fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

WTN Arusha / Tanzania 28. Aug. 2008

Two human rights defenders from the Hadzabe people in Tanzania have been acquitted by the Mbulu District Court from all charges brought against them in an attempt for revenge, because they had successfully defended the tribal homeland of their people against a corrupt deal. A Dubai conglomerate of wealthy sports-hunters from Abu-Dabi had been trying franticly to establish a sports-hunting area in the culturally and ecologically most important part of the Yaida Valley, along Lake Eyasi in Tanzania.

Signs of Hadza extinction now evident
Just a few weeks after the Arabian hunting firm officially pulled out of Yaeda, a new monster is reported to have moved into the vast valley and intends to unleash even worse destruction.
Yaeda valley lying mostly within Mbulu District in Manyara, with part of it extending to Singida region is currently being visited by hordes of people interested in starting mining activities in the area.

Mon, 02/04/2008 - Realizing that the Ogiek had fled the area around Chepyuk and took refuge at Teldet and Chepkitale, the Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF), Kenya's most dangerous and notorious, at least 1000 men strong armed militia, has now taken advantage of the lawlessness and the commitments of the police elsewhere to hunt and kill the Ogiek like rabbits.

Mon, 11/19/2007: A LOW FOG ENVELOPES the steep and remote valleys of southwestern Uganda most mornings, as birds found only in this small corner of the continent rise in chorus and the great apes drink from clear streams. Days in the dense montane forest are quiet and steamy. Nights are an exaltation of insects and primate howling. For thousands of years the Batwa people thrived in this soundscape, in such close harmony with the forest that early-twentieth-century wildlife biologists who studied the flora and fauna of the region barely noticed their existence.

Tue, 10/16/2007 - 12:18 — A German narrated film, about the Hadza, from the Rift valley, titled - "No need for development" this documentary from fPcN Germany describes the situation of the last hunter and gatherer in Tanzania, the Hadzabe, back in the late 1990s.

Hadzabe - Kein Bedarf nach Entwicklung ist eine Filmdokumentation von Freunde der Naturvölker e.V. und beschreibt die Situation des letzten Jäger- und Sammlervolkes in Tansania, die Hadzabe.

Mon, 07/30/2007 - Indigenous peoples living in the tropical rainforests of Central Africa are widely dispersed and identify their groups by a variety of names. Numbering a total of 300,000 to 500,000 people, those members of communities from several ethnic groups characterized by their small stature are identified under the generic name of “pygmies” (see WRM Bulletin Nº 119).

Mon, 07/23/2007 - 07:28 — An alert reader left a link to this article in the Daily Mail. By turns stereotypical and sensitive, the article reveals a few more details about the UAE trying to by Hadzabe land and the plight they are facing:

To the dismay of anthropologists and champions of the Earth's remaining tribal people, two wealthy Arab princes, who have made billions from oil and gas in the United Arab Emirates, are negotiating with the Tanzanian government to buy the Hadzabe's ancient lands to use as their own private hunting grounds.

Fri, 06/29/2007 - How come then, the living home land area for Innocent Hadzabe people being leased to United Arab Emirates royal family for the sake of establishing “personal safari play ground”! Calling them “backwards” now leasing their land! This is totally unfair and it violates human rights!

Where is democracy? Is it not for real that our Tanzanian Government a democratic government?! If the answer is yes, does it not follow and obey the definition postulated by Sir Abraham Lencollin; government for the people by the people!

Thu, 06/14/2007 - The Hadzabe, a hunter gather tribe in Tanzania, Africa, are believed to be the second-oldest people on Earth - but of course that is not saving them from being threatened with eviction and extinction.

Some greedy members of the United Arab Emirates 'royal' family want to turn the Hadzabe tribal hunting lands into a private 'by helicopter only' safari playground - so the Hadzabe who have been there for over 50,000 years will just have to go.

Wed, 05/23/2007 - The government is investigating alleged violations of human rights against the Hadzabe ethnic group committed by social researchers, tour firms, filmmakers and some non-governmental organizations.

Mbulu District Commissioner Elias Goroi said the activities of tour firms, film makers, social researchers and NGOs operating within Hadzabe territory at Yaeda Chini and Lake Eyasi basin were being probed.

The Hadzabe are an ancient traditional group of hunters and fruit gatherers.