The politics of displacement-related land conflict in Yei River County, South Sudan

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Periodical article

Title:	The politics of displacement-related land conflict in Yei River County, South Sudan
Authors:	Justin, Peter Hakim Van Leeuwen, Mathijs
Year:	2016
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:	54
Issue:	3
Pages:	419-442
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Sudan
Subjects:	displaced persons return migration land conflicts ethnicity
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X16000239
Abstract:	Drawing on empirical evidence from Yei River County in South Sudan, this paper argues that, rather than a temporary phenomenon, displacement may lead to a drastic reorganisation of land occupation and governance. Such reorganisation may become strongly connected to broader political contention. In the case of Yei, existing legal frameworks and institutions are inadequate to deal with land conflicts resulting from massive displacement and return. Crucially, historical grievances result in the displaced no longer being perceived as powerless victims, but as agents of a Dinka agenda to (re)occupy territories in Equatoria, and as perpetrators in land conflict. Such politics of land-control and identity may turn land disputes between displaced people and returnees into a major source of instability. At the same time, those displaced people who are not well-connected politically may lose their land rights. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]