Operation Rudi Nyumbani Community Disdain is Brewing

I have been following the developments of Operation Rudi Nyumbani and have not been comfortable with the policy nor the way it has been implemented. Unfortunately, my worry was not in vain.
The closure of camps has been delayed because there is a great deal of confusion over who should receive compensation in order to return home and some citizens feel that conditions in their land of origin are not secure enough for them to return home and some even have no where to return. Though in the BBC report, the district commissioner of the Rift Valley has cast aside many of the complaints as false reports from opportunists, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 60% of the families are returning home to severely damaged homes and villages, that need to be restored before citizens can live safe and comfortably.
There is a clear need for Kenyan community officials to objectively assess and remedy this situation lest they face disgruntled and slighted citizens.

Bakassi: A Conflict for Land and Identity - But What Does This Reveal About Governance?

The situation in Bakassi Peninsula goes beyond that of land allocation, conflict over resources, or even development. It is clearly an issue of the effects that governance has on national identity.
The people of Bakassi have inhabitated an area that has been contested by Cameroon as theirs but claimed by Nigeria for decades. However, in 2002, after 15 years of political debate, the International Court of Justice awarded the land to Cameroon, much to the dismay of Nigeria and most of the inhabitants of Bakassi. On August 14, over 5 years after the court decision, the land was finally handed over to Cameroon.



The region was home to about 300,000 but in the months leading to the handover, over 100,000 people fled due to a desire to maintain their Nigerian citizenship as well as fear that during the hand over there would be violent clashes between Nigerian and Cameroonian factions in dispute over the handover. Though this fear was warranted due to a few skirmishes during the past year, on the actual day of the handover, things were relatively peaceful and the international community has congratulated both parties for the successful and most importantly peaceful implementation of the agreement.
But still, many residents of Bakassi are adamant about retaining their Nigerian citizenship. To the point that many of them have moved to overcrowded transit camps in Nigeria, abandoning their homes and businesses in Bakassi. In attempts to appease them, Nigeria began constructing a "New Bakassi", but this plan has been largely unsuccessful and even resulted in the displacement and destruction of homes and property of the original inhabitants of the land in an effort to make space for migrants from Bakassi.
This massive move of the inhabitants of Bakassi to Nigeria is a clear indication that their grievance with the handing over of the land is not rooted in their desire to occupy the assumingly oil rich peninsula and lucrative fishing economy, but rather feelings that they were betrayed by the Nigerian government (specifically former President Obasanjo) due to the ease in which they handed the land and thus the citizens over to Cameroon. The battle for land was in principle to those in Bakassi, a battle for the people who identified themselves as Nigerian.
Many Nigerian politicians as well as former community members of Bakassi have vowed to continue to contest the decision of the court even though the land has been handed over. However, the Cameroonian government and media has remained largely silent on the topic and assert that peace should be maintained in the region and Cameroonians and Nigerians should continue to coexist as they do along much of the border that they share.
I can't help but feel that the Cameroonian government is slightly embarrassed by how adamant the residents of Bakassi are about maintaining Nigerian citizenship. Perhaps this will give the government of Cameroon and impetus to investigate its treatment of its own citizens and why inhabitants of a neighboring village would rather become refugees than secure claim to their land. Sam Nuvala Fonkem compares the plight of Bakassi residents to that of Southern Cameroonians and the social division that developed after Cameroon's 1961 plebiscite, resulting in a longstanding political and economical marginalization of the group. Inhabitants of Bakassi have also expressed their fear of treatment they will receive from the Cameroonian government as well as the treatment they have witnessed of those living in parts of Bakassi, which had been previously ceded to Cameroon.
Ultimately, it is amazing how the creation of the nation state has developed identities- though officially controlled by its current inhabitors for less than 50 years- that are powerful enough to trump individuals' loyalty to land and history. During colonialism borders were so fluid and often changed without notice to the actual inhabitants. But today, we see country after country battling to rewrite borders that didnt exist during their initial inhabitance and were drawn by foreigners who no longer (and maybe never) inhabited it!

Operation Return Home- If You Can Prove You Had One

A few months ago, I wrote about Operation Rudi Nyumbani, a government project aimed at returning IDPs to their homes. This project incorporated an element of compensation for those who had been displaced due to election violence. Upon hearing about this plan, my immediate concern was how the government would ensure that all citizens received their due compensation and those that were not displaced did not unduly benefit.
It seems as though Kenya has applied some very strict and seemingly unfair land laws in order to remedy this situation.
IDPs have been categorized as landowners, leaving those who can't prove land ownership with nowhere to go. However those that have been truly displaced including sharecroppers, squatters, and migrant workers are left in the camps to fend for themselves and are ineligible to benefit from government assistance.
Besides the fact that modern land policies should not be applied to traditional societies, all citizens affected by the political and economic conditions in Kenya, should be provided government assistance. They should not be forced to negotiate inane policies that only further exacerbate their current conditions. Kenya needs to immediately reassess the implementation of their return plan and ensure that citizens aren't once again left out in the cold, perpetuating a cycle of not only poverty, but aggressive and violent disdain for the government.

A Sad Day for Democracy

This Friday Zimbabwe will hold its run-off election for the presidency. However, due to the overwhelming amount of violence, corruption, and repression that has marked the presidential run-off campaign, the results will be a complete sham. Yesterday, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition party's leader and winner of the initial election, pulled out of the election, asserting that contesting Mugabe's rule was not worth the number of lives that had been and would continue to be lost as a result of challenge of his rule. Here are his comments, as well as responses to the decision he made.



Mugabe definitely wins the bully of the year award. Unfortunately, he has always been a bully. Upon taking power in the 80s, he stripped White Zimbabweans of their land and redistributed it to his supporters. Only, at that time, it was considered cool and payback for the centuries of oppression Blacks had suffered under Whites. Mugabe grew a large support base because of his radical and uncompromising stand. However, today, 28 years later he continues to use force and radical and uncompromisable approaches to control the country and his people.



It is time the international community stop ignoring grave acts of human rights abuse in Africa. For the sake of human lives, please put our selfish interests to the side and call and spade a spade. We all laughed when Mugabe chastised Bush for calling the kettle black:



But he has taken his authoritarianism too far and needs to be stopped!

I respect Tsvangirai for fighting until now and wish he could continue, considering at this point, if Mugabe is going to assassinate him, he will regardless of whether he wins or not. But it is definitely time for someone to put at end to dictatorships and complete disregards for democracy that are plaguing us.

Difficulties Returning Home

There are at least 40 million refugees and internally displaced people through out the world. And the goal of most is to be able to return home. However, because conflict and natural disaster are usually the source of their displacement, returning home is not as simple as many think. Once the war is over or the lands have dried, many people have nothing left to return to. This has been a huge challenge of the humanitarian community and unfortunately continues to compound.

Liberia has been heralded for resolving its conflict and soaring economically in the last year. However, the effects of displacement still linger. This week 12 farm workers and may be more were killed over land disputes and citizens in the DRC are facing the same issue.

I suggest that in addition to creating land distribution programs, governments need to encourage formal land ownership documentation and archives. Too often land ownership in rural settings has been relied on oral history and communal networks, which were severely fractioned and even destroyed during longstanding conflicts.