This Policy & Practice Brief analyses the role of traditional institutions for conflict resolution, paying special attention to their relevance in post-conflict societies. Using Rwanda’s abunzi mediation system as an example, the brief considers traditional African mechanisms for conflict resolution as unique, context-specific, and responsive to the justice needs of societies emerging from conflict.

More than eleven years after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda might be an internally pacified, but by far not unified nation. There are different factors, which threaten the fragile social equilibrium. The issue of land is one of them. Land has long been a scarce and disputed resource in Rwanda. Ongoing shortages due to decreasing soil quality, growing population pressure and unequal distribution, as well as a lack of income generating alternatives beyond agriculture create an extremely precarious future to the national economy of the small, landlocked country.

Many authors contend that ethnic extremism coupled with political manipulation were the primary factors behind the Rwandan genocide. Yet, to oversimplify the cause of this tragedy makes one blind to the complicated nexus that generated the outcome. Even though this genocide was quick in its execution, the events that lead to this massacre took years to unfold. We argue that the evolution of human capital and the competition for scarce resources contributed to the genocide.

This report is part of a broader comparative effort by As the author worked with colleagues in Rwanda,
two other important dimensions of the Rwandan
experience became clear. Refugee return and land
access in Rwanda has been an extraordinarily
complex matter, with some refugees leaving just in
time for others returning to take up their homes and
lands. Rwanda has important lessons to teach us
about the need to maintain flexibility in dealing with
complexity, and raises questions about whether

This report presents the findings of the Yanacocha Independent Fact Finding Mission (the “Mission”), conducted between August 2015 and March 2016. The Mission was tasked with examining a conflict between a multinational gold mining company and a local campesino family, in the high Andes of northern Peru. At the root of the conflict is a dispute over a parcel of land called “Tragadero Grande”. Located within the Campesino Community of Sorochuco, Tragadero Grande falls within the footprint of a planned multi-billion dollar mining project called “Conga”.

During revolution and national unification, Vietnamese government nationalized agricultural and forest land throughout the country. While agricultural land was de-collectivized in the Doi moi reforms since mid-1980s, the majority of forest and forest land has continued to be managed by state enterprises. For members of Vietnam’s 53 recognized ethnic minority groups, the formation of state-owned forest enterprises (SFEs) has meant the end of customary tenure arrangements, leading to exclusion from traditional lands used for agriculture, hunting, and collection of non-timber forest products.

“Water is the lifeblood of the people of Afghanistan, not just for living but also for the economy, which has traditionally been dominated by agriculture.” Nearly “80% of Afghanistan’s population derive their livelihood from the agriculture sector.” And, agriculture remains one of Afghanistan’s principal growth sectors.

Rift Valley Institute PSRP Briefing Paper 14

European and US development funds are bankrolling palm oil company Feronia Inc despite land and labour conflicts at its plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). New information now raises questions as to whether the Canadian-based company misused millions of taxpayer dollars destined for international aid by way of companies connected to a high-level DRC politician.

Large-scale dislocation of populations due to land expropriations and armed conflictpresent significant difficulties for political stability and food security in fragile states.With increased use of mass claims programs by the international community andgovernments in order to attend to the problem, attention is focusing on what works.While organizing mass claims programs is challenging, the real difficulty is derivingremedies that are realistic, effective, implementable, and that fit the wide variety of circumstances that people, communities and nations find themselves.

Disputes over land are a prominent feature of many situations of protracted violent conflict in Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan. Research conducted as part of the programme ‘Grounding Land Governance’ underscores that war reshuffles access and ownership, but also critically changes the ways in which land is governed. Land issues often come to resonate with other conflicts in society, thereby affecting overall stability. This makes interventions in land governance politically sensitive.

After conflict, governments and donors often feel a need for up-scaling and modernizing land use. There is an ambition to achieve economic recovery and contribute to food security through stimulating large-scale investment in land. Our research in Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan suggests that policymakers should be extremely careful when promoting large-scale land acquisitions, both foreign and national. Especially in the difficult transition from war to peace, large-scale appropriation of land risks becoming a threat to tenure security and the recovery of rural livelihoods.