Friday, 31 May 2013

Land issues plague Africa as states lease out community land to foreigners


This week the African Union celebrates its 50th anniversary. How far has the continent come in those fifty years?
For one thing, the land that Africans fought to reclaim from foreign colonisers is being once again taken away from them, this time not by force but through purchase — their leaders are literally selling it from under their feet.
This is perhaps the most urgent continent-wide issue the African Union needs to address.
More than 60 per cent of the African population lives in rural areas and depends on land for its survival. However, reports show that in 2010, up to 123.5 million acres of African land — double the size of Britain — had been grabbed from peasants with the help of their governments.

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