CONFLICTS IN AFRICA

The report examines how land tenure insecurity, scarcity, and the tension between customary and statutory legal systems contribute to both the structural and proximate causes of conflict in Africa. It argues that poverty and the loss of livelihoods are central to the conflict-underdevelopment cycle, and that land often serves as a tool for political struggle among elites or a source of ethnic mobilisation. Through case studies of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Angola, the text highlights the risks of 'formalising' land rights without considering local customs and the importance of multi-sectoral, pro-poor land policies in post-conflict reconstruction.

• There is a strong correlation between poverty and violent conflict in Africa, where the poorest one-sixth of humanity experiences four-fifths of the world's civil wars, often driven by deep inequality and unequal distribution of resources.
• Land tenure in Africa is characterised by a dichotomy between inclusive customary arrangements and Western-style statutory systems that emphasise individual private ownership, leading to 'forum shopping' where the powerful exploit both systems to claim land.
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, land scarcity and alienation are structural causes of conflict that stimulate militia formation, while contested agricultural and ranching concessions in Ituri act as proximate causes of violence.
• Post-conflict land reconstruction in Rwanda is shaped by a 2004 Land Law and Policy, though the authors warn that without opening the political space, long-term stability may be at risk despite the transition to multi-party elections.
• In Burundi, the return of refugees has led to disputed land claims because the government re-allocated land that had been left vacant during the conflict.
• Angola's transition from a protracted war to peace has increased the risk of land becoming a major source of conflict as elites and corporations engage in land grabbing and the enclosure of customary lands.
• The individualisation of land tenure, often pushed by market penetration or state policy, frequently results in the loss of land access for vulnerable groups, particularly women.
• Many African conflicts are 'wars of abundance' where belligerents exploit natural resources to self-finance their activities, often selling these resources to wealthy industrialised countries via a globalised war economy.

APA

Huggins, C., & Clover, J. (n.d.). CONFLICTS IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INTO.PDF

Chicago

Huggins, Chris, and Jenny Clover. CONFLICTS IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INTO.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Huggins |first1=Chris |last2=Clover |first2=Jenny |title=CONFLICTS IN AFRICA |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INTO.PDF |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hugginsndconflicts, author = {Huggins, Chris and Clover, Jenny}, title = {{CONFLICTS IN AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/INTO.PDF}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }