African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

Header Banner

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
Politics

Land Belongs to the Community

By James Okuk
March 11, 2008
1559
0
Share:

To avoid the continuity of conflict over land and its resources in the Sudan, it should be constitutionally and legally confirmed that "land belongs to the community" and that "community land should not be sold." Community land for investment can be leased out and not sold out at all to outside users. For any investment to take place communities must be consulted and made to understand what type of investment it is and how it will benefit them. The gross injustices that have been condoned, so far so bad, in the world today in the name of investment and national economic growth (that does not trickle-down to the local poor community) should never be allowed to take deep roots in the Sudan. It is better to live poor and closer to nature in a community owned land than let go the community land in the name of modern advancement in infrastructure that is only affordable and disposable to the elite and the rich. In a research we carried out all over Southern Sudan in 2004 on Community Land Tenure and Ownership, no single community told us that they would reject government to make use of their land; what they require from the government is only consultations and transparency in what is going to be the outcome from the land use. That is, the government has to involve the community and make it understand the benefits from the use of their land. Not only the government, but we found out that those communities do not have a problem with a stranger coming to live and use their land if it is done with their consultation and consent. What they totally reject is the deception or use of force in acquiring and taking away the land ownership from them. In my judgment, Southern Sudan communities in rural areas are right and wise in this common stand, because, if ownership of their land is transferred to the government, then it is at risk of being privatized or individualized corruptly by the government as it has happened in Northern Sudan and elsewhere in Africa where the land is legalized to belong to the government. Government can be feared to turn corrupt for selfish purposes but the community is infallible to draw itself into such evil decision. Therefore, to guarantee community benefits from their land, the law must ensure that land ownership remains at the custody of the local people in Rural areas, and not the government. The government can change but the community remains.

Previous Article

Land in the DPA: A False Agreement?

Next Article

Making Sense of Darfur’s Arabs

James Okuk

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • KenyaPolitics

    5 things you should know about the Kenya protests

  • Politics

    A civil society deferred: the tertiary grip of violence in the Sudan – reviewed for Chatham House

  • Politics

    Land ‘grabs’ in Africa

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81664
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Popular articles

  • Typical coping strategies such as a nomadic lifestyle are inadequate to handle what is potentially the worst food crisis in Somalia's recent past. Credit: UNDP Somalia.

    Somalia faces worst humanitarian crisis in recent history

  • President-elect Gustavo Petro and Vice-president-elect Francia Márquez embrace after winning elections in Colombia. Credit: Pacto Histórico.

    What can other movements learn from Colombia’s elections?

  • A shot of the protests on 30 June 2022 taken by drone and shared by @JamesCopnall.

    Why Sudan’s protest movement has toppled one but not yet two dictators

  • President João Lourenço of Angola at the AU summit in 2018. Credit: Paul Kagame.

    How power in Angola is wielded by one man

  • Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro leads the fifth government in Lesotho in ten years. Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA.

    Lesotho: Governments: 5; Reforms: 0

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
Cleantalk Pixel
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu