Tanzania evicting tens of thousands of Maasai: HRW

Tanzania is forcibly evicting tens of thousands of Maasai from their ancestral lands, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday, claiming that government rangers beat some members of the community with impunity.

Long-standing tensions between the authorities and the nomadic community have sometimes resulted in deadly clashes, after the government launched a programme beginning in 2022 to relocate some 82,000 people from the world-renowned Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Handeni district, roughly 600 kilometres (370 miles) away, by 2027, HRW said.

But the scheme, which the government says is to conserve the UNESCO World Heritage site from human encroachment, but which HRW says will "use their land for conservation and tourism purposes", has come under growing international criticism with the World Bank and the European Union pulling funding.

HRW said it interviewed nearly 100 people between August 2022 and December 2023, including community members who had already moved to Msomera village in Handeni and others facing relocation.

The report noted "government-employed rangers assaulting and beating residents with impunity", with community members describing how they were targeted, and listing 13 alleged beatings between September 2022 and July 2023.

"He was just walking, and they just punished him," one man told HRW, describing how rangers stopped his 35-year-old friend en route to a funeral and made the man kneel before clobbering him with a stick, leaving him wounded.

There was no hope of legal redress, he told HRW, as you "go to the same police who have beaten the guy, so you can't get any aid."

"Rangers are like people who are above the law."

The report also alleged that the Tanzanian government failed to provide free and fair consent to the relocation, describing violations of rights to land, education, and health.

"The Maasai are being forcibly evicted under the guise of voluntary relocation," said Juliana Nnoko, HRW senior researcher on women and land.

While the nomadic community has historically been allowed to live within some national parks, the authorities say growing populations encroach on wildlife habitats.

The government has consistently maintained its relocation scheme observes Tanzania's rights laws.

 'Both babies died' 

To encourage people to relocate, the authorities also reduced infrastructure funding for schools and health centres, HRW said, limiting the community's access to vital care and forcing them to travel further.

One woman gave birth to premature twins in a car en route to a hospital, according to her cousin, who said "both babies died because we could not get them the right services as soon as possible."

Three women died between April and May last year after they were unable to access medical care for "pregnancy-related complications", the report said, citing one woman.

International criticism of the relocation programme has grown, with the World Bank suspending payment in April towards a $150 million conservation funding and the European Union also revoking Tanzania's eligibility for some $19 million in similar funding.

But HRW found that "the government has systematically silenced critics... contributing to a climate of fear".

"You're not allowed to say anything," said one person quoted by HRW who has already relocated to Msomera.

People have "fear in their hearts".