Africa's Continental Divide: Land disputes
Land, at the very heart of security and survival, looms behind most of the African conflicts we've all heard of and dozens of others we have not. … "In Africa, most of the population has no documents. They believe they own the land as a group because they have been there for millennia," says John Unruh, a land tenure expert at À¦°óSMÉçÇø in Montreal. "Their mythology about how they came into the world involves that specific location, so identity is often very much tied up in where groups want access." … Despite constant talk of tribal tensions, experts say that in Liberia – and in much of Africa – ethnicity is rarely the real issue. Mr. Unruh, at À¦°óSMÉçÇø, says ethnic conflict, or even drought or famine, are usually symptoms of a deeper land dispute. "Underneath all of that," he says, "is an ongoing land conflict, or different understandings about how land is accessed and used."
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