Foreign Large-Scale Land Acquisition Deals in South Sudan "If there’s anything we’ve learned here abroad it’s that, 'You must never ever sign any agreement that you don’t fully understand'”. 01 May 2011
A Curse or Blessing on the New Nation. By Ajuong Buong* It wasn’t long ago when our late comrade Dr John Garang gave a speech in 1990 after the capture of Torit in 1989 by the SPLA. These are a few of his excerpts a little bit modified since I am relying solely on recollection. He said to those gathered, “I know every mountain and valley in Equatoria. This region is endowed with enormous natural resources and wealth. Once we attain our freedom this country will rise up and shine for the entire world to see. Our land is full of many skyscrapers, cars, diamond, petroleum, tin, motorbikes..... A lot of friends will come from nearby countries and as far as America and Britain” And the gathering laughed with some saying who would dare come to this jungle full of landmines. “People accuse me of killing our sons and eating up people’s farm produce for nothing, Garang continued, but let me tell you this, our blood will be shed because I hate oppression and marginalisation of our people but I will not even enjoy the fruits of this struggle. There are people sleeping comfortably right now; they don’t know the hunger or the sound of a gun. After our job is done that generation will take over; they will cut a large piece of land with pangas and sell it cheaply for a bottle of beer.” It’s often said a stitch in time saves nine. I write this article to inform and sensitize South Sudanese public to the recent report entitled; The New Frontier: A base line survey of Large-scale land-based investment in Southern Sudan (Report 1/11; March 2011) by David K. Deng. You can also download it here: http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ID/5108/Default.aspx . My primary appeal is for all South Sudanese to read this great and highly sensitive document of our time. I pray that our authorities do find time especially those in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (from GOSS to State levels) as well as the South Sudan Land Commission to read the recommendations provided. There’s nothing better that I can write apart from urging my fellow South Sudanese to at least scan or skew through this work that has been pioneered by NPA (Norwegian People’s Aid) and conducted by David K. Deng and his colleagues. I do give them my utmost appreciation for undressing this Land issue in a very rational way and good timing, thumb up guys. Land problems have never been easy since creation. Countries invade each other because of it. Some countries like Holland have attempted colonising the oceans and convert some parts into man-made lands inhabitable by humans. Recent research into space has been studying any proof of life in the outer planets so that people can go and live there; nothing promising yet. Commercial land-based investment groups have been encroaching into the heartland of Africa for farming; famously called “global land grab”. Large scale land acquisition in Sudan has been particularly selling to foreign investors like hot cake. From 2004 to 2009, Sudan transferred nearly four million hectares of land to private investors more than any other countries surveyed by the World Bank (2010: 44 as cited in Deng, 2011). According to Deng (2011), the data on 28 foreign and domestic investments planned or underway across the ten states of Southern Sudan; they found that between the start of 2007 and the end of 2010, foreign interests sought or acquired a total of 2.64 million hectares of land (26,400 km2) in the agriculture, forestry and biofuel sectors alone. That is a larger land area than the entire country of Rwanda, the report added. I wouldn’t touch on Tourism/conservation large scale foreign investments already stamped by state governments for up to 30 years with less or no payment at all. The government might know what its objectives are. My fear is on the side of the Community land owners in various states. With large land sizes ranging from 18,600 – 50, 000 Ha of Equatoria Teak already gone in Lainya, Yei, Nzara and Ezo for just US$200,000 for social fund and up to US$100-155 per m^3 of teak exported for 32 years deal, officials in the state level ministries of agriculture and forestry have expressed dissatisfaction with these terms, complaining that the amount being paid for the concession is insufficient compared to the price that Sudanese teak earns on international markets (Deng, 2011). The Nile Trading (US company) deal covers more than three times the area in all of Lainya County (600,000 hectares (6,000 km2) of land with a right to extend its landholding to 1,000,000 hectares (10,000 km2) for Approx. $25,000 in fees to CES gov’t. Local co-op gets 40-50% of profits for 49 years), and has official backing from the CES Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, even though Nile Trading’s investment agreement was only signed by a paramount chief at the payam level, without the involvement of leaders from any of the other four payams in the county (Deng, 2011). Some of the dodgy deals done in Western and Central Equatoria alone raise my eyebrows especially around the Green Belt which is one of the hottest/bread basket agro-ecological zones sought after by many foreign/local investors. The Green Belt has some of the most fertile soil, highest rainfall, and abundant forests in Southern Sudan with 25 percent of its total area covered by foreign investments already (Deng, 2011). States with higher demand from foreign investors (WES & CES) tend to make large-scale land allocations to foreigners a priority with the end result being that the prime agricultural land is allocated to foreign investors (Deng, 2011) at the expense of current and future domestic investors. I will settle on just two large scale foreign investment deals because of the length of their contracts. 1.Green Resources (Norwegian) investing in Terekeka (community land of 179, 000 Ha, CES) in agriculture, carbon credit/conservation for 99 years paying only $12, 500 per year. 2.Eyat Oilfield Services (Northern Sudanese) investing in Ezo/Tambura (community land of 162,000 Ha, WES) in agriculture for 99 years. No compensation for affected communities is provided for in the preliminary MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). The lease payment is a one-time sum of $250,000 US to be paid to the WES government. I am not anti-investment in South Sudan and definitely not against any foreign investors. South Sudan is large and can accommodate all sorts of investments both now and many more countries to come in the future but we have to get the balance right for us all to live in harmony and prosperity. While not all the deals are bad, 99% of these foreign large-scale land investments reflect the “blood diamond type” deals and it will only create another ‘Zimbabwe in South Sudan’ which has just emerged from decades of devastating civil war that claimed over 2.5 million lives. US$250,000 cannot buy you a blinking 2-bedroom house here abroad let alone agricultural land acquisition. These investments are outrageous and do not offer any value for money whatsoever for this or future generations. If there’s anything we’ve learned here abroad it’s that, “You must never ever sign any agreement that you don’t fully understand”. You must take time, make necessary consultations until every condition in the agreement is crystal clear. This mistake was made in the past as evident in Deng Majok’s transfer of Abyei from Bahr El Ghazel to Kordofan in 1905 and the same mistake is being made in these recent large-scale land-based foreign investments. There are lots of bad agreements signed by many South Sudanese during our struggle as well. Ministers and chiefs must think twice about the conditions they are leaving their children and grand-children in, now that there’s peace; before they sign such deals. This brings me to my final point which is the interest. There’s nothing left for free anymore in this world. For instance, if you give $100 to a guy walking in the streets here in the West he will surely ask, “What is it for?” while others would just say “no thanks” and walk away regardless of their poor state. This is to avoid any hidden agendas. So what is the interest of these companies in South Sudan? Do you think all of them came to help us? What is our interest in South Sudan? Why do we need to invest that piece of land? Are there any other better money-generating alternatives we can undertake to achieve our current and future interests? America has always maintained her interest above everything else. They put their interests first, but we in south Sudan we put our interest last. It’s high time we learn to put our interest first for this generation and future generations for Christ-sake! *Ajuong Buong, Biomedical Scientist. The author is one of the Jesh Amer who fled to Ethiopia in 1989 at an early age of 7 years and now resides in Australia. Posted in: Opinions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
