The Land Portal has recently published its Sudan country profile in Arabic (PDF version).
Since 2021 Land Portal has been translating all its country profiles into French, Portuguese and Spanish, and it's the first time that a country profile is also available in Arabic.
Land Portal's country profiles provide a detailed detailed description of the land governance context in the country. They are part of full country portfolios which offer a collection of related blogs, news, publications, statistical datasets and more. The portfolios seek to expand knowledge about how countries govern their land, the challenges they face, and the innovative solutions they find to manage land tenure issues.
Land governance context in Sudan
Sudan is the third largest country in Africa with an area of 1,849,234 km2. Sudan attained its independence from Anglo-Egyptian rulers on January 1, 1956. It is boarded: South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. It has 853 km of Coastline and maritime boundaries with three countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea.
After decades of civil war between the central Government and a South Sudanese militant forces, in 2011 the people of South Sudan voted for independence, establishing a new state “South Sudan”. Consequently, Sudan lost land resources, and three quarters of its oil wealth.
Land legislation and regulations
Most of the constitutions promulgated in Sudan since independence include land related provisions.The land tenure system in Sudan is characterized by sharp dualism. Parallel to the formal legal system, communal traditional land is regulated by customary laws and institutions.
The British colonization of Sudan passed a series of land acts. Some of these still have partial influence, such as the Land Resettlement and Registration Act of 1925 (LRRA) that provides rules to determine land rights and to ensure land registration. The Land Acquisition Ordinance of 1930 also has partial influence; it gives the government the power to expropriate land for development and provides detailed procedures for land acquisition, value assessment and compensation.
The British colonial government created a new set of community leaders. Two separate and unequal land systems were created, namely, the registered system and the customary system.
The programme of land surveying and registration undertaken in the period 1898-1914, known as land ‘settlement’, was used to “build alliances with elites” and to clarify titles for investors.
The 1998 Constitution of Sudan, stipulates that citizens should have free choice of movement and settlement. The 2005 Interim Constitution established an independent National Land Commission. The Darfur peace Agreement 2006 also established the Darfur Land Commission (DLC).
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See the Sudan portfolio in English
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Read the Sudan profile in Arabic
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