Issue of the Land in Darfur

Issue of the Land in Darfur                                                         
   The issue of the land for long has been at the center of politics in Darfur . Land ownership in darfur has been traditionally communal . The traditional division of the land into homelands so-called “Dar” , which are essentially areas to which individual tribes can be said to have a historical claims is crucial in the local self-perception of the population . The traditional attribution of land to individual tribes in existence today dates back to the beginning of the 20th century . When the last sultan of Darfur , Sultan Ali Dinar decreed this division which was generally accepted by all tribes (UNSC Commission Report on Darfur ,2005). Thus, the use of the land was determined by tribal leadership . Tribal leaders had extensive powers to allocate parcels of land for dwelling , grazing ,agriculture and other forms of use . As noted some tribes in the region essentially most of the nomadic tribes do not possess land and have traditionally transited through lands belonging to other tribes .
   In the recent years especially in 1980s both ecological and demographic transformation have had an impact on intertribal relations . In fact drought and desertification had their devastating impact on Darfur . The impact is not only on Darfur, but the entire region of Sahra , which led to increased migration of nomadic groups from Tchad , Libya , Niger , Mali and other states into the more fertile areas of Darfur . Fight for scarce resources became more intensive , in particular tension between agriculturalists and pastoralists ( cattle and camels herders) as fertile lands became scarce .
   In the recent 1980s the land laws in Sudan had been changed from land being subject to the rights vested in a community such as tribe to land subject to no individual or communal rights unless registered under private party . Accordingly all lands of any kind that was not registered prior to April 1970 should be property of the government . According to the Civil Traction Act 1984 , a major source of land legislation today governing the possession and ownership of land and rights  provides that “land belongs to God “ however , the state is declared responsible for regulating its use and owns all the lands that was not registered in the name of private party prior to April 1970 . This means that almost all lands (99%) in Darfur is owned by the state . Government authorities only have the legal rights to organize procedures for granting “usufruct” rights and retains the rights to reclaim a land from the holder of usufruct rights if it deems that the holder has failed to exploit the land according to the condition of the grants .
   Changes in land laws makes a major shift from communal ownership of land by communities such as tribes to individuals ownership . Now although  land attributed to the state ,but those who possessed land for at least three years can claim legal title on it .
   In 1992 , Dawood Bolad one of the notorious leaders of Fur African tribe of Darfur let an attempt to revolt against the central government . He unsuccessfully launched an insurgency campaign to instigate darfur people to challenge the central government’s polices towards  the region and fight for their rights . Because Bolad had manifested sympathy with South Sudan rebels who were fighting for autonomous rights of their region , he had been accused  of being in complicity with the South Sudan rebels . This sole and isolated incident had become a turning point for National Congress party‘s regime to change its perception towards Darfur Non Arab tribes . Non Arab tribes were considered to be a fifth columnist in civil war , because of their African identity and cultural heritage , despite their deep roots in Islam and their traditional loyalty to Arab culture . As a consequence , the NCP regime has sought to destroy the traditional base of communal ownership of the lands and authority of the tribal leadership of those communities through changing the ethnic composition of Darfur region to preempt the imagined and imminent danger . NCP regime’s attempts to initiate systematic campaign to preempt the region from certain African tribes whom were viewed as non-government supporters, converged with the interest of some nomadic tribes who did not possess land and  had demonstrated additional loyalty to NCP regime in order to acquire land . Now the proxy Janjaweed militia that are given the impunity to combat civilians in Darfur begun to settle in areas previously occupied by the displaced population . The new settlers are given the impunity to hunt any returnee who tried to repatriate to his original land . Now the government organizing usufruct rights to the new settlers .
    The question of control over land became very essential in Darfur , since some tribes do not have traditional lands  and with conflict over natural resources , and government in complicity with them initiated a systematic attempts to evict certain tribes viewed as non- government supporters from their land and transfer it to the government supporting tribes . Then respect of all historic rights that govern the communal ownership of lands by tribes (Hwakeer) and repatriation of the owners to their ancestral lands with the recognition of their geographic and administrative territories become essential .            
                                                     
Dr. Mohamed Ali Mustafa , is   General Secretary for Darfur IDPs and Refugees Union.     He can be contacted at: [email protected]