FEATURES OF LAND CONFLICTS IN POST CIVIL WAR RWANDA

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Land confl icts in Rwanda have attracted particular attention because they haveboth environmental and political causes. This paper attempts to shed light on the nature of landconfl icts in present-day Rwanda based on popular justice records and interviews collected intwo rural areas. From the analyses of these data, two types of land confl ict can be distinguished.The fi rst type consists of those among family members. Given that land is the mostimportant asset for ordinary rural households, its inheritance often brings about confl ictsbetween right-holders. Those of the second type are triggered by political change. Impacts ofthe two national-level violent confl icts in Rwanda, the “social revolution” just before independenceand the civil war in the 1990s, are of tremendous signifi cance in this context. The militaryvictory of the former rebels in 1994 caused a massive return of Tutsi refugees, who wereoffi cially permitted to acquire land from the original inhabitants. Although no serious protestationagainst this policy has occurred thus far, it has produced various land confl icts. Dealingwith potential grievances among original inhabitants is an important challenge for the presentgovernment.