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LIBERIA: Searching for solutions to land disputes
GANTA, 15 November 2010 (IRIN) – With close to 25 years surveying land and helping resolve land disputes, J. Patrick Vanie has unrivalled expertise on the nuances of land ownership in Nimba County. “I know this county right down to my fingertips,” says Vanie. But Nimba’s land commissioner admits to feeling swamped by an overwhelming caseload. “The land business here is tough, it is no joke,” Vanie concedes. “The demand for land here has become very, very high.”
There is serious concern at national and local level over unresolved land issues in Nimba. The northeastern county has remained relatively calm since the war ended seven years ago. But longstanding grievances have frequently surfaced.
Visiting the county’s administrative capital, Sanniquellie, for Independence Day celebrations on 26 July, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf warned: “The land dispute here has dragged on for too long.”
She also announced that the market in Ganta, one of the biggest in the Liberian interior, would now fall under “eminent domain”, effectively becoming state property. This was meant to bring a definitive end to a long-running controversy over ownership of the market land, which had pitted traders from the Mandingo community against residents from the Gio and Mano communities. A specially appointed Land Commission presented a report to Sirleaf at the end of June, outlining possible compensation measures and regulation mechanisms. But Land Commissioner Vanie warns there will be no quick fixes. “I am dealing with two or three cases coming to me every week.”
Working closely with Vanie and his colleagues is a team from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The NRC’s Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) project was set up in Liberia in 2006. The primary focus was on tackling the needs and helping the reintegration of former refugees and internally displaced people in a region which had seen huge population movements during the war. But the ICLA project is also looking to promote practical, accessible solutions for individuals and communities embroiled in land disputes.
Both the NRC and Vanie warn against simplifying and exaggerating the problems in Nimba. They are particularly critical of attempts by sections of the Liberian media and others to boil land issues in Nimba down to a crude stand-off between the Mandingo community on one side and the Gio and Mano on the other. NRC Project Officer Nyahn Flomo warns of attempts to politicize and ethnicize the land question, with politicians keen to make capital from communal grievances. “When you get to understand some of the factors responsible for the problem, you realize that these are things that can be addressed and resolved,” said Flomo.
With close to 500,000 inhabitants, Nimba is now the second most populated county in Liberia after Montserrado, which incorporates the capital Monrovia and its surroundings. Population growth has increased pressure on the land, so too has the legacy of the war.
Legacy of war
Having served as the launch-pad for the insurgency led by former President Charles Taylor in December 1989, Nimba was caught up repeatedly in the 14-year conflict that followed. Thousands fled, many into neighbouring Guinea, prompting a series of land and property transfers, forced and voluntary, legal and illegal. The reintegration of returning communities has been complicated by continuing confusion over who rightfully owns what.
Fighting wrecked much of Nimba’s fragile infrastructure. An ambitious four-year County Development Agenda (2008-2012) focuses on security, economic regeneration, the provision of services and the rule of law, pinning its hopes on expanding cross-border trade, agricultural growth and new investment from companies like steel giant ArcelorMittal, but also noting that long-term land solutions are crucial.
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