Torner, an activist fighting for the rights and safety of albinos in his country. "They sold their children to the killers." Only two months ago, a 4-year-old girl, Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi, was snatched from her home in Mwanza, also in northwestern Tanzania. Fifteen people were initially arrested in connection with her disappearance, including the girl's father.

In August 2012, a report on the risks to albino children in Tanzania was published by Under The Same Sun, an NGO that focuses on the plight of people with albinism. "Myths include the belief that people with albinism never die — they simply vanish," the report stated, adding that many believe, "they are not human, but ghosts, apes, or other sub-human creatures." These superstitions mean that "infanticide and physical attacks causing death and bodily harm are common place in the region," according to the report.

"We have identified that witch doctors are the ones who ask people to bring albino body parts to create magical charms which they claim can get them rich," said Tanzania's Home Affairs Minister Mathias Chikawe when the law was passed. "We will leave no stone unturned until we end these evil acts."

https://news.vice.com/article/another-albino-child-is-murdered-and-mutilated-in-tanzania

Tanzania's Lumber Thieves

Forests play a critical role in the fight against global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can hold down global temperature increases. Tanzania has 33 million hectares of forests and woodland, but the country has been losing more than 400,000 hectares of forest a year for two decades. 96 percent of trees cut in Tanzania are illegally harvested. An offender who is caught with a consignment of logs worth Tsh. 100 million ($59,000) would be fined Tsh. 500,000 ($294). "These low fines do not always deter illegal activities since the offenders can always afford them," said Athumani Lunduli, a forest conservation official at Chumbi village in Rufiji. 

Illegal logging is devastating native forests in coastal Tanzania's Rufiji district. Hundreds of tonnes of trees are being smuggled out of the district each month by timber traders to feed a lucrative construction market and furniture industries within the country and abroad, said district forest officials. Illegal harvesting of logs in the district threatens the survival of natural forests.

Loggers, who often invade forests at night, are targeting indigenous tree species, notably mninga, and mpodo, which are now on the verge of local extinction due to high demand for their wood.

"The loggers seem to be very well organized and armed. Unfortunately our local forest guards do not have the capacity to confront them," said Shamte Mahawa Mangwi, village executive officer in Rufiji.

An assessment conducted by the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) in November said that illegal logging in the Rufiji forests is fueled by a growing demand for wood products and charcoal making. According to the residents, logs are ferried through unofficial routes assisted by a network of local police officers, who often pretend to be inspecting vehicles for smuggled timber when they are in fact helping them to flee.

"I don't have any trust with the police force. They sometimes arrest suspected criminals and release them without charge," Justin Mfinanga, of Ikwiriri village explained. 

Socialist Aspirations and Inspirations

Many socialists feel dismayed to see Africa regarded as simply a place of war, disease and hunger, a sick entity deserving pity and sustenance and all help possible. On the surface the continent may seem so but a socialists looks deeper beyond outwardly appearances. Socialists are frustrated by having Africa viewed as squalid and inept, a basket case for which rock music celebrities feel compelled to raise funds. The flourishing inhabitants of the continent are more attuned to contemporary norms and more advanced and sophisticated than has been presented.

Ralph Ibbott wrote “Ujamaa: The Hidden Story of Tanzania’s Socialist Villages”. 

Julius Nyerere, the leader of Tanzania’s independence movement had seen how a welfare state could protect people from some of the effects of capitalism. He told Tanzanians that they had to reject exploitation of the many by the few. He proposed ujamaa: African socialism. In the village, all worked and all benefited. Decisions were made by consensus. He had “grown up in tribal socialism”. Although traditional society was generally presumed to be backward, Nyerere saw its social and economic possibilities for overcoming backwardness. Rural people, 96% of the population, could adapt the communalism they already knew to modern needs and aspirations. It was socialism without money, rooted in the native soil; a strategy for a poor country determined to pull itself out of poverty and remain sovereign. People working communally ­ without bureaucratic interference, would themselves develop while solving problems.

