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Land tenure dynamics in East Africa : changing practices and rights to land
No full textAgriculture remains the main source of livelihood for most rural people in East Africa. Farming is dominated by smallholders, of whom the majority are women. Their tenure and access to land is important for reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security and stimulating agricultural development. Secure tenure represents one of the most critical challenges to the development of sustainable agriculture in the region. In an effort to understand the land question and its variation across the region, this book analyses the land reforms, their context and dynamics. The book presents recent studies on the dynamics of land tenure and land tenure reforms in East Africa with a focus on Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. By selecting these five countries, the book is able to show the changing practices and variations in the land tenure dynamics and explain how they relate to historical and more contemporary issues. The chapters are written by researchers, policy makers and activists with a diverse background and experience/expertise in relation to the land question. Their contributions offer a multiperspective basis for critical rethinking and reflection on the future of the land question in East Africa.The book is based on presentations at two workshops: one in Tanzania in May 2013 (in cooperation with REPOA, Policy Research for Development, Dar es Salaam, and Sokoine University of Agriculture) and the other in Kampala, Uganda, in October of the same year.CONTENTS: Preface / Kjell Havnevik. -- Acknowledgement. -- 1. Introduction / Opira Otto. -- 2. When customary land tenure meets land markets : Sustainability of customary land tenure in Tanzania / Aida C. Isinika, Yefred Myenzi and Elibariki Msuya. -- 3. Securing peasants’ land rights through dispossession of the landed rich in Uganda / Fredrick Kisekka-Ntale. -- 4. Land matters in South Sudan / Ole Frahm. -- 5. Effects of large-scale land acquisitions by local elites on small-holder farmers’ access in Tanzania / Hosea Mpogol. -- 6. From male to joint land ownership: The effect on women’s possibilities of using land titles as collateral in Rwanda / Jeannette Bayisenge. -- 7. The benefits for women from land commodification – a critical reflection / Mary Ssonko Nabacwa. -- 8. Is agriculture a generational problem?: The dynamics of youth engagement in agriculture in northern Uganda / David Ross Olanya. -- 9. Legal pluralism and urban poverty in peri-urban Kisumu, Kenya / Leah Onyango. -- 10. Crossroads at the Rural–Urban Interface : The Dilemma of Tenure Types and Land Use Controls in Housing provision and Urban Development in Kenyan Cities / Jack Abuya. -- 11. Our Inheritance: Impacts of Land Distribution on Geita Communities in Tanzania / Godfrey T. Walalaze. -- 12. Land use consolidation and water use in Rwanda: Qualitative reflections on environmental sustainability and inclusion / by Theophile Niyonzima, Birasa Nyamulinda, Claude Bizimana and Herman Musahara. -- Index.</p
The Ethiopia-Eritrea Rapprochement : Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa
No full textThis book examines the Ethiopia–Eritrea rapprochement and asks whether it might lead to peace and stability in the Horn of Africa. The Algiers Agreement (2000) that was mediated by the international community – the UN, OAU, EU and USA (the same parties that also served as witnesses and guarantors) – was supposed to be final and binding. But when the Eritrea–Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) published its verdict, Ethiopia rejected it on the grounds that it awarded Badme, the flashpoint of the war, to Eritrea. The witnesses and guarantors, abdicating their responsibility, failed to exert pressure on Ethiopia, which led to a situation of ‘no war, no peace’. This stalemate lasted for 16 years, until July 2018. The recent rapprochement is driven by internal dynamics, rather than by external mediation. This has fundamentally reshaped the relationship between the two countries. The impact of the resolution of the Ethiopia–Eritrea conflict goes beyond the borders of the two countries, and has indeed brought fundamental change to the region. Full diplomatic relations have been restored between Eritrea and Somalia; and the leaders of Eritrea and Djibouti have met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This all raises the issue of whether a peace deal driven by internal dynamics fares better than one that is externally mediated. The central question that this book attempts to address is: what factors led to the resolution of a festering conflict? The book explains and analyses the rapprochement, which it argues was made possible by the maturing of objective and subjective conditions in Ethiopia and by the trust factor in Eritrea.CONTENTS: 1. Introduction -- 2. Dramatic development that changed the political landscape of a region -- 3. The maturing of objective and subjective conditions in Ethiopia -- 4. The trust factor: Eritrea -- 5. Challenges ahead -- 6. The failure of international mediation -- 7. Concluding remarks</p
From Aswan to Stiegler’s Gorge : small stories about large dams
No full textDams, irrigation systems and hydropolitics are back on the geopolitical agenda. In recent years, we have seen an accelerating interest in large-scale water infrastructures, such as multipurpose dams and irrigation schemes, in the Nile Region and adjacent catchment areas. Governments in these regions are struggling to increase food security and to provide more energy in the face of industrialisation, climate change and rapid urban growth. The tension between countries over access to water will probably rise, as spells of drought increase in length and intensity. This small anthology presents seven chapters on dam building processes and projects from Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. It aims to deepen the understanding of the role of dams in development strategies in Africa and it problematizes why some dams are implemented while others are not, and the decision-making processes behind building either irrigation, hydropower or multi-purpose dams. Written in a short and consistent genre, it targets academics and policy makers interested in dam discourses and water infrastructure development.CONTENTS: Preface and Acknowledgements. -1. What are rivers for? Some theoretical issues of building dams and nations / Helga Ögmundardóttir. - 2. The First Aswan Dam in Egypt – a useful pyramid? / Terje Oestigaard. - 3. Smallholder-managed large-scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia / Atakilte Beyene. - 4. A billion-dollar ritual: Spirit appeasement ceremonies behind the Bujagali Dam / Terje Oestigaard. - 5. The dam that was never built: The Stiegler’s Gorge project in Tanzania / Kjell Havnevik. - 6. The Stiegler’s Gorge project in Tanzania: the dam that will be built? / Kjell Havnevik. - 7. Storing Nile waters upstream: Hydropolitical implications of dam-building in Sudan and Ethiopia / Ana Elisa Cascão. - Index.</p
