This is from the April 10th EastAfrican Tackle land rights to reduce conflicts - experts
By FRANCIS AYIEKO Special Correspondent What has the management of land and other natural resources got to do with conflicts in Africa? This question was one of the pertinent issues discussed during a continental consultative workshop on Land Policy in Africa held recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop marked the beginning of a continental initiative to come up with principles and best practices essential for the development of a framework to help African countries deal comprehensively with land and land issues. Participants noted that poor governance, control and use of land was, to a great extent, to blame for the many conflicts in the continent. "The majority of conflicts in Africa, such as the recent wars in Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d'Ivoire, are related to failures in systems related to the governance, control and use of land and natural resources," said United Nations Under Secretary General Abdoulie Janneh, who is also the Economic Commission for Africa secretary. The workshop, which ran from March 27-29, was co-sponsored by the African Union, the African Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Africa. It brought together African regional organisations and delegates from civil society, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholder groups, to kick off the initiative to develop a framework and guidelines for land policy and reforms in Africa. The process, to be completed in July next year, will formulate modalities for the implementation of the resultant land policy framework and guidelines at country, regional and continental levels. According to Mr Janneh, any post-war recovery and peace-building efforts in Africa must focus on how land and other natural resources are managed. In many parts of Africa, conflicts sparked off by a clamour for natural resources such as land have not only affected economic development, they have also greatly contributed to human-rights violations, with women, children, the disabled and the poor bearing the brunt. For instance, in some parts of southern Africa, the inability to address a long-running history of unequal land distribution has led to racial and political tensions, thus hampering development. In South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, a minority of the population still owns a disproportionately huge chunk of the land. According to the participants, the way out of such conflicts is to address their underlying causes such as insecurity of land rights, bad governance and bad managment of land to ensure equal access. Rosebud Kurwijila, the African Union's Commissioner for Rural Economy, underscored the importance of land in addressing poverty, food security and the general economic growth in Africa. The African Development Bank's director of agriculture and rural development, Chuku Dinka Spencer, was even more blunt on how land management systems impact of the stability of Africa. "Equitable access to land lies at the heart of democracy and sustainable development," he said. The workshop agreed on the critical pillars upon which to build a framework of action, such as reducing poverty, food security, good governance and transparent public administration, gender equity, conflict prevention, peace and security, secure shelter for urban and rural settlements, sustainable land use and ecosystem management and transformation of African economies to recognise the centrality of agriculture. _______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
