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Land Crisis Hits Rwanda, 10 Years After Genocide

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
April 2, 2004
Posted to the web April 2, 2004
Kigali
As the world prepares to focus on the tenth anniversary of the genocide in
Rwanda, another threat to the future of this martyred central African country
is beginning to take shape: the fight for land.
Rwanda, already one of the most densely populated countries on the continent,
is facing a population explosion that could result in precious agricultural
land -- still the basis of the economy and society -- running out. Over 90
percent of the country's eight million people are farmers and stock breeders.
But the amount of land available is finite and sooner or later some people are
going to be left without a plot of land, and therefore without a living.
"It's a time bomb," said a Rwandan observer, who did not wish to be named. The
scarcity of land was both a source of tension which led to the 1994 genocide
and a pretext to convince people to take part in the massacres. In the space of
three months in 1994, up to one million people, mostly Tutsis but also moderate
Hutus who were opposed to the slaughter, were killed, according to the Rwandan
authorities. "Family planning should be the top priority but nothing is done to
put a brake on demographic growth," said the observer.
The birth rate in Rwanda has been rising exponentially for decades, as in many
African countries. If it continues to grow at the current annual rate of three
percent, the population will have doubled by 2020. The consequences could be
disastrous in this small, mountainous country which already squeezes in 310
inhabitants per square kilometre. The lack of space has been a challenge to the
authorities in Rwanda for decades.
Hutu extremists began forcing huge numbers of Tutsis off their lands and into
exile as early as the late 1950s, and stopped them from returning after
claiming that Rwanda was not "big enough for everyone".
In 1994 the authorities who planned the genocide encouraged Hutu farmers to
take part in the killing by hinting that land belonging to their Tutsi
neighbours could pass to them if they were to die. "If the population keeps on
growing, the violence could break out again," the observer said. At present
over two thirds of complaints received by the Rwandan League for the promotion
and defence of Human Rights (Liprodhor) concern land.
Since 1994 there have been several waves of refugees returning to their
homeland: first the Tutsis who have left Rwanda since 1959, then the Hutus who
fled after the genocide. "These arrivals have made the problem of land sharing
even more difficult," said Liprodhor head Florien Uzikembwabo. "The authorities
have encouraged people to share plots of land which were already small, but the
decisions have no validity in law," he said, adding that there was a "judicial
vacuum" over the issue.
Rwandan and international observers say that even 10 years after the genocide
farmers are still being accused of taking part in the killing, hoping to grab a
meagre plot of land. The government says it is aware the problem is a serious
one and says it is preparing a bill to try to tackle it.

   

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