Paper short abstract:

Multiple intersecting patterns of (forced) mobility in Africa call for a re-imagination of land governance approaches designed for stable situations. What can we learn from emerging experiences with competing land claims deriving from displacement and return in the Great Lakes region and the Horn?

Paper long abstract:

African land futures are imagined and negotiated in settings marked by multiple and intersecting patterns of economic, historical, and conflict-induced mobility. Formal land governance approaches, designed for stable situations, are limited when it comes to dealing with competing claims deriving from displacement and return. Working out fair and inclusive arrangements that do justice to both displaced and onstaying populations is hugely challenging. This paper aims to contribute to the necessary re-imagination of land governance by drawing on emerging experiences in settings marked by displacement in Africa's Great Lakes region and the Horn. We examine what local arrangements have come up to deal with challenges on the ground and how these have interacted with emergency interventions and state land policy and to what effect. We read these experiences not only in a register of 'competing land claims' but also in a register of the 'envisioning of possible futures'. With this, we aim to scope future avenues for inclusive land governance in conflict-affected settings. The paper is based on ongoing work on land, conflict, and displacement in the Great Lakes region and the Horn (with an emphasis on Burundi and Somalia).