Ranulph Hangi Muvughealava

Problem of Expropriation of Land in D.R.C. Ranulph Hangi Muvughealava

In this work, the analysis of the problem of expropriation for public utility of the lands of communities living in protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, based on the case of the Lomami National Park, seeks to demonstrate that local communities cannot be expropriated from lands where they only exercise rights of enjoyment since the domaniality of all lands in the DRC. Only an owner of a building by nature can be expropriated for a public purpose and this in return for fair and prior compensation. The owner must also prove his ownership by means of a certificate. When a forest is classified for nature conservation reasons, the communities do not have to worry. The legislator has protected their rights of enjoyment in the Forestry Code, the Law on the Fundamental Principles of Nature Conservation and the Law on the Classification and Decommissioning of Forests. At the end of this analysis, we manage to make a distinction between expropriation and relocation, resettlement, compensation and indemnity, damages and interest.