In Litowa, the first ujamaa village they ­created, organising production, distribution, housing, health and education. Others came to join and were encouraged to form new villages. The Ruvuma Development Association was formed, with its Social and Economic Revolutionary Army, to help new villages to establish themselves. By 1969, the association had 17 villages. Several times a week the villagers had communal meals at which they made decisions. The women were encouraged to speak – a slow process – and their interests were considered. Housework and childcare counted as part of the village workday. Piped water ended fetching and carrying by women and children. Spare cash from the sale of surplus crops was divided equally among all, including to elderly and disabled people, who contributed by scaring wild animals from “sharing” food crops, or working in childcare facilities. Child mortality plummeted. Pupils at the self-governing Litowa school came from all the villages, boarding at Litowa during the terms. They were trained to develop their exciting, caring rural society. Domestic violence almost disappeared and women’s status was rising.

Ujamaa was about to mushroom into a mass movement. By 1963 about a 1000 socialist villages had been set up with very little government support. Many failed but in Ruvuma in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania 17 such settlements, making up about 500 households,  prospered and became an enormous success. It was, to quote Ralph Ibbott:

“ an organisation completely built up by the people who were in it, who always made all decisions and controlled development”

They formed the Ruvuma Development Association (RDA) the organisation through which they could co-ordinate their labour, educate their children, sell their produce and develop their small scale industries. The RDA grew slowly by supporting existing villages and new settlements. Before a village was accepted it was made clear that the villagers should not expect to get rich overnight and membership would be deferred or refused if it there was uncertainty about a community`s commitment to co-operation. Villages belonging to the RDA became self-sufficient in food, improved the health of their residents, built a school, provided water supplies and set up village industries. They also created an outreach service called the Social and Economic Army (SERA), made up of experts in various fields who could provide support for member villages.

What went wrong? It is important to stress that it did not fail despite the many practical difficulties and challenges that the people involved faced. It was killed off. The Ruvuma Development Association was destroyed by the greedy and ambitious new ruling elite. They hated the creativity of the people. Where was the power for them? Regional Commissioners and most government officials could not accept a situation where the villagers were deciding the details of their own development. They could not sit down with and discuss with these village people as equals. In September 1969, it was announced that TANU – the ruling party – would run all Ujamaa villages and the RDA was declared a prohibited organisation. Their equipment was confiscated, the expatriate staff working with them left and the school was closed. Only one village managed to continue its communal activities and survives to this day.

Thus a great grass-roots development that might have changed the history of Tanzania and beyond tragically ended. Selma James of Women`s Global Strike at the King`s Cross Women`s Centre has  presented it as an example of how it is possible for people to not only survive and dream of a better world when faced with the most challenging of circumstances but also manage to successfully create a thriving self-reliant community organisation, one that is even more relevant today as a model of development when we examine what our options are for the future in the face of unemployment, cuts in welfare and the looming threat of climate change.

However, Ralph Ibbott, a RDA technical adviser, continued the struggle in his own way.  Ibbott, went to the United Kingdom and applied ujamaa principles as a community development worker in Greenock, one of Scotland’s most deprived areas. The tenants’ association and youth club persuaded the council to build a sports centre, which the youth ran. Much was accomplished by young people previously dismissed as troublemakers. Such communal effort can succeed anywhere if it is able to bypass or defeat those greedy for power and control.

Adapted from here

[We may question the use of socialist...perhaps to be more accurate, the term socialistic should have been applied. - Socialist Banner]

The Albino Witchhunts

People with albinism, a community of about 30,000, face prejudice and death in Tanzania.

Albino people, who lack pigment in their skin and appear pale, are killed because potions made from their body parts are believed to bring good luck and wealth. A representative of the Sengerema Albino Society, Mashaka Benedict, told the BBC that even educated people still believe that albino body parts can bring wealth. Benedict alleges that prominent people are involved in the "killing business" and this is why very few people have been arrested, charged, convicted or jailed. "How can a poor man offer $10,000 [£6,300] for a body part? It's the businessmen and politicians who are involved."

More than 70 albinos have been killed over the last three years in Tanzania, while there have been only 10 convictions for murder. In the most recent case, in May, a woman was hacked to death.

"We're being killed like animals," one albino woman sings, at an event called to promote the rights of albinos.

The chairman of the regional Tanzania Albinism Society, Alfred Kapole, an Ukerewe native, was forced to flee to Mwanza city.

