المشروع ممول من الإتحاد الأروبى Project funded by the European Union EU Land Governance Programme 6th Capitalization Meeting 08 – 10 November 2017

Addressing Disputes and Conflict related to tenure rights Background Communal land tenure rights in Darfur was protected and managed under customary mechanism by the Native Administrations until 1986, 1970 law of the land nationalized all un-registered lands owned through customary system under government ownership. Institutionalized role of Native Administration since the British colonial era were revoked, At the time when government nationalized land ownership, about 95% of the lands in Darfur was not formally registered. Implementation of this laws brought contention and dissent that led to the prolonged ongoing conflict in Darfur. Locality and village level administrative units lack formal institutions that would have provided and protected tenure rights after the demolition of customary institutions. The conflict displaced 2.6 million IDPs in Darfur Region according to UNOCHA of which most of them don’t have access to their land to sustain their livelihoods.

Role of Responsible Land Governance in resolving conflict in Sudan Ideally yes, because before the enactment of 1970 land laws and subsequent disbandment of the role of native administration, good governance particularly customary played key role in resolving conflicts in Sudan,

Causes of Land Conflict? (root causes and secondary causes) Invalidation of customary land rights by the state, Emergency of armed indigenous rebellion groups in Darfur, Mistrust between communities based on affiliation to the conflicting actors (Government and rebels), Dispossession of indigenous tribes from there customary lands and occupation by tribes affiliated to ruling political party, Expropriation of unregistered land by 1970 land laws, Secondary Causes Corruption – tribalism, favoritism, nepotism, patronage by through political affiliations, bribery, fraud..etc

Assessment on causes of conflicts Assessment on the causes of conflict in Darfur is readily available although the focus may not be on land related. However, the project conducts the following activities to understand the cause of conflicts: Profiles cases of community conflicts over land resources attempted made to resolve. It also document lessons learnt from both successful and unsuccessful land related conflict resolution attempts. Identifies types of trainings provided community leaders by different organizations in the last 4 to 5 years and confirm whether previous trainings have improved their capacities to resolve community disputes or conflict as oppose to before the trainings. Documents a short story on how trainings were beneficial to dispute/conflict resolution platform members. Based on tribal affiliations of different communities within each locality, the project identifies preferred means (customary of formal) of resolving land related disputes and document reasons that lead to preference of one means over another. Documents processes used by each mechanism and estimate average time taken to resolve land related disputes by each mechanism. Collect information about the cost associated with the process by each mechanism in resolving land disputes. Identify capacity gaps and challenges faced by each mechanism in resolving land disputes,

Methods used for the assessment? Review of existing literatures ( research, assessment, studies and reports), Participatory methods (Focus group discussions; interviews with stakeholders and key community leaders; discussion with targeted community groups (women, men and youth); discussion with civil society organization; discussion with different livelihood groups (Farmers, Pastoralists and traders)…etc

What worked well, Partnering with highly skilled, respected local service providers known for there impartiality to conduct the assessment on causes of conflicts facilitated as an entry point to understand root causes of conflicts in project localities

what are the challenges, Community perception towards tribal thinking influenced by their political afflictions shaped responses, Due to the political conflict over land in Darfur, right based approach of VGGT principles is viewed with sensitivity, Because of overlapping mandates between state ministries (land service providers) and commissions (Darfur Land commission (DLC) and Humanitarian aid Commission (HAC)), conducting conflicts assessment need careful consideration on which government partners to work with that can provide protection from other institution that claim similar role. Insecurity and restriction to access project localities freely,

what would you do differently? Training and considering influential policy makers lead or at least fully involve in conducting the conflict assessments,

Three priority areas in land governance that would need to be addressed in order to contribute to resolving the conflicts? Disarmament of militias caused displacements of 2.6 million and adopting strong legal action against armed nomads deliberately distracting farmers fields, Establishing inter and intra community trust building for peaceful co- existence, Empowering native administrations that governed land tenure right through customary means

How is the project addressing specifically the causes of conflict? Conducting assessments to understand causes and drivers of conflicts in each project localities, Establishment of peace negotiation platforms that addresses disputes of over land resources before it turns into conflicts, Training communities and their leaders on land resource management to reduce competitions that causes conflicts, Training female poetess(Hakamats) -former war mongers to be ambassadors of peace makers.

What has worked well, Establishment or revival of community peace negotiation platforms,

what were the challenges Native administrations losing community trust and respects in case they were suspected of government affiliation, Armed communities usually prefer not to reconcile with unarmed communities because they are regarded as weak- superiority complex,

what would you do differently? Promote impartiality to gain trust of conflicting parties in order to resolve the conflicts