African Street Literature and the Future of Literary Form
No full textThis text is about an ongoing research project about contemporary African literature that circulates outside the infrastructures of the global book market. The researchers involved in the project are based at Uppsala University, Sweden, and collaborate closely with librarians at the Nordic Africa Institute where a small collection of ephemeral, often self-published texts is being established. This collection is a part of the book collection at the Nordic Africa Institute’s library, but can be accessed as a sub-collection in the library catalogue. The article is co-authored by one of the researchers and two of the librarians and is organized into two main sections: one is written from the perspective of the researchers who collect and study the material. This section outlines the project, its scope, general research questions and how texts have been collected. The second part is written from the perspective of the librarians, presents some of the possibilities and challenges involved in cataloguing the material and the ways in which it differs from the rest of the library collection.Based on a paper presented at the SCOLMA 2018 conference.African Street Literature
SADC – the southern arrested development community? : enduring challenges to peace and security in Southern Africa
No full textSouthern Africa is likely to experience more social unrest in the foreseeable future. That is one of the conclusions in this policy dialogue, which provides an overview of political and economic developments relevant to regional peace and security in Southern Africa. While the region continues to experience isolated armed conflicts, and while developmental backlogs present a major risk to regional stability in the long run, currently the most acute source of instability stems from governance deficits, which in the past decade have prompted crises in many of the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SADC’s institutional framework for regional peace and security has proven ineffective because SADC leaders have prioritised national sovereignty over the enforcement of democratic principles. The institutions have little capacity as they lack material and political support. The governance deficits and SADC’s lacklustre conflict management may in the long run arrest development in Southern Africa.CONTENTS: 1. Introduction. -- 2. Regional trends and enduring. -- 3. The development of SADC’s institutional framework and policies on regional peace and security. -- 4. Southern African hot spots and hotbeds of conflict. -- 5. Conclusion.</p
Risks and challenges of debt-financed development : roots and causes of the rising debt levels in Africa
No full textAs public debts are increasing in many African countries, we see a new type of debt distress, where short-term commercial loans and bonds have replaced some of the long-term multi- and bilateral loans. This policy note highlights two topical questions: what lies behind increasing levels of debt in Africa, and what are the challenges when financing development projects through loans? Policy recommendations (in short): Debt transparency Better maturity matching Balance revenues and costs Prioritise investment projects and beware of white elephants Reject pro-cyclical fiscal policie
The Sahel crisis and the need for international support
No full textThe crisis in the Sahel is serious and multidimensional, and if it continues unabated it could have consequences far beyond the region. As the states of the region are too poor and weak to deal with this on their own, international support is needed. It is therefore a positive sign that the region of Sahel is higher on the international agenda than it has ever been. The challenge, however, is that current international approaches and interventions in the Sahel are more in line with short-term external priorities, such as stopping irregular migration to Europe and fighting insurgencies that have been defined as part of a global complex of jihadist terrorism. There is no doubt that there is a migration crisis in the Sahel and we do need a military approach to several of the insurgencies. However, it must be part of a much broader agenda of humanitarian assistance and development support that is context and conflict sensitive. This policy dialogue addresses the root causes of the Sahel crisis and shows how the situation has evolved over time. The current crisis is deeply rooted in historical circumstances that external stakeholders cannot ignore. The main area of focus for the report is the epicentre of the current conflict, which is located in and around Mali, but which may have several important ramifications for the neighbouring G5 Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger.CONTENTS: 1. Introduction. - 2. Mali and the Sahel – the epicentre of contemporaryAfrican conflict. - 3. Conflict trends and drivers of violence. - 4. Concluding remarks. - References. - Index.</p
Yesterday warlord, today presidential candidate : ex-military leaders running for office in post-civil war societies
No full textIn many African countries where civil war raged not so long ago, former warlords are today running for office in elections. This policy note assesses the effect that these warlord democrats have on democratisation and security
Peace negotiations and agreements in Africa : why they fail and how to improve them
No full textPeace is not just the absence of conflict. The self-interest lying behind external ‘support’ can take many shapes. The pursuit of justice can sometimes thwart peace efforts. And, last but not least, simply adding more women to peace negotiations will not break male-centric norms
The future of EU-Africa cooperation beyond the Cotonou agreement
No full textThere is profound concern in large circles in Africa that the Cotonou Agreement obstructs African governments from supporting domestic production, and that the EU is splitting Africa in two by striking separate deals with different African regions. These perceptions are important considerations for those involved in the upcoming negotiations to replace the existing agreement