"He was among the first person with albinism whose case reached the courts after a village leader attempted to kill him for his hair," says Vicky Ntetema, head of Under the Same Sun, a campaign group. "Last year his home was attacked. Luckily he was in Mwanza. There was another attempt on his life this year."

This is a common experience for albino people. "A family of a young girl with albinism had to flee their home twice, in 2011 and 2012, when unidentified men attacked them, saying that they were sent by the father of the home, a fisherman, to get the girls' hair.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30394260

Masai eviction to go ahead

Tanzania has been accused of reneging on its promise to 40,000 Masai pastoralists by going ahead with plans to evict them and turn their ancestral land into a reserve for the royal family of Dubai to hunt big game. Last year the government said it had backed down over a proposed 1,500 sq km “wildlife corridor” bordering the Serengeti national park that would serve a commercial hunting and safari company based in the United Arab Emirates. . The Ortelo Business Corporation (OBC), is a luxury safari company set up by a UAE official close to the royal family with clients reportedly including Prince Andrew. Now the deal appears to be back on and the Masai have been ordered to quit their traditional lands by the end of the year. Unlike last year, the government is offering compensation of 1 billion shillings (£369,350), not to be paid directly but to be channelled into socio-economic development projects. The Masai have dismissed the offer.

The Masai insist the sale of the land would rob them of their heritage and directly or indirectly affect the livelihoods of 80,000 people. The area is crucial for grazing livestock on which the nomadic Masai depend

“I feel betrayed,” said Samwel Nangiria, co-ordinator of the local Ngonett civil society group. “One billion is very little and you cannot compare that with land. It’s inherited. Their mothers and grandmothers are buried in that land. There’s nothing you can compare with it.” Nangiria said he believes the government never truly intended to abandon the scheme in the Loliondo district but was wary of global attention. “They had to pretend they were dropping the agenda to fool the international press.”

Last year saw the online campaign Stop the Serengeti Sell-off petition attracted more than 1.7 million signatures and led to coordinated email and Twitter protests.

Equal Rights Boosts Food Security

Eliminating the gender gap in agriculture is widely seen as crucial to alleviating poverty and improving food security, and the effects of inequality are likely to be further compounded by climate change.

“For global development to be sustainable, the issues of climate change, gender equality and food security must all go hand-in-hand,” said Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and head of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, told a recent meeting of experts in Rome convened to mark International Women’s day.

“Family farmers are the dominant force in global food production. And, at the same time, they are among the world’s most vulnerable people,” Food and Agriculture Director-General José Graziano Da Silva said at the gathering.

“Much of the future of global food security depends on their realizing their untapped potential. Rural women are an important part of this, not just as famers but also in processing and preparing food, and local markets,” he added.

But, in many countries such as Tanzania, an outmoded system of land tenure continues to shut women out of land ownership. Despites strong laws prohibiting the practice, women farmers still face discrimination.

Asha Ramadhani, a farmer in Tanzania’s Mwanga District, has been trying to access a piece of land she desperately needs to boost her meagre crop output. “It’s a tricky and frustrating process because I am a woman my issue is treated as a favour rather than a right,” she complained.

Local attitudes to land ownership make it difficult for them to access the best land.

The 44-year-old divorcee has in the past three years been leasing a two-acre farm near Mangio village where she grows maize, beans, vegetables and sweet potatoes.

While farming in this village is based on tenancy through exchange of crops, drier weather is making it harder for Ramadhani to pay her lease due to dismal yields.

“My landlord wants a quarter of my crop yield every season as lease payment, but the drought makes it harder to come by,” she told IRIN.

Women own only 20 percent of registered land in Tanzania, according to a US Agency for International development (USAID) property rights and resource governance country profile for Tanzania, and land held by women under customary law is likely to be much lower.

The Land Act and the Village Land Act of 1999 govern women’s land rights. The constitution of Tanzania also enshrines the equality of all persons.

The law gives women the right to access, own, and control land on an equal footing with men and allows them to participate in decision-making on land matters.

Section 3(2) of both the Land Act and the Village Land Act states: “The right of every woman to acquire, hold, use and deal with land shall, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, be treated as the right of any man."

Women are also allowed to own or occupy land jointly with other persons, while protecting them against unlawful transfer of land tittles under joint occupancy.

