Migration, land tenure, citizenship and communal conflicts in Africa

Abstract

All land-cum-citizenship based communal conflicts in Africa have been explained in terms of a quest for political autonomy by subjugated groups, struggle over the traditional stool and as consequences of competition for scarce resources or state economic adjustment programmes. By contrast, this article expounds the way in which the land tenure of first settlers or groups affects the assimilation or dissociation of later settlers or ethnies with critical implications for their citizenship rights and intercommunal relations. It argues that land tenure is a critical element of culture of the agrarian society that determines nationality and citizenship of later immigrants irrespective of shared language and culture.