Revive community support structures to resolve land conflicts

Author: Mr Reagan Rwabambari

What you need to know:

  • Social Workers are keen to support households resolve the land conflicts. 

Land related conflicts remain a key evil that continues to tear the social fabric in most parts of Northern Uganda. These conflicts are as a result of the displacement of an estimated 1.8million people by the 20-year-old war of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. Years later  since the government declared the region safe and ordered people to return to their homes from the Internally Displaced Persons Camps, many people are yet to receive justice for atrocities committed against them.  For all this long, land conflict has remained a major threat to social harmony. In most cases, these conflicts evolve around ownership, usage and inheritance rights. 

Often times, the conflicts are not genuine disputes, but rather escalated by deliberate land grabbing as the perpetrators use falsehoods, alter temporary boundary marks and at times the efforts to resolve these conflicts are compromised by corruption in some institutions.   While most of these cases have been presented before court, the justice system hasn’t done much to help resolve and restore peace given the backlog and delays to deliver judgments. For the local council support systems to address some of these cases, the corruption and incompetence hasn’t spared them either. 

Eventually, the encroachers deliberately act to frustrate any attempts to resolve the conflict leaving individuals and communities frustrated and powerless. The victims are largely households headed by women and children who fight so hard to command a bigger share of the land through digging. For instance, in Awach Sub County, Gulu District, it is widely believed that “ngom Acholi kilaro ki kweri” to mean that “land is claimed and secured through digging”. This has put the lives of many children, widows and other women at the risk of hard labour to try and cultivate a fairly big space and yet they are excluded from legal land ownership based on the community norms and traditions.  
In the face of these challenges, some organisations like the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Uganda have been  promoting peaceful coexistence and resilience through mediation and  reinstated the role of Community Support Structures (CSS) to address these conflicts. The CSS include traditional Chiefs, Clan leaders, Rwodi Kweri/Okoro, religious leaders, elders and ‘Jago Kila’ in the project locations of Acholi and Lango sub regions.

 Over 480 CSS have since the project inception in 2018, been trained and graduated in land conflict mediation, effective enough to deal with any land related conflict under the customary land tenure system. 
These structures were additionally trained in documentation, peaceful mediation, monitoring and reporting of community social challenges especially land related cases. Out of the 460 cases that have so far been registered for mediation, 236 cases have been successfully resolved by the CSS hence increased productivity and livelihood. In addition, there has been institutionalization of adherence to resolutions made during mediation by the conflicting parties, still acknowledge peaceful coexistence. 

Social Workers are keen to support households resolve the land conflicts. Prior to the mediation, it is important to analyse the reported conflict by understanding the history, interests, needs and parties involved to inform non partial conflict resolution, fostering reconciliation and healing among the aggrieved parties. 
Once cases are reported, the CSS organize for dialogue/ mediation at no cost and the process involves thorough documentation of key issues like size of the land, attendance list of participants, sketch maps of the land, boundary opening in case of boundary claims. The parties sign a consent form as a binding agreement for all resolutions made during mediation.  The formal justice system has been supportive in legalizing the mediation by endorsing agreements among conflicting parties. 
 
For sustainability, a community support structures land mediation manual has been developed which is expected to act as a guide for the peace building actors who will train community support structures in Uganda and beyond to help them resolve land disputes sensitive of the local and cultural realities as well as accepted practices and principles for mediation.

 The author, Mr Reagan Rwabambari is a project manager-TPO Uganda