A Thousand Hills for 9 Million People : Land Reform in Rwanda ; Restoration of Feudal Order or Genuine Transformation? : FAST Country Risk Profile Rwanda

摘要

More than eleven years after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda might be an internally pacified, but by farnot unified nation. There are different factors, which threaten the fragile social equilibrium. The issueof land is one of them. Land has long been a scarce and disputed resource in Rwanda. Ongoingshortages due to decreasing soil quality, growing population pressure and unequal distribution, aswell as a lack of income generating alternatives beyond agriculture create an extremely precariousfuture to the national economy of the small, landlocked country. An all-embracing land reform basedon a new land law and land policy is intended to remedy this situation. The main focus is onprivatization and commercialization of land property. Yet, ongoing discrimination in the distributionof land, the growing concentration of large plots in the hands of political cronies as well as atendency towards historical revisionism, raise doubts about the government’s true intentions. Thisimpression becomes even more pertinent in relation to the de facto exclusion of civil society from thedrafting process of the new land law and policy. Moreover – or as a result – neither the policy northe law adequately guarantees the protection of the interests of large parts of the rural population.Local non-governmental stakeholders thus fear a further marginalization of discriminated groupsand/or the establishment of a system following pre-colonial feudal rule. Today’s increasingdisagreements over land property should be a warning sign that such a development would beanything but favorable to Rwanda’s reconciliation and the establishment of long-term peace in thecountry.