Call for more consultation on draft land law

Land activists in Angola have urged the government to resume public consultations on a new draft land bill, after President José Eduardo dos Santos ordered a halt to the consultation process. Members of the Angolan Land Forum - a coalition of NGOs working on land rights - expressed concern after meeting on Wednesday that "the government wishes to approve a law based on a draft which clearly gives greater priority to the economic rather than the social value of the land". Last year, land activists claimed a victory when the government agreed to reconsider a controversial draft law and allow for an indefinite period of public consultation. However, Dos Santos in his new year message, said that the original draft must go to parliament for approval as soon as possible. Concerns around the original draft bill centre on what is seen as its failure to safeguard the interests of rural peasant communities against more powerful interests. "Agricultural land is not a great priority for the elite, for members of parliament, for the judiciary," Fernando Pacheco, chairman of ADRA (Association for Rural Development and Environment), said at Wednesday's meeting. "Legislation must reflect the realities of agriculture." The meeting called for: continued discussion on the draft bill with communities and other interested parties; the law to recognise the rural community, rather than only individuals, as a legal entity able to hold title to land; a clear definition of the concept of rural community; the definition of the nature of state land title; and the creation of a regulatory mechanism for the law itself, once it is approved. The legal ambiguities over land tenure in Angola stem from the country's history. Colonial rule deprived communities of their ancestral land rights. Land was nationalised at independence, but the process of privatisation that has taken place since 1991 and the abandonment of Socialism has often benefited commercial farmers - some of them former colonials - rather than the land's historical owners. The displacement caused by Angola's 30-year civil war has also given rise to land conflicts.