We Are Refugees in Our Own Homeland": Land Dispossession and Resettlement Challenges in Post-Conflict Eso,T Uganda
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2014 "We are Refugees in Our Own Homeland": Land Dispossession and Resettlement Challenges in Post-Conflict eso,T Uganda Matt Kandel Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/234 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “We Are Refugees in Our Own Homeland”: Land Dispossession and Resettlement Challenges in Post-Conflict Teso, Uganda By Matthew Kandel A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, the City University of New York 2014 ii This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Cultural Anthropology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Matt Kandel Date Chair of Examining Committee Donald Robotham Date Executive Officer Gerald Creed Ida Susser Marc Edelman John Collins The City University of New York iii ©2014 Matt Kandel All Rights Reserved iv Abstract “We Are Refugees in Our Own Homeland”: Land Dispossession and Resettlement Challenges in Post-Conflict Teso by Matt Kandel Adviser: Donald Robotham This dissertation is based off of fieldwork that I conducted in post-conflict Teso region in northeastern Uganda from 2012-2013. It focuses primarily on land dispossession and challenges to resettlement. Conflicts over land intensified in the early 1990s, coinciding with the early stages of resettlement in southern Teso after a period of regional civil war and large-scale cattle rustling. In contrast to the large-scale “land grabs” in Sub-Saharan African that have occurred since the 2007-08 global commodities crisis, land expropriations occur mainly on a small- scale in Teso. I argue that there are a number of drivers to land dispossession in the region, although the most structural impetus is fundamental transformations in the regional political economy. A central thrust of this work is that there is significant intra-regional differences with respect to patterns of displacement and resettlement. For instance, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an Acholi-based insurgent group, infiltrated Amuria and Soroti districts in 2003, but did not seriously impact other districts. People from parishes in Teso that directly border the predominantly pastoralist region of Karamoja to the north have undergone a number of cycles of displacement/resettlement since the mid-1960s. While cattle v raiders from Karamoja have devastated Teso for decades, there have been significant improvements in inter-regional piece within the last 5 years, and they have largely been due to the grassroots efforts of local civil society organizations. I critique the dynamics that underlie the long history of enmity between Teso and Karamoja regions, including the longstanding dispute over the correct inter- regional border. At the heart of this confounding problem—like most challenges facing Teso—is the issue of tenure rights to an increasingly fragmented supply of land. vi Table of Contents Introduction: 1-33 Chapter 1: Drivers of Land Conflicts in Teso: 34-50 Chapter 2: We Were Told by Our Fathers What This Land Is for: Forms of Land Conflicts and the Relevance of Scale: 51-80 Chapter 3: Resettling Amuria, Katakwi, and Tisai: Elders-For-Hire, Reconciliation Diplomacy, and the Forgotten IDPs: 81-101 Chapter 4: The Border as “Political”: A Sub-National Dispute and the Value of the Green Belt: 102-127 Chapter 5: Because No One Wants to Kill their Son in Law: Iteso-Karamojong Joint Settlements and Prospects for a Sustainable Peace: 128-149 Conclusion: 150-158 Appendix: 151 Bibliography: 160-75 1 Introduction In Uganda, land conflicts, or “land wrangles,” as they are popularly referred to in the country, have erupted in recent years with a cataclysmic effect, reverberating throughout the countryside, towns, and Kampala, the capital city. Depending on the region, anywhere from 33 to 85 percent of the population has dealt with a land dispute or felt their tenure rights threatened (Mercy Corps 2011; Rugadya 2009). The majority of all criminal cases in the statutory courts have some relation to land, including cases of murder, assault, and domestic violence (Rugadya 2009). Of course, there are differences throughout the country with respect to the immediate drivers of land conflicts. For instance, with regard to villages along the Albertine Rift in Bunyoro region, the disputes are centered on the relocation of the local population for purposes of oil extraction. While cash buyouts were given to those who were relocated, many feel that the compensation was inadequate. They also feel it was conducted in a deceitful manner since the purpose of their relocation was not made clear at the time of negotiations (Kwesiga 2013; Sseskika 2013; Mugerwa 2013). In and around Kampala, an immediate catalyst for disputes