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Tunisia: 'We Had to Get Our Land Back' - Date Farm Proves Revolutionary Bright Spot allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Jemna, Tunisia As revolution swept Tunisia 10 years ago, the people of Jemna saw their chance to settle a colonial-era score â seizing a 460-acre date plantation just outside the oasis town. âWe had to get our land back, we should be the ones using it,â said Mohsen Ezzine who was among those who occupied the farm â claiming it as ancestral land â two days before then-President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled abroad in January 2011. A wave of land occupations took place during the revolt against Mr. Ben Aliâs authoritarian rule, but a decade later much of the reappropriated land is either back in state hands or caught up in legal disputes. ....
Play audio 1XChange playback rate from 1 to 1 Mute audio A wave of land occupations took place during the revolt against Ben Ali s authoritarian rule, but a decade later much of the reappropriated land is either back in state hands or caught up in legal disputes. While about 100,000 hectares of state-owned land was appropriated, the government has since clawed back nearly 80,000 hectares, according to the Land Ministry. While Tunisia s government has refused to negotiate on the question of ownership, Jemna is a rare case of local people managing to negotiate the collective management of state land. Despite a recent drop in date prices due to COVID-19, the plantation has thrived, more than 100 jobs have been created and profits have been reinvested in community health and education facilities. ....