Land tenure protection issues in Great Lakes Africa (French-

speaking zone). Perceptions and involvement on the part of civil

society players

Access to land, the acquisition of land and rural development:

new issues, new opportunitiesYaounde from 27 to 28 September 2009

Presentation plan

• I. General introduction: a series of studies of the land tenure issue in the Great Lakes area

• II. Presentation of the Burundi case study• III. Presentation of the DRC case study• IV. Conclusion: towards the definition of an

analysis framework and areas where lobbying is required

Introduction (1)

• A series of studies intended to increase the intervention capacities of the CCFD partners in Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC (North Kivu)

• Land tenure situations are similar at some levels, but the responses to the challenges differ

• Increasingly powerful initiatives backed by international organisations

• An important and central position for the NGOs and civil society players

Introduction (2)• Some reference points on French-speaking

Great Lakes Africa and the issues associated with land tenure:– “Exceptional” environmental characteristics– Population density said to be “the highest in Africa”– Massive population movements– Agriculture dominant in the economies of the

countries→ Land tenure at the heart of economic

development issues and social peace

Analysis of the land tenure issue in Burundi

By Prime RUPIYA (ACORD Burundi)

ACORD _BURUNDI 5

Introduction

• Land area and population: 8.1 million in 2008, 310 inhab./Km2, 8% city expansion/year

• Economy: 90% of the active population working in agriculture (56% of GDP), smallholdings (05 ha/worked), no effective secondary sector

• Environment: rapid degradation of natural resources

• High level of land disputes: over 80% in the local courts

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1. The local dynamics

• Burundian tradition: the Mwami [King] and the Ganwa tribe had the right to manage and administer• Customary law does not accept the

notion of private property• Land = property attached to a lineage

(a patrilineal succession )• Vulnerable landless groups: Batwa

Prime Rupiya_ Yaounde conference 7

Local dynamics with regard to access to land ownership (1)

Local dynamics with regard to access to land ownership (2)

2. The local dynamics

• September 26 2006: Abolition of the rights of the Mwami and the Baganwas over the land

• After the monarchical period: central administration: rights over unoccupied lands (which are very rare) + cumbersome procedures

• Population develops its own methods of land tenure protection

The institutional and legal framework (1)

3. The institutional and legal framework

Existence of a number of laws: Land tenure code since 1986 intended

to standardise the existing land situation (rural land, derived from the State and that arising from land transactions)

As of 1986, other laws were passed but only partly amended the previous ones

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The institutional and legal framework (2)

4. The institutional and legal framework

• Many ministries involved: National solidarity, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ministry of Territorial Administration, Public works, Ministry of the Interior and Communal Development, Justice and Lord Chancellor

• CNTB (National Commission for Land and other property)

• Local authorities and hill-farmer representatives

• The courts• The Bashingantahe (“wise men”)

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Centralisation of the system, and increasing number of players

• Blurring and juxtaposition of powers • The various players’ powers are not well-

defined and uncoordinated

Conflicts and sources of insecurity with regard to land tenure (1)

4. Land tenure disputes and insecurity:

Old disputes80% in the courts Disputes occasionally

resulting in bloodshed

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Conflicts and sources of insecurity with regard to land tenure (2)

5. Land tenure disputes

Categories of land tenure dispute: Disputes associated with poor land tenure

governance ( e.g. expropriations without compensation)

Disputes associated with the takeover of the land of refugees

Disputes associated with the status of the rural population

Disputes arising from failure to abide by systems of rules

Disputes associated with failings or inadequacies in the rule systems

Disputes arising from multiple legal systems

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Issues: Land tenure disputes (cont.)

• Land tenure disputes:

Arbitration system:The Bashingantahe The municipalities The magistrates The parties to the

dispute themselves

Reform procedures currently in progress

Implementation of a land tenure policy

Recasting the legal framework: Revision of the land tenure code

Preventing and settling land tenure disputes

Land tenure policy letter: September 2008

Revision as yet unfinished CNTB for land tenure conflicts related to repatriation

Policy letter on housing and town planning

Limited progress on acknowledging local practices

Pilot village creation

No measures at all for the landless Courts and Bashingantahe: other types of dispute

Decentralisation of land tenure management

Retention of the thirty-year prescription

Publication and distribution of the texts of laws

Types of actions initiated by the international community and civil society

• Creation of an oversight committee• Mediation and conciliation in disputes • Legal aid• Information, training and lobbying• Support for food and income security

ACORD Burundi actions

• Practical: support for food security programmes based on family farming

• Upgrading powers: development of “social contract” type tools, training, information

• Research: analysis of the issue and policies• Lobbying: access to land for at-risk groups

(women and the Batwa)

Actions supported by international co-operation initiatives

• Support for sound governance from the European Union:

• Justice and the Law-based State • Decentralisation• Public affairs management

• Establishment of land tenure helpdesks (EU and Coopération Suisse)

What routes for action are to be adopted in the future?

