International Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies (IJPCS), Vol. 3, No 1, June, 2016. Website: http://www.rcmss.com. ISSN: 2354-1598(Online) ISSN: 2346-7258 (Print) Khalid Ali El Amin, 2016, 3 (1):7-18 7 THE STATE, LAND AND CONFLICTS IN THE SUDAN Khalid Ali El Amin, PhD Development Studies and Research Institute, University of Khartoum, P O.Box 321, Khartoum Code 11115, Sudan. Email address; khaelamin@gmail.com ABSTRACT This paper examines state land policy and conflict in four different areas in Sudan; South Kordofan, Darfur, the Blue Nile and Khartoum’s countryside. Drawing on the literature on customary land tenure, state and conflict in Africa, and using secondary and some primary material plus the researcher’s own field experience, the paper examines how state land policies have impacted differently by causing different forms of conflict in different parts of rural Sudan when effectively put in practice. The paper argues that state legislation has created land tenure dualism simultaneously incorporating both the practice of customary tenure pursued by farming and pastoralist communities and the legal status of these communal lands as state-owned; i.e., considered vacant or un-owned. In this dualism the state sometimes invoked state legal ownership rights to establish effective state control over communal land used and occupied by local communities, (for local and foreign business investment). In South Kordofan, the Blue Nile, Darfur and around Khartoum, state denial of customary land rights resulted, in displacement, impoverishment and different forms of violent conflicts. Current state tendency to put state legal ownership over communal lands into effect for large scale sale or lease to investors amounts to denying Sudanese pastoralists and farming communities of their land use rights established for generations. This is bound to create more severe and fierce conflicts, unless the dualism in land tenure is resolved by the recognition and legalization of customary land ownership, access and use rights. Keywords: Land ownership and use; customary tenure; the state; pastoralists; farming communities; conflicts INTRODUCTION The recent few years have been characterized by conflict, violence and insecurity in much of Africa. Whether these conflicts are a product of governance failure, environmental decline shrinking natural resource base, unequal distribution of power and resources, land is and will remain one central issue. Modern ruling elites in Africa have often encroached on customarily communally-owned land for commercial farming and mining. As a consequence whole communities have been deprived of their customary land use rights, their livelihoods eroded and have been relegated to poverty and marginalization; creating much disenchantment, grievance and violent conflicts. Within the context of the literature on the pressures on African customary land tenure and its subordination to interests external to the local communities, this paper deals with state infringement on customary land rights and the erosion of traditional local governance institutions overseeing customary rules governing those rights in rural Sudan and the implications of this for peace and security. Using secondary sources (books, articles and reports) and data from primary sources (electronic newspapers and some archives), this paper argues that that state land policies have resulted in ambiguity and dualism in land tenure in Sudan. This dualism, which incorporates both modern statutory land ownership and customary tenure features, places communal lands held by most rural Sudanese communities under customary tenure under constant threat of expropriation by the state for private business interests both local and foreign. The paper further suggests that although state encroachment on customary land use rights has been manifested differently in different regions, the common denominator is an