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.
To them, it's just another commercial deal -- and a chance to kill wild animals. But to the Stone Age tribesmen, it would spell the end.
In return for the dubious pleasure of shooting lion, leopard, buffalo and elephant, Crown Prince Hamdan bin Zayed (the UAE's deputy prime minister) and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (deputy supreme commander of the air force) want the Hadza evicted from the area to prevent them competing for game.
As bait, they are offering to pay the impoverished East African country a reported £30million, and have offered to build private homes, hospitals and schools for the displaced tribe.
*snip*
The Dubai princes have also pledged to pay Tanzania a 'tax' of £5,000 for each animal killed.
But apart from removing one of the world's last tribes, the Arabs will likely bring their ruthless hunting habits to the bush.
For example, royal big game hunters from Dubai were accused five years ago of starting fires along ancient migration routes used by animals on their way into the famous Serengeti wildlife park, in a bid to drive them onto land which they have already leased in a separate deal and where they could be shot.
There have also been allegations -- never refuted -- that a private airstrip large enough for cargo planes had been carved out of the bush to let the princes and their guests airlift vast quantities of skins and trophies out of Africa to decorate their Gulf state homes.
As expected, the UAE is refusing to comment:
While the UAE Embassy in London refused to comment on the princes' hunting plans, groups fighting for indigenous people condemned their safari scheme.
Then the article takes a trip into wrong:
Yet there is no place for sentiment in the natural world. As Gonga instinctively knows, the weak seldom survive in Africa.
"If any one species does not become modified and improved in a corresponding degree with its competitors, it will soon be exterminated," wrote Charles Darwin in The Origin Of Species, under the heading Natural Selection.
Whether they are driven off their land by the petro-dollars of Arab princes, forced into 'modern' homes by the Tanzanian government, or corrupted with cash and alcohol as a result of performing for tourists, you sense that time is running out for the Hadzabe.
Update 1: Apparently, the government of Tanzania and the UAE are fighting back by accusing NGO's, social researchers and documentary filmmakers of various human rights abuses:
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.
I can't say I'm surprised, just disappointed that these type of tactics are being employed in an attempt to discredit organizations standing up for the Hadzabe. I'll not dignify such claims by repeating the exact nature here, but you can read the allegations at the above link. The article does point out something interesting:
It is reported that the district authorities have already issued several ultimatums for the Hadzabe, who largely keep to themselves, to vacate the area so as to pave way for the investor, who has already set up camp, to establish a commercial hunting and sports enterprise in the area.
The investor`s move to acquire the area lies in the fact that Lake Eyasi is a nice place to camp and apart from the game, has got an incredible bird life.
The Coordinator of the Pingos Forum, a group of activists fighting for Hadzabe`s rights, Edward Porokwa, told The Guardian on telephone from Arusha that he was not surprised to hear news on human rights violation.
``The Hadzabe people are in a process of fighting for their rights despite troubles they encounter, including a plan to force them out of their land,`` he said.
He expressed suspicion that fresh allegations of human rights violation might be brought up intentionally to divert attention of the people from the main issue, which is eviction of the Hadzabe from their ancestral land.