But legislation is insufficiently enforced.

All over Mwanga district, women are finding it increasingly difficult to access land and water sources in the face of ever drier weather.

“Most people with large tracts of land are men; there are hardly [any] women who own land, especially close to the water sources,” Ramadhani told IRIN.

The village land ownership procedure gives men the upper hand, she said. “Many of my friends have lost hope because whenever they lodge their request for land they don’t succeed,” she added.

The few women who manage to navigate the bureaucracy end up getting small plots - and far from water sources.

Anna Tibaijuka, Tanzania’s minister for land and human settlement development, told IRIN men and women should be treated equally in terms of land ownership, but said that, “Importantly, the people must know their rights and not let anyone trample on them.”

“Discriminatory attitudes”

Yefred Mnyenzi of Haki Ardhi, a Lands Rights NGO in Tanzania, told IRIN that most women have access to land through male relatives, adding that unmarried daughters, widows and divorced women are often “bullied” by their male relatives.

“In some cases husbands have been using title deeds to secure loans without the knowledge of their wives, causing evictions or loss of their property,” he said.

Lack of awareness, a male dominated system, social stereotypes and outdated traditions are some of the challenges undermining women’s land rights in Tanzania. “The general population must be sufficiently educated to understand these issues,” Mnyenzi said.

“Women are typically given few or no rights to land during their marriages - never being permitted, for example, to add their names to documents indicating ownership of property - and even fewer upon the death of a husband,” noted the USAID report.

“Customary law focuses property rights on men or kinship groups dominated by men, and thus the ability of women to claim or inherit land is extremely limited,” it said.

According to Mnyenzi, the government needs to decentralize land administration to allow grassroots communities to participate in decision-making and economic empowerment and fight discriminatory customs, beliefs and attitudes.

“In situations where women are degraded to an inferior position in the society due to cultural norms, we need to have support systems that enable them to own and use land without problems,” Mary Lusibi, a women’s rights activist with Tanzania Gender Networking Programme, told IRIN.

Continent-wide problem

Such discriminatory practices aren’t just limited to Tanzania. Women own less than 1 percent of land in the African continent, notes William Garvelink, [ http:// ] senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“While statutory law may be gender neutral, customary law prevails and is based on a patriarchal system. Securing property rights for women is crucial to the economic development of Africa,” he said.

Experts are calling for equitable land rights to be included in the post-Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agenda.

“The post-2015 agenda should include targets and related indicators on secure rights to land, natural resources and other productive assets that explicitly include women’s rights,” said a statement by 38 international organizations.

“Securing women’s land and property rights is a necessary strategy for ensuring gender inequality and advancing women’s empowerment worldwide,” said a background paper for the UN global thematic consultations on the post-2015 development agenda.

“There is an evident correlation between gender inequality, societal poverty, and the failure to respect, protect and fulfill these rights for women,” further noted the report, authored by Mayra Gomez of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and D. Hein Tran of the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights.


from here

Tanzania: Investors Assured Of State Support

Mwanza — GOVERNMENT has assured local and foreign investors that there shall never again be nationalisation in Tanzania as it seeks to promote private investments in key sectors.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Eng Christopher Chiza said that government is committed to promote private sector investments in its key economic sectors and there would be no policy reversal.

"Government has no plans to nationalise your assets," the minister said in his closing remarks of the Lake Zone Investment forum that was organised to promote investment opportunities in the Lake Zone region.

He said government is keen to ensure that the rights and assets of investors were protected.

Policy predictability was mentioned in the forum as among key requirements in attracting local and foreign investments.

Participants said investors would not go where policies cannot be predicted. The minister, who represented the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, said government is committed to continue improving trade and investment climate and promote the growth of the private sector in the country.

The minister further said despite attracting foreign investments in the agricultural sector, there would be no land grabbing in the country. He said land to be used for investments would be acquired through proper channels. "Send this message to all that Tanzania's government has no plans to grab land," he said.

He said government will work on challenges that were discussed in the forum as it seeks to promote private sector investments in various areas.

He said improving the business and investment climate in the country was on top of government agenda so as to speed up the growth of the economy and poverty alleviation.

