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Land Crisis As Displaced Return Home

The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
December 14, 2004
Posted to the web December 14, 2004

By David Mugonyi
Nairobi
As peace appears to be around the corner after 21 years of civil war in the
Sudan a new problem has emerged.
Residents of southern Sudan are wrangling among themselves over the ownership
of land.
Churches and lobby groups are worried that inter-community clashes will soon
start. Top among the issues is the resettlement of the 4 million internally
displaced people who are not ready to return to their ancestral land, arguing
that they have lived in their new 'homes' for between 13 and 20 years.
However, those willing to return once the peace agreement is signed between the
Khartoum government and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) will
have to contend with hardships such as lack of schools, hospitals and roads.
Churches in the SPLM-controlled area last week sounded an alarm that tribal
conflicts looked unavoidable.
Contend with landmines
Communities embroiled in the row are the Dinka who have occupied land owned by
the Toposa, the Madi and the Didinga.
The returnees will also contend with landmines in some areas and Aids as some
locals fear most people initially hosted by neighbouring countries with high
levels of the disease would infect them.
The New Sudan Council of Churches and the World Food Programme have described
the resettlement problem as a new crisis facing southern Sudan.
The Rev Peter Tibi, the NSCC deputy executive director, told a meeting of New
Sudanese Indigenous Non-Governmental Organisations (Nesi Network) the other day
that some resettlement efforts had failed.
About 6 million people in the region are displaced, 2 million of them now
living in camps in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, D.R. Congo and Central African
Republic.
A consortium of churches under Action for Churches Together (ACT) has launched
a $5 million (Sh400 million) appeal to help in the exercise once the peace pact
is signed.
Repatriation and resettlement
Among those that sent the appeal recently are the Norwegian Church Aid, the
Lutheran Welfare Federation and the Sudan Council of Churches.
The funds will be used for repatriation and resettlement in the first year of
peace.
Peeople to be repatriated are demanding that their original homes be improved
to match the environment they are currently living in.
The pastoralists among them have turned land meant for agriculture into
pasture, to the original owners' consternation.
Those who sought refugee in other countries but are now willing to return home
are asking for schools, hospitals and clean drinking water such as they have
have at present.
Areas like Nimule and Aswa are heavily mined because of lack of a clear winner
between the government and SPLM/A.
The curches fear that an influx of returnees from other countries could
overwhelm them as most people would prefer to camp on church compounds where
there are ready water and shelter.

   

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