World Bank to carry out an investigation into evictions, killings, and human rights abuses associated with its REGROW project in Tanzania
“We are tired of living in constant fear for our lives,” say villagers threatened with eviction to make way for an expanded Ruaha National Park
In June 2023, two community members from Tanzania, with support from the Oakland Institute, field a request with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel. They live in the Mbarali District, where more than 20,000 villagers face eviction, violence and illegal cattle seizures linked to the expansion of the Ruaha National Park.
On 15 November 2023, the World Bank’s Board approved a recommendation from its Inspection Panel to investigate the Bank-funded “resilient natural resource management for tourism and growth” (REGROW) project.
Under the Bank’s US$150 million project, the Ruaha National Park will be almost doubled in size. In September 2023, Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute told The Guardian that,
“The REGROW project is not about protecting wildlife or conservation. Instead, the bank is financing an oppressive and violent economic growth model based on boosting tourism revenues.”
In a new press statement, the Oakland Institute explains that,
The investigation will focus on the Bank’s review and due diligence of the capacity and processes of TANAPA — one of the Project’s lead implementing agencies — whose paramilitary rangers are accused of murder, torture, and rape in addition to illegal cattle seizures that have decimated livelihoods.
TANAPA is the Tanzania National Parks Authority, which operates a paramilitary system, aimed at protecting natural resources.
The Inspection Panel’s report dated 19 September 2023, states that,
The Panel recommends an investigation into the Bank’s review and due diligence of the capacity and processes of one of the Project’s lead implementing agencies, i.e., TANAPA, and whether risks to communities were identified in project documents, appropriate mitigation measures put in place, and the Bank’s supervision of the Project’s implementing agencies. The investigation will review the related, possible non-compliance with the applicable World Bank policies, focusing on the Bank’s Policy on Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) and the Bank’s Investment Project Financing policy.
“Unaccountable and Complicit”
In late September 2023, the Oakland Institute published a report titled “Unaccountable & Complicit: The World Bank Finances Evictions & Human Rights Abuses in Tanzania”.
The report exposed the World Bank’s role in funding the Tanzanian government’s expansion of the Ruaha National Park and its complicity in the violence, killings, and human rights abuses.
In November 2023, the Oakland Institute and Rainforest Rescue set up a petition calling on the Bank to stop funding the project immediately. More than 47,000 people have signed the petition so far.
In the press statement, Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, says,
“After the Bank’s failure to enforce its own safeguards and Operating Procedures that have been violated by the Tanzanian government, the Bank’s decision to launch a full investigation is a late but necessary step. To ensure that the investigation is not hindered by the Tanzanian government and its intimidation of the villagers, project disbursements must be stopped.”
Since the complaint was filed with the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, the Bank has disbursed a further US$28 million to the project.
Violence and death at the hands of Park rangers
The World Bank’s Inspection Panel travelled to Tanzania and held meetings with communities. The testimonies of villagers is included in its report. Here is one example:
Two women told the Panel Chairperson, also a woman, that they and a third woman went to pick vegetables. They stated they were outside the National Park. They said the rangers from a helicopter approached them and asked them what they were doing and if they were growing the vegetables. They responded they were just picking them. They said the rangers then ordered them to strip naked and lie flat on the ground. They said the rangers then beat them on their shoulders with the handles of their knives. The women said they were saved by the helicopter pilot, who was a woman, who pleaded to the rangers to stop. They said the rangers were preparing to burn them and this would have happened had it not been for the intervention of the helicopter pilot. . . . The two women stated they were traumatized and continue to be deeply affected by the incident. Both said they continue to experience pain from their injuries.
The violence continues at the hands of Tanzania National Parks Authority rangers. On 28 October 2023, five herders were at their camp near Mwanawala village, outside Ruaha National Park. A helicopter suddenly flew just above them. The cattle scattered. Rangers got out of the helicopter to seize the cattle.
When the herders resisted, the rangers shot and killed 21-year-old Zengo Dotto. He died trying to protect his family’s cattle which are crucial for the family’s livelihood. His family have refused to claim his body from the morgue until the rangers are brought to justice for the murder of their son.
The villagers have an option of entering a dispute resolution with the Tanzanian government, before the World Bank’s investigation begins. In a letter to the World Bank Board of Directors, villagers write,
We reject the dispute resolution process as we do not trust the government to remedy these wrongs. Maybe the dispute resolution can work in some places, but we know it will fail in Tanzania.
The villagers are asking the Bank to stop financing the REGROW project and answer their calls for justice. “We are tired of living in constant fear for our lives,” they write.
Thank you for this! The World Bank is a high-level instrument of colonialism masquerading as a development agency, the head of the World Bank must always be chosen by the US. One of two carefully-designed systems to keep poor countries permanently in debt. Yet they hope to administer the loss and damage funds for climate relief.