Thread by @RealHauleGluck

#FactChecking: in 2017 Tanzania ended a 25-year-old hunting tourism deal with a United Arab Emirates company called ‘Otterlo Business Corporation’.
The deal, was set up in 1992 (President Mwinyi), was reported to be in exchange for millions of dollars to Tanzania’s armed forces.

However, despite the announcement in November 2017, OBC did not leave Tanzania. Just a few days later, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that OBC would stay.

Under the deal, Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC) gained exclusive hunting rights over an area of 400,000 hectares to the east of Serengeti National Park in Loliondo and Sale divisions of Ngorongoro District.

According to the reports I have seen apparently the Maasai communities who have lived for generations on the land were not consulted before the hunting rights were handed over to a foreign company.

In 2009, more than 200 Maasai homes were burned during a series of evictions. Maasai villagers were left “homeless and without food, clothing, land, water, medical and other basic social needs”, according to the then @UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, Mr. James Anaya.

According to another report: In August 2017, more evictions took place. Maasai homes were burned and their livestock confiscated. At the end of August, the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) put out a short report about the evictions.

IWGIA urged that the evictions of the Maasai people be stopped and recommended that those evicted should be compensated.

On 7 October 2017, in a cabinet reshuffle, Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, dropped Jummane Maghembe, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism. One possible reason was Maghembe’s failure to resolve the land disputes in Loliondo.

Then, at the end of October 2017, Hamisi Kigwangalla, Tanzania’s new Minister for Natural Resources, halted the eviction operations against the Maasai. He ordered that all cattle impounded during the eviction operations should be returned to their owners.

The issue is further complicated by reports of cattle and sheep mass migrations from Loliondo and Ngorongoro district into the Serengeti National Park.

The @dailynewstz reported in early November that livestock herders living in villagers near to Serengeti, who previously drove large herds of cattle into Serengeti at night, are now doing so in broad daylight.

One livestock herder explained that livestock herders were taking their animals into Serengeti, “Because there is drought everywhere and our livestock have been dying.”

Government records seen by The EastAfrican show that the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party received financial donations amounting to thousands of dollars from the royal family.

In 1994, according to the records seen by The EastAfrican, CCM received US$32,000 in donations from OBC. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism received more than US$2 million.