over land is overlapping tenure rights. A large portion of the land remains under mailo tenure. This is a special form of landholding that emerged out of the unique alliance between the Baganda, the dominant ethnic group in Uganda, and the British during the early colonial period.1 The disputes typically involve absentee mailo rights holders and the actual occupants, who, according to the 1995 Constitution, are formally considered “bona fide occupants” if they have 1 At the time of British intervention, the Baganda were the dominant ethnic group in Uganda. However, Jean-Pierre Chretien (2003) notes that the Banyoro were the dominant group in the country up until the mid 18th century. G.S.K. Ibingira (1973) also emphasizes that the Banyoro were the dominant tribe in Uganda for a very long time and that the Baganda have only been dominant for a few centuries. 2 used the land for 12 or more years without being challenged (Hunt 2004; Palmer 2007; Rugadya 2009; Pedersen, et al. 2012). In Teso, where I conducted my fieldwork during 2012-13, the intensification of conflicts over land emerged when people first began resettling the southern areas of the region in the early 1990s. The returnees had initially been displaced in the late 1980s because of civil war and large-scale cattle rustling. The disputes centered on disagreements over plot boundaries and cases of “squatters,” who were accused of resettling on someone else’s land. Another cycle of displacement occurred in northwestern Teso in 2003 with the infiltration of an Acholi-based insurgent group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).2 This phenomenon of cyclical displacement/resettlement is far from novel in Teso. It has recurred in areas bordering Karamoja region since the mid 1960s. Along these northern stretches, it is only now that people are finally starting to resettle in large numbers after decades of displacement. While Teso is nominally a post-conflict region, small-scale cattle rustling remains a challenge along the northern belt. This continues to complicate efforts at resettlement. For people in Teso, the central driver to land conflicts is unequivocally the displacement caused by the violent conflicts. Research in Teso and similarly affected regions in the North has found strong correlations between tenure insecurity and displacement-resettlement challenges (Rugadya 2006, 2008b; Burke and Egaru 2011; Hillhorst et al. 2011; Mckibben and Bean 2010). Furthermore, customary land tenure predominates throughout Teso, so there is no written documentation delineating legitimate rights holders and property boundaries. As in other parts 2 One informant of mine argues that the LRA actually first infiltrated in 1999, although I could not corroborate this. The Refugee Law Project (2008), which conducted research in Obalanga Sub-County in Amuria on the LRA invasion, also marks 2003 as the year when the LRA first infiltrated Teso. 3 of Uganda, the ever important nature of land is always discussed. It is not only a site for household economy and agricultural production, but also culture and ancestry. The common refrain often repeated to me by Iteso elders was they only ask for three things: “Don’t touch my land, cows, or women.” While an enormous amount of literature on “land grabbing” has been generated since the 2007-8 global commodities crisis, the focus has generally been on large-scale land acquisitions involving external states and transnational corporations. Even though there are a handful of accusations of land grabbing in Teso that involve external investors and the central government, the vast majority of disputes involve local actors and small plots of land. One frequently comes across reports that local government officials on the district, sub-county, parish, or village levels are grabbing land; but, even more pervasive are disputes on an intra-clan or intra-family basis. Aside from the displacement/resettlement dynamic, there are numerous other immediate drivers of land conflicts in Teso. Increasing population density, a weak traditional justice system, corruption in the formal justice system, the declining power of the elders, tensions between land tenure systems, and ecological shifts, among other issues, are also catalysts for the rapid growth in land disputes. It is important to situate these disputes within a broader historical framework, for conflicts over land are not a wholly new development in Teso (Vincent 1971, 1982).3 It is also 3 Vincent (1977) discusses land conflicts in Gondo Sub-County in Serere during the late 1960s, although their number and intensity pale in comparison to those in present day Teso. She remarks that most of them are resolved through the traditional justice system. She also notes that they tend to have a “seasonal rhythm” in that they are more frequent during the dry season (see p.