Reviving Sudan’s Land Records

Dr Abdelazim Hassan – Lawyer
The war ignited by the Janjaweed militia was not a war against people alone; it was a war against the State itself. Alongside killing, looting and displacement, the militia deliberately burned public institutions and destroyed documents and records that safeguard rights and preserve the nation’s collective memory.
The targeting of land records was not a random act. It was an assault on one of the most important pillars of legal security, because destroying the land registry means destroying public confidence, obscuring property ownership and opening the door to endless disputes.
The slogans raised by the militia about freedom and democracy were nothing more than a false façade. Those who burn institutions cannot build a State, and those who violate the law cannot claim to protect it. One cannot give what one does not possess.
Land records in Sudan have long enjoyed an established historical standing. The country recognised and regulated customary land rights and documented property ownership even before the enactment of the Land Settlement and Registration Act of 1925. The land registration system subsequently evolved to become one of the State’s most stable and credible institutions.
Because land has always been—and remains—a repository of national wealth and the principal source of livelihood for the majority of Sudanese people, it has been connected to the most important civil transactions, including sale, purchase, lease, mortgage and inheritance. Land has also been at the centre of some of the most complex disputes. The integrity and reliability of the land registry have therefore become fundamental to social stability and the protection of the economy.
The reconstruction of land records destroyed by fire, particularly in the historic areas of central Khartoum, Omdurman West, Karari, and other parts of Sudan, should be undertaken under a unified national vision rather than through fragmented initiatives pursued independently by individual land registration offices.
The most appropriate course of action would be to establish a High National Committee comprising, alongside the Registrar General of Lands, experts in surveying, archiving and information technology, as well as representatives and legal professionals from the justice sector, including law professors, lawyers, legal advisers and public prosecutors.
The Committee should establish unified rules and procedures for restoring land records, verifying property ownership, and creating a modern, secure national land database.
Rebuilding cities begins with rebuilding their institutions. Reviving the economy begins with restoring confidence. And restoring confidence begins with returning rights to their rightful owners.
The reconstruction of Sudan’s land registry is therefore not merely an administrative task. It is a legal and moral battle to rebuild the State based on the rule of law and to reaffirm the principle that rights may be disrupted by war, but they do not disappear as long as the State remains capable of protecting and restoring them.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=15752