(Ecofin Agency) - In Senegal, Alioune Abdoulaye Sylla, Chief Prosecutor of the Republic at the High Court of Ziguinchor, on August 2, 2017, told the Senegal Press Agency (Agence de Presse Senegalaise – APS) that more than 50% of ongoing legal proceedings are land conflict related. The figure shows how significant are challenges related to land tenure in this region which is located in Casamance, in the Southern part of Senegal.

“A little more than 50% of legal disputes settled by the High Court of Ziguinchor are land conflict related. These litigations hold a significant place in legal proceedings and cases sent to the court for mediation. Often, these conflicts oppose family members or long-standing neighbors,” said the Prosecutor.

“In average, each month we receive no less than six cases of conflicts related to land. Multiplying this by 12 months we record so many conflicts throughout the year. Mostly they oppose whole families or communities fighting over land because the law of national land is not understood by most of the Senegalese people,” said for his part the coordinator of Ziguinchor’s courthouse, Mamadou Lamine Sagna.

The two officials expressed themselves during a sensitization and sharing workshop regrouping local elects and opinion leaders. The workshop’s main topic was access to lands in the Casamance region.