The High Commission for Reconciliation and Strengthening of National Unity (HCRRUN) announces:
As part of its mission to implement the recommendations of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR), particularly Recommendation No. 54 on community reparations, HCRRUN regrets to note that certain individuals are engaging in activities likely to undermine efforts to consolidate peace, peaceful coexistence, and social cohesion.
In particular, HCRRUN is deeply concerned about acts of land grabbing involving the illegal sale or purchase of large tracts of land in the prefectures of Blitta, Sotouboua, and elsewhere in the country, where populations affected by sociopolitical unrest have been resettled by the Government to enable them to live and pursue their socioeconomic activities.
These populations, whose only aspiration is to live peacefully on these lands, which form part of our common national heritage, Togo, are once again feeling victimized by disruptions and threats of eviction from individuals claiming ownership of their resettlement sites.
They are distressed and declare that “they have nowhere else to go,” while HCRRUN, as part of its strategy for implementing community reparations, is working, thanks to the efforts of the Government and with the support of Togo’s economic partners, to provide them with the conditions necessary for peaceful community life.
Faced with this situation, which seriously undermines the national reconciliation policy underway in our country, HCRRUN formally warns any individual against attempting to acquire or sell plots of land in these resettlement areas.
In this regard, HCRRUN calls upon the courts seized of land disputes in these areas, as well as the services of the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) and the relevant ministerial departments, to refrain from any allocation, confirmation, or granting of property rights over these sites, which constitute State-owned land.
HCRRUN counts on the understanding and cooperation of the entire population for the benefit of all.
Done in Lomé, July 25, 2020
The President
