Mokoro are delighted to publish a new blog from WOLTS Mongolia team member, B. Munkhtuvshin. “Protesting herders to get government support to stop harmful mining operations” is the story of recent demonstrations by nomadic pastoralists opposed to investments in the mining sector that have infringed on their community’s land rights.

They were arbitrarily detained for three months for protesting against a new military camp in their village.

Main photo: Lao soldiers and villagers are shown in a disputed area in Vientiane's Naxaithong district, March 25, 2022.

The Lao military arbitrarily detained five land dispute protesters for three months, then threatened them with further punishment if they were to talk to the media after their release, RFA has learned.

• Lakes in Phnom Penh are fast being filled in and parceled off as prime real estate to wealthy and politically connected individuals.
• Families who have for generations fished and practiced aquaculture on the lakes and surrounding wetlands face eviction and the loss of livelihoods.
• At the same time, experts warn that filling in these natural rainwater reservoirs risks exacerbating flood intensity and damage in the Cambodian capital.
• This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Fl

On Tuesday, 13 September 2022, H.E. Dr William Ruto took his oath of office and began his term as the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya. In his inauguration speech, the president purposed to hit the ground running and lead Kenyans on a path of economic transformation and in the days following he confirmed his intention with action. The new administration introduced policy changes that gave us an idea of how the next five years will be.

A top official in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has declared illegal all leases where land is being used by bibanja holders.

Mr Sam Mayanja, the junior Lands minister, says evictions of lessees (tenants) by district land boards should stop forthwith.
The minister particularly called out the Buganda Land Board (BLB), accusing it of mixing up and managing all land in Buganda yet some of it is owned by individuals.  

The South African government is considering various options regarding the contentious matter of land under traditional leadership and part of the land tenure system including Ingonyama Trust, said Deputy President David Mabuza.

The world is unlikely to meet a longstanding goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, the World Bank has said, citing the effects of “extraordinary” shocks to the global economy, including the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The scenery changes, the story remains the same: in Tanzania, the construction of the pipeline intended to evacuate the oil extracted by TotalEnergies on the shores of Lake Albert, in Uganda, baptized East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop), also accompanies large-scale human rights violations, according to the investigation made public on Wednesday October 5 by Les Amis de la Terre and Survie, the two NGOs behind, with four Ugandan associations, the lawsuit brought against the French major for non-compliance with the law on the duty of vigilance of large companies with regard to their subs

• In July 2021, an Angolan diamond mine leaked large amounts of polluted water into the Kasai River Basin which stretches across Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Twelve people were killed, a further 4,400 fell ill and an estimated 1 million more were affected by the polluted water.
• Fourteen months later, the DRC government has not released full results of tests conducted on the rivers, but a ban on drinking the water from the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers remains in place.