Earlier, the chairman of Lake Zone Investment Forum, Mr George Kahama had asked government to work on their request for the six lake zone regions to be considered as special economic zones. He said the area had the potential of becoming the business and financial hub of Africa's Great Lake region.

Mr Kahama also noted that the six regions making up the Lake Zone deserved to be made special economic zones with a view to attract more local and foreign investments. He said that attracting more investments would help to alleviate poverty through job creation and opening up of more business opportunities.

The Lake Zone Investment Forum was organised by the six regions making up the zone, which are Mwanza, Geita, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Kagera and Mara in collaboration with the Tanzania Investment Centre to promote investments opportunities in the regions.

About 1,000 local and foreign investors as well as major regional players in business and investments participated in the forum.

By Henry Lyimo

Source:Tanzania Daily News

Tanzania's Land Wars

Tanzania has approximately 21 million head of cattle, the largest number in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan. According to the ministry of livestock and fisheries development, livestock contributes to at least 30 percent of agricultural GDP.

Tanzania's ministry for agriculture, food security and cooperatives says that small-scale farmers produce more than 90 percent of the country's food. Of the country's 94.5 million hectares, only half - 44 million hectares - is arable land.

 Of Tanzania's 42 million people, only 0.02 percent have traditional land ownership titles.

The disputes over land and water have also caused food insecurity among farmers, many of whom have been unable to harvest crops for fear of reprisals from enraged pastoralists.

On January 12, 2014, ten people were killed in Kiteto district in central Tanzania when Maasai pastoralists allegedly invaded villages in the disputed Embroi Murtangosi forest reserve and set homes ablaze. in December 2000 in Kilosa district, in the Morogoro region, where 38 farmers were killed. Hostilities reignited in 2008 and eight people were killed, several houses set alight and livestock stolen.

Experts say that these resource-based conflicts are also fuelled by ethnic hatred, dwindling resources, poor land management and population growth.

Yefred Myenzi, a researcher from the Land Rights Research and Resources Institute known locally as HakiArdhi, said that most of the fighting over land was the indirect result of decisions and actions taken by the state through its various agencies. "We have seen the influx of investors who take swathes of land to start commercial farming ranching or mining activities, in the process triggering conflicts with local people who are evicted from their land without due process," he added. He blamed the existing land tenure system for sidelining pastoral communities, since no land has been set aside for them. "Although land laws require every village to have in place a land use plan, many villages are yet to implement this due to conflict," he said.

Henry Mahoo, professor of agricultural engineering at Tanzania's Sokoine University of Agriculture, said that in order to resolve tensions between the two groups, a land use plan, which would clearly identify areas under pastoralists' ownership and those controlled by farmers, should be drawn up. "The problem [behind] these clashes is deeper than we think. All concerned parties must be involved in the negotiation process, and there must be a forum where farmers and pastoralists openly talk about their problems," he said.

Meshack Saidimu, a Maasai pastoralist in Mbalali, said that most of the disputes occurred because the government had not set aside areas for pastoralists. "I think we are being made scapegoats for all these problems. The Maasai are disciplined people, they don't just hurt somebody for the sake of it," he said.

Anti-poaching atrocities in Tanzania

In October 2013, President Jakaya Kikwete ordered more than 2,300 security personnel from Tanzania’s People’s Defence Force, local police and special anti-poaching militias, and wildlife rangers to step up enforcement of a ban on elephant and rhinoceros poaching, which has been growing in recent years. But in November, Kikwete was forced to end the campaign, dubbed Operation Tokomeza, under heavy criticism.

“The anti-poaching operation had good intentions, but the reported murders, rapes and brutality are totally unacceptable,” Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda told the parliament in December.

The scandal has led to the sacking of four government ministers – of tourism, defence, livestock development and home affairs – for failure to rein in the ministries they were leading. Tourism minister Khamis Kagesheki said in October that poachers engaging in the ivory trade should killed “on the spot”.

 The anti-poaching campaign aimed at reducing the illegal ivory trade, has also brought allegations that security forces committed rape, murder, torture and extortion of locals. A parliamentary inquiry found 13 people were murdered and thousands of livestock – the livelihood of many – were maimed or killed.

Presenting a report on the abuses in parliament, the chairman of the committee, James Lembeli, said his team proved beyond doubt that members of security forces spread terror and committed “untold” atrocities against innocent civilians.

