South Sudan

South Sudan "Irreconcilable differences over their approaches to land administration were the root cause of war between the government of Sudan and the South. Khartoum is 'statist' in its approach whereas here in the South we Nilotics are communitarian," Ambrose said. The government of South Sudan now had to deal with the problem.South Sudan's Constitution accorded land rights to communities, which was problematic when you consider that there are 60 different ethnic groups with about 600 subgroups, Ambrose said. "Communities are conditioned by war to defend their land."

The problem is framed differently by Gerry Martone of the International Rescue Committee. "Rather than being united against something, they [South Sudanese communities] must be united for something," he said.When Anthony Lino Makana, the minister of transport, was asked how South Sudan could talk optimistically about developing 2 000km of roads when tribal mistrust over land had led to rebellions in nine of its 10 provinces, he said that claims of the extent of internal rebellion were exaggerated.

"What we are seeing is the tail end of a situation where there were more than 30 militias in South Sudan. And now there are only three militias left in the country, only one of which, the Lord's Resistance Army, remains a problem."The land, tenure conundrum is alive and well in Juba where the Bari tribe rejected the government's application to have land made available to expand the capitalIt's a legacy of the north's divide-and-rule strategy between tribes," Bior said.The Bari have swallowed the Khartoum line that Goss [government of South Sudan] is overloaded with Dinkas intent on controlling everything in the country. This is why Goss is sitting with a proposal to build a new capital at Ramciel in Lake Province to the north," he said. "The government needs to change the entire modality of how people live and think about themselves, and that's going to be a major challenge."

South Sudan