August 27, 2012
THE government has no plans to evict 48,000 people belonging to the Maasai tribe from Serengeti to pave way for hunting activities by foreigners.
A press statement issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism signed by the Ministry’s Spokesperson, Mr George Matiku, revealed that there won’t be evictions. The statement was responding to a campaign by ‘Avaaz’ website pressurising the government to stop its plans to evict the Maasai from Serengeti, through a petition.
“The website is still continuing with its campaign as well as writing to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism requesting it to stop the eviction plan,” the statement read in part. Mr Matiko said that the ministry has appealed to the international community not to waste time by signing the misleading petition because the government has no plans to evict the Maasai people from the Serengeti.
He said hunting activities by tourists are normally conducted in Game Reserves, and not in people’s settlements. All those who have signed the petition are invited to visit Tanzania as tourists and take that opportunity to learn the conservation plans in the country as well as prove the ‘Avaaz’ campaign wrong, the statement noted.
More than 800,000 people have signed the ‘Stop the Serengeti Sell-Off’ petition on the online activism site Avaaz.org.
Source: All Africa
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