The raids forced some people to abandon their homes for fear of being harmed. Abraham Kafanobo, the deputy chairman of  Minziro village in Kagera region near Lake Victoria , told IPS that most residents had since fled and said they feared to return even after the operation had been suspended.

Lawyer and human rights activist Issa Shivji criticised the military and called for a swift investigation of the alleged abuses, saying criminal charges should be brought against security personnel who took part in the operation irrespective of their rank. “It’s not only the shame, it’s a big tragedy to the nation which requires a collective assessment of the people to ask ourselves, where are we going? What prompted security organs, which have the mandate to protect lives, dignity and respect of the people to act so irresponsibly?”

Eviction Of Thousands Into Poverty Is Just Another Externality

Africa needs ‘ethical land policies’

By Polycarp Machira from The Citizen

Dar es Salaam. African countries should have ethical economic land policies to save the continent from land conflicts, international land conference was told on Wednesday.

African land needs clear stewardship for the benefit of both current and the future generations. This should put into consideration interests of small-scale farmers by involving them in any decisions made on the use of land. The observation was made by Dr Camillu Kassala from Christian Professionals of Tanzania Research Fellow, Interfaith Standing Committee for Socio-economic Justice and Integrity of Creation, when presenting a paper at a conference in Dar es Salaam.

He said land holds the social-cultural attractions of many African communities; therefore forceful eviction of locals from their land in the name of investments interferes with social identity of people. “There is a lot more that needs to be considered before any decision to evict people from their land is made, but apparently our government does not even give the locals opportunity to express their wishes,” he said.

According to Dr Kassala, the government is never neutral when it comes to acquisition of land by investors and only thinks of how to remain in power.

He accused the government of always working in the interest of influential members of the private sector who often give irrational demands.

For his part, the University of Dar es Salaam lecturer, Dr Ringo Tenga, basing on his previous research, said land grabbing is very much evident in Tanzania as the government tries to downplay the reality.

Same old story. Local people seen as externalities - they get in the way of the few to make money. Tanzania, just one of Africa's many separate countries, is typical of the recent frenzy of land acquisition by foreign agricultural and investment companies, all primarily interested in reaping profit from the land either from food crops for export, from crops for biofuel production or simply investment for future profit. The common thread is disenfranchisement for many small farmers and total loss of home and access to livelihood. The scale is enormous and growing annually - just another part of capital's accumulation process. Nothing but world socialism will put an end to such atrocities.
JS
 

Tanzanian Journalists Murdered By Police

Today (2nd September 2013) marks exactly one year since journalist Daudi Mwangosi was brutally murdered at the hands of the Tanzania Police. His only crime was being a journalist. As the sole breadwinner, his demise meant a new life of suffering for his dependants.

To the media fraternity, Mwangosi’s assassination was to become only the first of many attacks on journalists. A community radio journalist, Issa Ngumba, was found dead in a forest in Kakonko, in the northwestern region of Kigoma, on 8 January, three days after he went missing. It was clear from the injuries on his body that he had been murdered. Furthermore, a reporter for Radio Kwizera, 45-year-old Ngumba, left his home on the evening of 5 January to look for medical plants for his second job as a traditional healer. After he was reported missing, police and civilian volunteers searched extensively until his body was found in nearby Kajuluheta Forest.

A month earlier, on the night of Tuesday 4 December 2012, Shaaban Matutu, a journalist with Free Media Limited - publishers of the Tanzania Daima newspaper – had been shot by police. This happened at Matutu’s home in Kunduchi Machimbo after an alleged altercation with police officers, one of them firing and hitting Matutu in his left shoulder. It was, however, the attack on Absalom Kibanda, the Chairman of the Tanzania Editors’ Forum in March 2013 that sent a strong message of intent and put the recent crackdown against the media and freedom of expression into context. The June 2012 indefinite ban on Mwanahalisi and brutal attack against Dr. Stephen Uliomboka, had seemed like isolated incidents.

Within the last 12 months, Tanzania has gone from being the beacon of hope in the region, to becoming one of the worst human rights offenders.

