I write to inform you that in the course of its 82nd session, the Committee further considered the situation of alleged evictions of the pastoralist Maasai community of Soitsambu village in Ngorongoro, District of Arusha Region following updated information received from a non-governmental organization. The Committee would like to remind the State party that it has not yet replied to the Committee's letter of 11 March 2011 on the same situation.

According to information received, your Government has failed to comply with the recommendations previously made by the Committee. Therefore, the Committee is concerned that steps have not been taken to grant unrestricted access to Sukenya and Mondorosi villagers to the Sukenya Farm, preventing them from grazing their cattle, thus potentially violating their rights to use their traditional lands.

The Committee is also concerned at the report that the Tourism Company, Thomson Safaris, continues to develop a safari camp in the disputed land with approval of the authorities but reportedly without consent from members of the Maasai community, potentially violating their right to prior and informed consent for projects carried out in their lands.

The Committee is deeply concerned at information that the situation of the Maasai communities affected by the evictions has worsened, and that they have allegedly suffered intimidation, arrests, physical ill- treatment and arbitrary detentions. The Committee would like to draw the attention of your Government to the fact that such a situation may amount to the violation of article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Committee would like to recall recommendations made in paragraphs 14 and 15 of its previous concluding observations (CERD/C/TZA/C0/16) adopted in 2005 regarding the expropriation of ancestral lands belonging to certain ethnic groups.

The Committee would like to reiterate its requests made in its previous letter to provide information on:

• a) measures taken to ensure the effective participation of the Maasai community in decision affecting them, in particular on the case of Sukenya Farm;
• b) measures taken to thoroughly investigate allegations of excessive use of force by the security guards of the company occupying the Farm.

The Committee requests that the State party take immediate measures to effectively protect the Maasai community against reported acts of intimidation, harassment, arrests and detentions and requests the State party to take concrete steps to find a peaceful solution to the dispute. Moreover, the State party should take concrete measures to ensure access of Maasai people to their traditional lands and provide adequate compensation, as appropriate, to the villagers of the Mondorosi and Sukenya for the alleged losses suffered.

In accordance with article 9(1) of the Convention and article 65 of its Rules of Procedure, the Committee requests that the State party submit information on the above- mentioned issues by 31 July 2013.

The Committee also requests the State party to submit as soon as possible its seventeenth to eighteenth periodic reports overdue since 26 November 2007