ANGOLA: Land reform needed

JOHANNESBURG, 26 April (IRIN) - The need for land reform is among the new
hurdles facing Angola as the country moves to a post-conflict phase of
reconstruction and development in the wake of this month's ceasefire
agreement.

The UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in a statement this
week that secure land tenure was "fundamental to food security and
sustainable development". Without it, farmers cannot get access to credit,
and there is no incentive to improve the land.

FAO noted that the first-ever legal recognition of community land tenure in
Angola was only made last year. In March 2001, the people of Tchicala
municipality, in the southern province of Huila, asserted their claim to
4,500 hectares of land.

The size of the claim or the community involved is not important, Paolo
Groppo, a FAO land tenure expert was quoted as saying. It is the principle
that counts. "When a single community stands up for the right to its land,
it lays the foundation of a democratic state."

Tchicala was one of several communities involved in a pilot project to
improve food security in rural communities, begun in 1999 by FAO in
collaboration with the government. Development experts noted, however, that
communities were not prepared to invest time and energy in land improvements
because the land wasn't theirs, and they shifted their focus from land
preparation to delimitation, said the FAO statement.

"In 1992, following the shift from a planned to a market economy,
legislation was passed that privatised state-owned property but did not
touch on fundamental issues of customary rights. This led to a period of
chaos, during which a few wealthy individuals gained control over vast
natural resources," FAO added.

Angola's long civil war has displaced one-third of the country's 12.5
million people, leaving much agricultural land untended or rendered useless
by landmines. Just three percent of arable land is under cultivation, FAO
noted. At the same time, the economy has been distorted by huge petroleum
and diamond wealth. Rampant inflation has caused food prices in urban areas
to rocket out of control.

"The prospect of peace may focus more attention on the land issue. Land in a
war zone is worth little in commercial terms, and military victory and
survival take priority over land tenure. Once security issues are no longer
paramount, however, a huge land grab often results," the statement said.

Angola's recent history has inhibited the development of the participatory
culture essential to the recognition and delimitation of land rights. "It's
not just a question of a community stating that this is their land," said
Groppo. "They have to get their neighbours to agree to the boundaries too."

Ethnic and gender tensions all come into play, adding controversy to
community claims. War and HIV/AIDS have left millions of households headed
by widows while at the same time breaking down the tradition of community
support for them. As a result, some people argue that women's rights to land
should be asserted now along with customary rights, which leave land in
control of men, FAO noted.

A debate on land tenure would allow communities to assert claims to their
land and then address women's rights to tenure. "Land tenure is another
battle for Angola," Groppo explained. "And the country has to take this
peace process forward one victory, one land claim, at a time."

"Land tenure rights are acknowledged at the highest levels of power in
Angola," Groppo said. "The next step is to build up the democratic
institutions - the land registry office, courts and tribunals - to apply
those rights. But the cornerstone has been laid - communities' growing
confidence."

[ENDS]

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