For a country going through a constitutional review process, these attacks on the media are counterproductive as they have a chilling effect on any meaningful debate of the issues raised by the draft constitution and active involvement of the citizens in the subsequent democratic processes, including elections.

For all these attacks, no one has been held accountable, despite the various promises by the state, including the personal pledge by President Jakaya Kikwete after the attack on Mr. Kibanda. The journalists, like all citizens have a right to free speech and free expression without threat of attack, and the state has a duty to thoroughly investigate the reported cases of abuse and violations of these rights to their logical conclusions and bring the culprits to book.

The right to freedom of expression is not a preserve of the media alone. Any violations and attacks on the media have far reaching consequences on the enjoyment of all other rights exercised by citizens. The government of Tanzania must demonstrate its commitment to the protection of freedom of expression as proposed in the draft constitution by first; ensuring that journalists are safe from all kinds of attacks, apprehend and hold all those implicated in these attacks, including its own officers accountable; as well as allowing for meaningful dialogue.

The time for political rhetoric is over. For Mrs. Itika Mwangosi and her children, the wait to see justice for those responsible for killing her husband should not be a lifelong experience. The same applies for Dr. Uliomboka, Kibanda, Matutu and others who have been brutally attacked in the recent past.

* Paul Kimumwe works with the freedom of expression group, ARTICLE 19, in Eastern Africa, which first published this article.


from here

A Tangled Web For Resource Control In Sudan

No apologies for posting the whole of this article from a Tanzanian freelance journalist and writer. Each section is inseparably linked and important for grasping the intricacies of the situation. JS

from Countercurrents.org

Sources say the peacekeepers are struggling with equipment problems, poor training of some contingents and the reluctance by some governments to send their soldiers into combat zones. When seven Tanzanian peacekeepers in Darfur, western Sudan, were killed and 17 seriously wounded in an ambush by gunmen, the incident sent shockwaves throughout the country. For the first time public was made aware that all was not well with their men and women deployed in the war-torn Sudan as part of the UN peacekeeping forces. The deadly attack on 13 July this year occurred when the soldiers were in a convoy searching for their vehicles that were reportedly stolen by a rebel group. The Tanzanian soldiers sustained heavy fire from machine guns and possibly rocket-propelled grenades. Among the wounded were two female police officers. No group immediately claimed responsibility. But a UN report in February said that some armed opposition groups are angry about the presence of peacekeepers and have called the force ‘a legitimate target.’

In the Tanzanian official circles scanty information was released, but some local journalists contacted the peace-keepers in Darfur. One of them said, on condition of anonymity, that a week ago unknown assailants attacked members of the army and disappeared with four vehicles. ‘It is really traumatising here; I can tell you the rebels are fully armed with sophisticated weapons,’ he lamented.

Immediately, questions were raised about the United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) whose task is to maintain peace and protect civilians from insurgents. Some asked if there was any peace to maintain in the first place.

The Tanzanian contingent of 875 military and police personnel has been stationed in Darfur for some five years as part of the UNAMID, which has strength of 16,500 troops and military observers plus 5,000 international police. Yet the latest casualty was not an isolated encounter by the solders on peace mission in Darfur.

Peacekeepers have been targeted at various times since the international force began its work in the region in 2008. In April this year gunmen shot and killed a Nigerian peacekeeper. Prior to the July attack, 150 people associated with the UN mission in Darfur had been killed while on duty in the region, according to the force's website. Following the latest attack, Tanzania is now seeking a stronger mandate for peacekeepers in the Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, so as to ‘deal with the current condition.’ The demand is to equip the peacekeepers with heavy weapons such as APC, artillery and helicopters. Army spokesman Colonel Mgawe said, ‘We want our troops to have more capacity to defend themselves against insurgents’. He said currently their rules of engagement, under Chapter 6, forbid the use of ‘excessive’ force. Now they are going to negotiate with UN for Chapter 7 so as to give the troops more fire-power to defend themselves. That means use of heavy weapons as is the case with Tanzanian forces in DRC. In fact some Tanzanians have questioned why give them heavy weapons in DRC and not in Darfur. Whether, with such armaments, they have succeeded in wiping out M23 is another question. 

