Tanzanian herders in the Ngorongoro Crater in Arusha. FILE PHOTO | AFP
The East African Court of Justice has ordered the Tanzanian
government to stop evicting Maasai pastoralists in Ngorongoro district,
pending a decision of the main case filed at the regional court.
The
court noted the four villages the pastoralists occupy — Ololosokwan,
Oloirien, Kirtalo and Arash — were all legally registered, but the
Tanzania government re-mapped them in a bid to change their boundaries.
In
August 2017, the government ordered the pastoralists to move their
cattle out of the 1,500 square-kilometre Wildlife Conservation Area
bordering Serengeti National Park. But the Arusha-based court has
ordered Dar to stop arresting and prosecuting herders and destroying
their homesteads or confiscating their livestock.
EACJ
judges Monica Mugenyi, Faustin Ntezilyayo and Fakihi Jundu further
restrained the Inspector General of Police from harassing the villagers
in relation to their main case No. 10 of 2017, which the regional court
is about to start hearing.
In their temporary
application, the Maasai pastoralists were seeking interim orders of the
EACJ against the IGP to desist from harassing, intimidating or otherwise
engaging the villagers before the final decision on the main case is
reached.
They also asked the court to serve Ngorongoro
Officer Commanding District (OCD) with summons to explain the measures
his office had taken regarding their main case as well as their
temporary application.
Since May last year, the Maasai pastoralists have been allegedly
harassed and intimidated. Their representatives were detained and seven
members of the community summoned to police stations and asked to
withdraw their signatures from both the main case and the temporary
application.
The villagers said unless the government
and its agents were restrained from such blatant intimidation, they
would suffer irreparable damage, which would have the effect of abusing
the court process in both the main and the temporary applications they
filed at the EACJ.
The Ngorongoro OCD on May 29
allegedly summoned some members of village councils to a police station,
interrogated them on the dispute and threatening to imprison them.
In
their main application, the villagers, represented by counsel Donald
Deya, Jebra Kambore and Nelson Ndeki, are seeking EACJ orders to
permanently halt the evictions, arrests, prosecution and destruction of
their property.
They are also seeking orders of
restitution, reinstatement of the villagers and reparations. The
Tanzania government was represented by Principal State Attorney Mark
Mulwambo and State Attorney Abubaker Mrisha.
The
Ngorongoro District Commissioner triggered the dispute by directing the
Maasai pastoralists to vacate the land bordering the park on August 5,
2017.
The villagers resisted, saying unless procedures
governing the transfer of land from one user to another were followed,
the land still legally belonged to them.
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