Lawyers say government is attempting to intimidate pastoralists as thousands flee to Kenya amid escalating row over evictions
Twenty Maasai pastoralists from northern Tanzania have been charged with the murder of a police officerover government plans to use their ancestral land for conservation and a luxury hunting reserve.
On 16 June, the men were brought before a court and charged with murder, along with 10 other men arrested last week. “The government was moving quickly to pre-empt any judgment in our favour,” said Samuel Nangiria, a pastoralist and grassroots activist from Loliondo, who fled to Kenya after the eviction protests.
“In principle, all governments in the world can compulsorily acquire land in the public interest. But for that to be done, there are laid-down procedures and laws – including Tanzanian national law, around free, prior and informed consent, which has not been done.”