ARD in Southern Sudan

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Overview

ARD in Southern Sudan

Sudan’s largely Christian and animist southern region and its principally Muslim northern region have been in civil war for most of the country’s post-independence history. The most recent period of intensive civil conflict spanned 22 years, from 1983 to 2005, and witnessed the death of nearly 2 million persons, mainly Southerners, through fighting, disease and starvation. Millions more were displaced from their homes and communities, settling in neighboring countries or seeking refuge in relatively secure towns and villages.

Southern forces, led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) reached a peace accord with Sudan’s political leadership in 2005. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) provided for the establishment of an autonomous, transitional regional government in the south. The CPA empowered the southern region to forge an interim constitution, establish executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and make preparations for a referendum, to be held in January 2011, in which Southerners would decide on whether Southern Sudan would become fully independent from the Sudan.

Near continuous civil war over the 50 years since Sudan’s independence from Great Britain in 1955 had left the southern region’s political, social, and civic institutions in tatters. Among these were property rights arrangements; the laws, rules, conventions, and administrative systems that people rely on for gaining secure access to land for housing, agriculture, businesses, and public purposes.

The CPA—in recognizing the importance of secure property rights for peace, security, and economic development in post-conflict Southern Sudan—provided for the establishment of the Southern Sudan Land Commission (SSLC). The SSLC was given the mandate to craft a land policy that would set out the foundational principles for land rights and land administration in the region, and identify needed legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms and capacities necessary to implement the policy.

The USAID-funded Sudan Property Rights Program (SPRP)—implemented by ARD, Inc., a Tetra Tech Company—was established in 2008 with the mandate to assist the Land Commission to prepare the land policy. Assistance has taken a variety of forms, including support for a major program of land policy research carried out in collaboration with the Nile Institute for Strategic Policy and Development Studies, a consortium of Southern Sudanese scholars and academics.

Central to ARD’s partnership with the Land Commission is assistance in planning and convening an intensive program of public consultations on the land policy, held in all 10 of the region’s states, and region-wide events convened in Juba, Southern Sudan’s capital city.

A major, culminating conference was convened in Juba in June 2010 to review the findings of state-level consultations and special meetings that had focused in depth on topics such as women’s land rights and the role of property rights reform in promoting investment. Those attending the Juba meeting included leading policymakers, traditional leaders, legislators, and civil society representatives.

Recurring concerns about illegal land-grabbing and undue influence expressed throughout the consultation process led participants to stress the importance of transparency and accountability in land administration. Participants reaffirmed the rights of women and men to equal access to land—a principle clearly stated in both the Interim Constitution and Land Act of 2009 but inconsistently observed. Participants stressed the need to respect customary land tenure arrangements as they effectively provide land to qualified community members as a social right, thereby fostering more equitable access to land. The policy should clarify that customary tenure rules can and should accord equal rights to women.

The Juba conference gave clear direction to the work of staff of ARD and the Land Commission charged with drafting the land policy. The policy should focus on strengthening land tenure security for all Southern Sudanese. Tenure security builds peace and is essential for economic development and poverty reduction. A new government successful in providing its citizens with secure land rights will enjoy a level of legitimacy important to the long-term success of whatever national political arrangement Southerners choose in the referendum in early 2011.

Reflecting on the consultative meeting for Central Equatoria State, held in Yei in March 2010, Chief Peter Morjan stressed the importance of the meeting in building support for government policies: “If we, the chiefs, were consulted in this way, we would have no problem with the government, but the problem is no one ever approaches us on a consultative basis as you did in this workshop. Now I feel part of the decision-making in my country.”