Leaving no land behind: forced eviction and massive land grabbing in Bukanga Lonzo

Small farmers and communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are concerned about government plans to grant between 16 and 20 very large concessions in the form of ‘agro-industrial parks’ under the country’s US$6 billion National Agricultural Investment Plan for 2013-2020.

Intended “to tap the country’s huge agricultural potential and to address the challenge of food security”, the parks will have Special Economic Zone status supported by tax incentives and be managed as public-private partnerships. It has been reported that DRC’s government considers 80 million hectares of ‘untapped’ arable land and pasture for 40 million cattle as available, along with commercial fish farming opportunities.[1]

The first of these ‘agro-industrial parks’, at Bukanga Lonzo in the Kwango province (formerly Bandundu, but now divided into the three different regions Kwilu, Kwango and Maindombe), was inaugurated in 2014 at an estimated cost to the government of US$83 million.

Cunning, intimidation and false information as a means of land grabbing

People living in poverty generally see their condition through various manifestations of deprivation that go beyond the economic. They are acutely aware of the lack of voice and power that leaves them open to exploitation and deprivation, under-equipped to influence the manner in which governments allocate rights and distribute resources, and subjected to retaliation and retribution when they choose to question their place in society. [2]

Transparency, along with equal and sustained access to quality information, is a precondition for participatory governance, empowering people to engage in decisions which affect their lives in informed and consequential ways. In this context, it is essential to enable the meaningful participation of people living in poverty and promote transparency and access to information.

In Bukanga Lonzo, however, the government did not engage in proper consultation with communities about their land before engaging in the development of the park. The traditional elite were deliberately manipulated to influence the consent of their community; false information used to attract the interest of traditional leaders and land chiefs; hollow promises made about fictitious projects that will never be realised; administrative procedures violated; representatives of public authorities carried out direct intimidation of people; signatures and transactions with minors extorted (this has been the case of the village of Baringa Ngashi); and agricultural models imposed on communities without free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

Subscribing to a new development framework

Clearly, as many of the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals have not been met, it is imperative that a more effective sustainable development paradigm be agreed in the form of a new development framework at the global and national level.

The DRC government should therefore recognise that those living in poverty must be in the driving seat of decisions about their future. And the FPIC of rights holders, such as indigenous peoples and local communities, must be respected in any decisions that are taken. The government should clarify and secure customary collective systems of forest tenure in the DRC by safeguarding communities’ right to FPIC over decisions that affect them, and ensuring adequate compensation and guaranteeing access to justice. This is all the more true because obtaining greater access to land and natural resources is an important means of expanding the economic opportunities available to poor families, minorities and vulnerable social groups.

By Lassana Kone

Notes

1.  SouthWorld (2014), ‘DRC – Agro-industrial parks to address the food security challenge’, July, www.southworld.net/drcagro-industrial-parks-to-address-the-food-security-challenge/
2. CESR, A Matter of Justice, Securing human rights in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda