The conventional perspective on Sudan's recent civil war (1983-2005) - one of the longest and most complex conflicts in Africa - emphasises ethnicity as the main cause. This study, on the contrary, identifies the land factor as a root cause that is central to understanding Sudan's local conflicts and large-scale wars.
Land rights are about relationships between and among persons, pertaining to different economic and ritual activities. Rights to land are intimately tied to membership in specific communities, from the family to the nation-state. Control over land in Africa has been, and still is, used as a means of defining identity and belonging, an instrument to control, and a source of, political power. Membership of these communities is contested, negotiable, and changeable over time. For national governments land is a national economic resource for public and private development, but the interests and rights of rural majorities and their sedentary or nomadic subsistence forms of life are often difficult to harmonise with land policies pursued by national governments. The state's exclusionary land policies and politics of limiting or denying communities their land rights play a crucial role in causing local conflicts that then can escalate into large-scale wars. Land issues increase the complexity of a conflict, thereby reducing the possibility of managing, resolving, or ultimately transforming it. The conflict in the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan, the regional focus in this study, is living proof of this transformation.
Guma Kunda Komey is Assistant Professor of Human Geography, Juba University, Sudan.
Details
First Published: 18 Dec 2010
13 Digit ISBN: 9781847010261
Pages: 288
Size: 21.6 x 13.8
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: James Currey
Series:
Eastern Africa SeriesSubject:
African StudiesBIC Class: GTB
Details updated on 05 Sep 2010
Contents
- 1 Introduction: National Context, Key Questions & Arguments PART I BACKGROUND
- 2 The Nuba Mountains Region as Social World: A Synthesis
- 3 State Land Policies, Politics & Rights in Sudan PART II THE WAR, CAUSES & IMPACT
- 4 The War: Root Causes & Ramifications in the Region
- 5 The Baqqara-Nuba Relations in a War Situation PART III PEACE & POST- CONFLICT DYNAMICS
- 6 The CPA & Nuba Questions of Land, Identity & Political Destiny
- 7 Territory, Ethnic Identity & Boundary Making
- 8 Contested Communal Lands, Identity Politics & Conflicts
- 9 Conclusion