• Working at regional level• EU level: seeking out the experiences of the

land tenure helpdesks• Civil society players have a key role to play:

monitoring processes (oversight committee), lobbying (minority groups), dispute mediation

A shared vision will help ordinary farmers to do extraordinary things

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Vision - Resourceful households and a responsive social system

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Territoriality

Culture

Shared vision

Coordinating the various

players

Analysis of the land tenure issue in the DRC (North Kivu)

By Malembe Kambale Simplex (FAT – Forum des Amis de la Terre

[Forum of Friends of the Earth])

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Introduction – quick presentation the DRC and North

Kivu • An unevenly distributed population: – 64 millions inhabitants over 2,345,000 km² (3rd largest

country in Africa). – Only 10% of arable land is worked.– North Kivu Province is one of the most densely populated

with an average population density of 300 persons/Km² (from 6 to 600 inhabitants/km²).

The key issues of the land tenure question

• A land tenure law still incomplete since 1973: State-owned land and rural land.

• Customary holding still present• Huge increase in population• The land as a value of last resort: excessive

dealing in land.• Large amount of large-scale farming and the

large mining and forestry businesses.• Failing legal system, particularly as regards

poor and small farmers.

The challenges to be tackled (1)

→How can the small farmers be protected without scaring the larger operators?

• At the present time, for the small farmers, land tenure means:– Disputes (intra familial, intra and inter community)– Land tenure insecurity in the face of

monopolisation and expropriation– Identity and power: the land as a political issue

and an identity– Survival: no other way to survive except for the

land passed down by ancestors.

The challenges to be tackled (2)

• Export-oriented agricultural policy.Highlands suitable for agriculture and stock rearing. Since colonisation, policies support: - Large-scale agricultural production; - Crops for export / stock rearing:

- Large colonial concessions nationalised and operated by government cronies.

- The biofuel phenomenon.- A legal system favouring those with access to money and

political influence, the elites and the like, to buy land.

Serious grounds for conflict

Land tenure insecurity +

Greater competition for access to land +

Economic and political interests =

Land tenure disputes 80% of the disputes brought before the courts result in

rulings against the small farmers.

Current political directions• No overarching programme as yet, but a

ministerial land tenure reform committee in place: working in a vacuum with no clear policy or road map

• 2 major political directions to arrive at clear solutions to resolve land tenure disputes:– The decentralisation process, in particular with the

establishment of legislative bodies at province level (Constitution of February 18 2006);

– The establishment, under way since 2006, of the “Code of Agriculture” – passed by the Council of Ministers in 2009, passed by the Senate and submitted to Parliament.

Initiatives on the part of civil society (1)

• Population shift programmes – Actions to clarify customary rules:

• A good conduct code for customary chiefs on the land tenure question: proposal for a provincial edict

– Conciliation and mediation actions on land tenure disputes

– A peaceful coexistence agreement between large and small farmers.

Initiatives on the part of civil society (2)• Lobbying:

– For women to have access to land; – For the setting up of local land tenure committees as

tribunals to arbitrate and resolve land tenure disputes and to protect small farmers;

– For participatory reform of the land tenure code.

“If we tally up the number of innovative and relevant experiences, we find that they are compartmentalised and consequently have little effect, since they lack a framework whereby they can be coordinated and geared towards the

level of local and national players.”

FAT (Forum of Friends of the Earth) actions(1)

Three categories of action:1. Improve the laws governing land tenure• Involvement in the development procedure and

the lobbying campaign to adopt the Code of Agriculture.

• The FAT coordinates the national lobbying committee on behalf of the farmers’ civil society and has chaired the land tenure section of the Code.

• Involvement in the land tenure law reform committee.

FAT actions(2)

2. Improve customary practices in regard to land tenure management.

• Support for the edict procedure establishing relationships between customary landholders and farmers regarding the management of land held under customary systems

3. Buttressing the actions of civil society players• Support for the procedure setting up the

CECAF.• Support for ANATC.

IV. Conclusions

• Next step: a regional study to define an analysis framework and focuses for lobbying

• The major focuses and directions for lobbying identified as:– The population, the environment and agricultural

development– Disputes, the political expression of land tenure, population

movements– Land tenure administration, the relationship between the

citizen and the State, rendering the law effective– Land tenure insecurity

Thank you for your attention