Land disputes fuel tensions in war-torn south Sudan

August 18, 2007 (JUBA, Sudan) — Land disputes in southern Sudan following Africa’s longest civil war are fuelling tensions and a proposed land register could take years to complete, an official said on Friday.

Communication problems and resentment of soldiers who grabbed land in the wake of a north-south peace deal in 2005 have made people unwilling to hand land to the government, said Robert Lado, head of the south Sudan land commission.

“The disputes that are happening are … having an impact on development, social harmony and law and order,” Lado, who works for the south’s now semi-autonomous government, told Reuters.

In Sudan’s north-south war, 2 million were killed and at least 4 million fled their homes, creating a legacy of blurred lines of ownership of land.

Lado said hundreds of citizens in Juba had complained their land had been wrongfully sold — some by individuals who were not true owners, some double-sold and some communal or family land sold without permission.

He said Juba residents had also come forward with leases to land occupied by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). “Somebody has all the papers. But UNMIS is saying it was given the land by the state,” he said in the interview on Friday.

It could be confusion or corruption, Lado said, but reforms were underway.

“We are reengaging with the community,” he said, adding that the new draft land law, when passed, would eventually register all land across the south as owned either by the state, individuals or communities.

This should encourage people to give the semi-autonomous government 99-year leases on registered land so that it can assign it for investment and reconstruction, he said.

Juba experienced a huge influx of returning southerners and foreigners looking to invest following the peace deal but Lado said the government had reached deadlock with communities there.

Tribal disputes over ownership of land around two other main towns, Wau and Malakal, and the smaller Bor town mean that these towns could also not expand, Lado said.

But with a huge backlog of legislation awaiting the southern parliament’s attention, it was unclear when the draft land law would be considered.

And with clauses such as delaying land registration until tribal conflicts are resolved in the draft, Lado said it could be years before all the land disputes are resolved.

(Reuters)