Ambiguous Outcomes of Returnees’ Land Dispute Resolution and Restitution in War-Torn Burundi

Rosine Tchatchoua-Djomo,Han Van Dijk

doi:10.3390/land11020191

Rosine Tchatchoua-Djomo, Han Van Dijk

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020191

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Abstract

Redressing land dispossession in the aftermath of violent conflicts is daunting and complex. While land dispute resolution and restitution are expected to promote return migration, this outcome is contingent upon the changing social, economic and political conditions under which return takes place. Drawing on qualitative data from Makamba Province in southern Burundi, this case study highlights the politically and historically shaped challenges underlying the resolution of competing and overlapping claims on land following protracted displacement. These include the undocumented and fluid nature of customary land rights, institutional and legal pluralism and shifting land governance relations. This paper emphasises the centrality of the state in regulating returnees’ land dispute resolution and restitution processes. Violent conflicts and forced migration have enabled the state to expand its control over customary land tenure. The gradual exclusion or replacement of local authorities has shaped a competitive structure of jurisdictions and confused authority over land. National land restitution commissions have been used by the central government to shape land tenure and state–citizen relations and to exert pressure on land tenure institutions. Addressing competing claims on land following armed conflicts may fail if attendant struggles over public authority and changing political dynamics are insufficiently considered.

Highlights

Academic Editor: Chanrith NginLand governance in post-war settings can be contentious and complex
These promises raised unfulfilled expectations to both returning refugees and secondary occupants about the outcomes of land dispute resolution. Both local- and higher-level land governance institutions were actively involved in the settlement of land restitution claims amidst ongoing legal changes and political challenges, which became entangled with the process of post-conflict state formation
The various land restitution commissions established by successive Burundian governments have failed to address the returnees’ land question over time in a satisfactory manner

Summary

Introduction

Academic Editor: Chanrith NginLand governance in post-war settings can be contentious and complex. Considering the centrality of land and property to local livelihoods and poverty reduction, it is logical that land and property are a focal point for competition, disputes and tensions [1] This has implications on sustainable return and peacebuilding and on post-conflict land governance and state formation. Post-war land policies and claims of belonging, entitlement and identity are sometimes used as strategies to exclude or mobilise individuals and groups This situation can hamper peacebuilding efforts and the return process [1]. The outcomes and challenges of the land dispute resolution and restitution processes in Burundi are embedded in the complex history of war-induced forced displacement, multiple waves of partial return and many attempts to address competing land claims. Over the 1972–1974 period, land and other assets, even bank accounts of the deceased, detainees and refugees, were seized and redistributed to army officers, UPRONA (Union pour le Progrès National) officials and their supporters and government authorities at the local, provincial and national levels [11]

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