Conflicts brew between OPM, Lamwo landlords

A bitter wrangle has erupted over land issued by landowners in Palabek-ogili, Palabek-kal and Palabek-gem sub-counties in Lamwo District to settle refugees from neighbouring South Sudan.

In 2017, landowners in Palabek-kal and Palabek-ogili sub-counties offered a 50 square-mile chunk of land to host refugees fleeing war in the neighbouring country. The land was initially meant to accommodate 40,000 refugees.

Mr Remijo Otto, a resident of Lugwar Central Village, Lugwar Parish, Palabek-ogili Sub-county Otto, is among several landowners who remain aggrieved by alleged encroachment into their estates by refugees.

The landowners, who interacted with the Daily Monitor, expressed dissatisfaction over delays by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to issue their allowances as earlier agreed.

“They told me my land together with that of other residents had been given to the OPM to settle refugees. We don’t know with whom OPM committed to taking our land without our knowledge,” Mr Otto said.

Mr Otto, who accuses refugees of raiding crop gardens in the host communities to steal food, said their pleas to authorities for solutions have since fallen on deaf ears.

Mr Francis Oneka, a resident of Lugwar Central Village, Palabek-ogili Sub-county, said their grievances arose from the failure by OPM to compensate them for the seven graves and three houses that were demolished while opening up roads inside the resettlement land.

“At the start, we disagreed over how much will be paid, but even up to now, no money has been given to us and now we have lost every value in the land,” he said.

In May last year, the host communities in the two sub-counties of Pakabel-ogili and Palabek-kal, held a protest against OPM’s delayed response to settle their grievances.

Mr Raymond Ojera, the chairperson of Beyogoya village, said the compensation didn’t materialise.

“Graves, destroyed and stolen food stocks and houses have not been compensated. They promised scholarships for our children, but this has not materialised, so we don’t feel the impact of hosting these people as we previously thought,” he said.

In securing the land from the host communities, the OPM committed that it would ensure the host communities have adequate access to clean and safe water supply, education (primary, vocational and secondary), and livelihood support projects, including the construction and maintenance of roads.

OPM is also committed to establishing health facilities, offering livelihood support, providing employment opportunities to qualified members of the community as well as investing in environmental preservation and rehabilitation.

On Monday, the chairperson of Palabek-ogili, Mr Christopher Omal, told this newspaper that a failure by the OPM to fulfil its obligations has left many landowners frustrated.

“There is a big conflict brewing up here over land, we have communicated to them [OPM] that people are polarised and failure to solve these grievances has pitted host communities against the refugees,” Mr Omal said.

“We asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and OPM for compensation and they committed to send operational funds to the district to compensate the landowners. The operational funds have since then been sent, but the district authorities are using it to do other things,” he  added.

Authorities react

Last week, repeated attempts to speak to Lamwo Resident District Commissioner Osborn Ocheng over the matter were futile since he did not answer our repeated calls.

Mr Titus Jogo, the OPM’s Refugee Desk Officer for Adjumani and Lamwo, under whose leadership, the land deals in Lamwo (Palabek) were secured for refugees, declined to comment on the matter stating that a new refugee desk had been created at Palabek with a new officer.

However, Mr Sisto Oyet, the Lamwo chairman, in an interview with this newspaper, blamed the locals for the confusion stating that the aggrieved landowners are members of the host community who deliberately did not want to register their names three years ago under the compensation scheme.

“There have been complaints that some even resulted in protests, but we investigated this and discovered that the complaints were coming from those who relaxed and did not want to register,” Mr Oyet said.

“UNHCR gave oxen to landowners who registered, there are also quarterly amounts being issued to these landowners,’’ he added.

According to him, tensions between refugees and host communities have recently escalated due to children and relatives of landowners being fired from jobs offered to them by humanitarian organisations supporting the refugees.

Land grabbing

Meanwhile, a group of households under the Ayuu Clan have accused the district leadership and the Palabek chiefdom of conniving with OPM to give away their land illegally for settling refugees without their consent.

Daily Monitor has seen a copy of an August 2022 protest letter addressed to UNHCR and OPM by aggrieved members of the clan in which they accused the organisations of illegally causing refugees to occupy their land without their consent.

“The position of the Ayuu clan is very clear, we demand that refugees already settled in Padolo Village should be relocated immediately...” the letter reads.

Mr Charles Bongomin, the Ayuu clan leader, said a fierce conflict has broken out among his clan members.

Mr Oyet said they have petitioned the OPM and UNHCR to consider relocating and settling new refugees outside Palabek to minimise land wrangles.

Refugee population

     In December, the OPM requested more land after the population target was adjusted when the number of refugees hit 60,000 in November 2021.

    In June last year, according to UNHCR, the population of refugees had hit 67,000 constituting approximately 7.5 percent of the total refugee population in the country.

   A report by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-UNHCR indicates that the Lokung reception centre in Lamwo district has a capacity of 560 refugees, but between January and August 4, 2022, it had 7,678 new arrivals and 4,047 settled refugees.