Like other large cities, Ziguinchor faces many land disputes. For actors operating in this area, it is important to strengthen the governance of the sector and the management of the region’s natural resources to mitigate these disputes.

« »The land issue is acute in Ziguinchor, » lamented Abdou Sané at the General Assembly of the National Platform for Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Land Governance and Natural Resource Management. According to the representative of the mayor of Ziguinchor at this meeting, the tools to provide solutions to this problem are never clearly defined. “To date, the municipality of Ziguinchor has registered more than 100 complaints related to land disputes,” reveals Mr. Sané. He asks the members of the platform to define a clear lever on which to act so that all these land conflicts are old memories in Ziguinchor.

In addition, Abdou Sané pleaded for the adoption of the law on the coast. “The Coastline Law has not been passed by the government. And, today, everything that is prohibited by the Environmental Code has been installed on the coast. The government must adopt this law to mitigate land conflicts in Casamance,” he suggested.

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Indeed, local elected officials and representatives of peasant organizations deplored last Friday the recurrence of land disputes raging in the Ziguinchor region. These actors spoke on the side-lines of the General Assembly of the National Multi-stakeholder Dialogue Platform on land governance and natural resource management in the Ziguinchor region. « Casamance, particularly the region of Ziguinchor, is full of land conflicts, coastal conflicts and conflicts around natural resources including forests », declared the representative of the National Platform for Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Land Governance and Natural Resource Management (Grn), Abdou Aziz Badji, also administrator of the National Council for Consultation and Cooperation of Rural People (Cncr).

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Among these land problems, there are huge ones that are rampant in Diembering, in the department of Oussouye. “We also have problems in Casamance over the expansion of the municipalities of Bignona and Ziguinchor with the opposition of neighbouring municipalities or even land disputes linked to quarries which are not rehabilitated”, he said.

By Khady SONKO / ksonko@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH