Community calls for speedy land dispute resolutions

By Simon Deng

The community of Juba County of Central Equatoria State on Monday called on the government to speed up dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve the land dispute in the country.

The community representatives made this call during the conclusion of two-day dialogue on land related issues held in Juba on Monday.

Bush Buse, the Program Coordinator for the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative said the community dialogue seeks to address the rampant land related dispute across Central Equatoria state.

“The central Equatoria state Ministry of housing, Land and public utilities, Juba County and payam administrations should immediately follow the due process of land issues and land allotment,” reads part of communique issue on Monday.

The communique proposed measures to be implemented by state and National Transitional legislative assembly to combat land grabbing and land tensions in state.

“Establish a special investigations and prosecution unit to handle cases of land grabbing and land occupation to ensure that high profiled government officials and elements in the army and organized forces involved in Land grabbing are held accountable,” it said.                       

 It urged the state government to enforce Jurisdictional boundaries to prevent non-indigenous chiefs from demarcating land in Juba.

It stressed the need to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to manage and resolve land disputes within their jurisdictions.

The two days community Dialogue on Land issues organized by Whitaker peace and development initiative with support from the state Ministry of peace building.

It engaged different stakeholders from chiefs, youths, women, state parliamentarians in central Equatoria state.