Police in the Aswa region has warned that violent land conflict is likely to escalate as farming communities begin to open up land for cultivation with the return of the rains.
Since the onset of the rainy season, police says it has recorded more than five cases of land conflicts in Nwoya, Kitgum and in areas around Mucwini and Lamwo districts.
Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa Region Police Spokesperson told the press on Monday that in some cases, the dispute is sparked off by dispute over land boundaries.
Okema noted that unlike during dry season, violence over land is always at its peak during wet season.
Okema cited a case in Alero Sub County in Nwoya district were a family destroyed houses as a result of land conflict.
The police spokesman appealed to local leaders and elders to intervene and resolve land grievances in their areas.
With the return of peace in Acholi, police has been battling with increasing cases of murder, mob justice, land conflicts and gender based violence.
Psychiatrists have attributed the current violence being experienced in the sub region to post war traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the war. But locals in the region are also beginning to realise the value of land as they engage in subsistence and commercial farming.
A 2007 World Bank household survey indicates that in six districts of northern Uganda, there have been steady rise in the number of land disputes from 12.8 percent at the time of displacement to 15.5 percent during displacement.
World Bank notes that disputes mostly occurred on land that was left behind upon displacement, (65%), inherited land (71%) and land given as a gift (17%), while on the other hand land acquired through purchased had only a dispute prevalence rate of (3%).
