SERENGETI HIGHWAY DECISION SET FOR 15TH MARCH
The East African Court of Justice has ruled that a decision will be handed down on the 15th of March, if the Tanzanian government will be permanently restrained to build a highway across the Serengeti, as was and is declared intent inspite of a misleading letter to the contrary sent early last year to UNESCO.
Tanzanias Attorney General had yesterday argued before the appellate court that the injunction granted by the courts first instance should be set aside, claiming the East African Court of Justice lacked the capacity to impose a permanent injunction on the Government of Tanzania. The plaintiff, the Africa Network for Animal Welfare, which took the case to the Arusha based regional court after local courts proved incapable or unwilling to deal with the matter to the satisfaction of the conservation fraternity, however argued that the court indeed had the right and the jurisdiction to decide on the matter as it saw fit according to the facts presented.
Should the Tanzanian government lose the case, when the ruling is delivered in mid March, it remains to be seen if they will respect a permanent injunction or as already vowed by government sycophants and hotheads will ignore it and go ahead anyway and create facts on the ground which might be irreversible. Watch this space as the Serengeti Highway fate now rests with the appellate bench of the East African Court of Justice.
