environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in - Steiner Graphics

the cattle movements from south to north were significantly limited. Moreover, theanimal grazing areas have been increasingly turned over to the cultivation of crops,especially groundnuts and sesame, as sources of cash for the farmers.An explicit example of the present crisis in Darfur is the conflict between thecamel nomads and the settled farmers, who are competing over wadis, or seasonalriverbeds, and clay areas in Jabal Marra, Garsilla, Kabkabiya, and Geneina. Settledfarmers in the past used to construct fences either as new farm plots, or as reservepastures for their animals, or for selling the grasses. Such fences are now sometimesbroken by nomads, who claim that they are illegal, generating direct hostilitiesand fighting between farmers and nomads. R. S. O’Fahey, University of Bergen,noted that conflicts over wells that in earlier times had been settled with spears ormediation became much more intractable in an era awash with guns.Considerable discussion concerned the issue of land tenure and use, with emphasison the fact that land tenure systems in Darfur are the result of a long historicalevolution and actions taken by successive political, economic, and social organisations.A summary of how such a system works was provided by Yagoub Mohamed,University of Khartoum: Each tribe acquired for itself a large territory of land (dar).The Dar is regarded as the property of the entire tribe, and the chief of the tribe isregarded as the custodian of the property. Land is allotted to each member of thetribe for cultivation purposes, while unused land is left to form shared resources,available for use by all the visitors (nomads). The regeneration of acacia senegaltrees, or hashab, which produce gum-arabic, is a successful method of authenticatedownership. This practice is advantageous, because it protects land againstprocesses of deforestation and generates financial income.Disputes over land tenure are enlarged by the contradictions between traditionalsystems and the legal implications of land ownership measures instituted by a 1970act. Advocates of traditional mechanisms raised several arguments against formalgovernmental systems of land registration. They assert that such a system wouldbe inapplicable in Darfur, because it entails restraining the mobility of groups, irregardlessof changing conditions of rainfall, land fertility, and available grazinglands. Fears were expressed about the expense involved in establishing and runningsuch a system, which could impose unnecessary burdens on the rural population.The process became even more complicated when holders of land charters (watha’iqtamlik), granted by the Darfur Sultans, made claims to large areas as their property.Furthermore, the system was disrupted by the recurrence of severe droughts, whichhave hit the area in the past years. In 1997 a film on the problem of desertification,‘The Tale of Arnatort’, was produced with support from the Ford Foundation totell the tale of a severely affected village in the region. The point of the film wasthat land use has always been at the heart of local disputes and a major source ofconflicts in Darfur.16