Tanzanian Masai people force to leave their land to make hunting ranch for UAE Royal family
By Arnjum Kumar
There is no respect or love for graves of anybody in Salafism or Salafi Islam so followers of this school of Islam have no love or respect for graves of anybody even of their forefathers. Therefore these Salafis and Wahabis cannot understand the love and respect for graves of forefathers a normal human being has in his heart. Royal family of United Arab Emirates (UAE) who are followers of Salafism or popularly known as Wahabisim have bought a land of indigenous people of Tanzania and wishes to erase everything including graves of their forefathers for making a huge hunting ranch.
Royal family has proposed to offer an investment of one billion shillings (US$590,000) into socio-economic projects, which the Masai people have refused.
According to Guardian newspaper, co-ordinator of the local Ngonett civil society group, Samwel Nangiria have refused to accept this offering stating that:
“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.”
Masai people claim that those who speak out publicly against the deal in Tanzania get killed by local authorities.
Last year, an international media campaign against the hunting reserve proposal was led by the online activism site Avaaz.org that launched the campaign “Stop the Serengeti Sell-off” petition. After this campaign Tanzania government claimed that it had refused the offer of UAE Royal family and would not give land to them but reality is otherwise and project is being initiated and Masai people have asked to leave their homeland by end of December 2014.
There are about 40,000 Masai people living on the 1,500 square kilometer “wildlife corridor” bordering Serengeti National Park. They are known for their semi-nomadic ways and have their own distinctive culture.
According to Masai people, the sale of the territory will in some way or another impact the lives of at least 80,000 people and will leave those residing on the land without their heritage or livelihood, as Masai are reliant on the livestock living on the land.
