UNAMID and its partners have been working with communities across Darfur to address land disputes by revitalizing traditional mechanisms for resolving such conflict.

By Sharon Lukunka

For many years now, land disputes in Darfur have heightened the political and economic tensions in the region. Land disputes between seminomadic livestock herders and those who farm the land were one of the foundations for the Darfur conflict, which has continued now for many years. To address this issue, the African Union - United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and its partners have been working with communities across Darfur to address land disputes and encourage peaceful coexistence.

UNAMID’s Civil Affairs section has been working directly with the Darfur Land Commission, which was formed under the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority and is now under the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA). The Darfur Land Commission was set up in 2006 under the terms of the Darfur Peace Agreement, which stipulated, among other things, that those who had seized land by force during the hostilities should not automatically retain the right to settle there.

According to UNAMID Legal Affairs, individuals from other tribes that do not own land may be allowed by another tribe to settle on a particular piece of land and use it. “The universal principle of law dictates that one cannot gain land by force,” says Clemens Bessem-Asu, a UNAMID Legal Affairs Officer. 

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Read the full article in the July 2012 issue of Voices of Darfur. Download the magazine (PDF) here.

Women and children from rural areas outside El Fasher, North Darfur, walk long distances each day to collect firewood for their families. Photo by Albert González Farran, UNAMID.