UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
One participant commented;
“The rich have bought all the land and in the future we are
likely to have conflicts over land.”
Conflicts over land revealing the conflict between tradition and modernity
In Kitgum, participants stated that colonial imports, most notably new religions and
the introduction of a Western monetary system, destroyed people’s traditional cultural
relationship with land. Before colonialism, it was said, land belonged to God and could
not be sold. The monetization of land, counter to the communal landownership system
in the region, introduced
land conflict. This was reiterated in Pader where a participant said
“The colonialists introduced money which made some
people especially the chiefs sell off their land which was
wrong.”
Conflicts over land between generations
Poverty was said to inspire conflicts between older and younger generations over land.
Younger generations, in need of cash, were said to favour the selling of family land, while
older generations prefer to keep land in the family. 48 In Arua, a participant commented
“Recently here in Arua, some two boys even killed their
father to sell off his land.”
In Nakasongola, youth blame a range of problems, including landlessness and evictions,
on what they see as the elders’ uncritical support for the NRM Government. In Mukono,
participants also complained about children beating or killing their own parents over
land. In different districts across the country, elders were blamed for evading their
responsibility to help resolve land conflicts. In many cases, it was said, they know the
truth about land boundaries, but opt to keep quiet. This is particularly a problem in areas
such as northern Uganda where customary land ownership is prevalent. In the context of
post-displacement return, precise land boundary demarcations are unclear or unknown,
leading to disputes.
Conflicts over land between men and women
Conflict over land between men and women surfaced in northern Uganda. It was said
that in the era of post-displacement return the widows whose husbands had died
48 According to older generations, communal land such as grazing and hunting areas and water points
were never owned singly or as a group. It was instead owned by the community as a whole. This means
it can never be acquired for the fulfilment of individual or parochial group interests. However, in Pader,
for example, there have been cases of ownership claims on land informally earmarked for community
grazing and hunting.
40