The pertinent question for Darfur, however, is whether the peacekeepers there are now going to pursue the rebels and fight them on their turf or are they going to fight back when attacked. If it is the former then actually it means there is no peace to maintain and so stationing peace-keepers there is paradoxical

It has been suggested that the better solution for stopping the attack on peacekeepers would be to cut off the supply line of heavy weaponry to the rebels, especially if the supply comes from outside the Sudan.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has asked President Omar al-Bashir to investigate the latest incident and ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended and brought to justice.The question is whether Bashir has the ability to take any action, since he himself has been under attack by the rebels. After having negotiated and signed peace treaty with them, not all have joined the cease-fire. And so his troops have been under attack from time to time. Hence he is hardly in control of the situation in Darfur, which has been described as a civil war. Darfur has over 35 tribes and ethnic groups. Half the people are small subsistence farmers, the other half being nomadic herders. For centuries the nomadic people have been grazing their cattle and camels over sprawling grass lands, sharing water sources. 

The crisis is reportedly rooted in intertribal feuds over increasingly scarce water and grazing grounds in the area hit hard by years of climate change, drought and growing famine, coupled with the encroaching Sahara Desert. The matter became worse when local tribes took up arms in 2003 against the government in Khartoum, which they accuse of marginalising them. Meanwhile, more insurgencies were launched from Darfur. Factions allied with or against neighbouring countries operated from bases inside Darfur, which became a regular landing ground for foreign military transport planes. Thus, Chad’s Idriss Deby launched a military bombardment from the neighbouring Darfur and overthrew President Hissan Habre. French and U.S. forces were then involved in funding, training and equipping Deby, a military ruler, who supported the rebel groups in Darfur. At the same time there were reports of Israelis providing military training to Darfur rebels from bases in Eritrea, while strengthening ties with the regime in Chad, from where more weapons and troops penetrated Darfur. Refugee camps were thus militarized. 

 Darfur was further militarised when the regime of Ange-Félix Patassé collapsed in the Central African Republic and his soldiers fled to Darfur with their military hardware. The situation was not made better when, in August 1998, US President Bill Clinton ordered missile attack on the El Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. It was producing cheap medications for malaria and tuberculosis, supplying most of the medicine in Sudan. The plant was completely smashed by 19 cruise missiles, for no logical reason. And so Darfur became the hub of international geopolitical scramble for Africa’s resources. The region has the third largest copper and the fourth largest high quality uranium deposits in the world. It produces two-thirds of the world’s best quality gum Arabic, which is major ingredient in cold drinks, pharmaceuticals and candies. Sudan exports 80% of the world’s supply of this commodity.

The country, the largest in Africa in terms of area, is strategically located on the Red Sea, immediately south of Egypt, and borders on seven other African countries. It is situated opposite Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, among the main suppliers of oil. Sudan also has abundance of natural gas and oil, much of it in Darfur. The problem for the West is that it is the Chinese who are pumping the oil. U.S. companies controlling the pipelines in Chad and Uganda are looking for the ways to displace China through the US military alliance with states such as Uganda, Chad and Ethiopia, which are not too friendly with Sudan. Darfur, a western region of Sudan, borders on Libya and Chad, with their own vast oil resources. So it is a likely pipeline route. 

The West is thus pushing for ‘peacekeeping’ mission in Darfur in order to pursue its own agenda. That is why in the end the whole exercise may result into another Iraq or Afghanistan. This is because the United States and its allies look for conflicts, or even provoke conflicts, which they use as pretext to intervene in other countries, militarily or otherwise, directly or through proxies (including the UN). The aim is to exploit and control these countries economically and politically through puppet governments. This way they facilitate, promote and protect the investments of their corporations. This is how the United States and other western powers are working towards political domination in Africa and elsewhere, in order to exploit their resources. 

These are the sentiments that were possibly expressed by chairman of Tanzania’s National League for Democracy (NLD), Dr. Emmanuel Makaidi, when he called upon the government to withdraw Tanzanian peace-keeping troops from Sudan as their presence there is ‘not in the country’s national interest. It is not worth sacrificing our seven soldiers who lost their lives in an ambush laid by insurgents,’ he swiped, adding that Tanzania has an ill-advised foreign policy.

Nizar Visram is a Tanzanian freelance journalist and writer on political and socio-economic issues. He can be contacted at nizar1941@gmail.com