* Foreign interests seek/buy 26,400 km of S.Sudan land
* Investment previously thought eyeing north Sudan
By Deepa Babington
KHARTOUM, March 23 (Reuters) - Foreign interests have snapped up large swathes of land in strife-riven southern Sudan in just a few years, threatening food supplies and the displacement of local people if left unchecked, a report said.
Sudan has emerged as one of the hotspots for the acquisition of African farmland, which has become a target for countries including China and Gulf Arab states, which seek to secure food supplies.
Rights groups have warned that what they see as a "land grab" risks worsening hunger and heightening social tensions in poor African nations.
Much of the foreign investment in Sudanese land was thought to have been in the north, but there have been a surprising number of large-scale land investments in southern Sudan, a study prepared for the Norwegian People's Aid said.
South Sudan, which has been wracked by conflict for much of the past 50 years, is set to become Africa's newest nation after voting to secede from Khartoum. The region has remained tense ahead of expected independence in July, with violence erupting frequently in border regions.
"The amount of investor interest is remarkable given the uncertainty of the current transitional context," the report said.
Land disputes have fueled deadly tribal conflict among the heavily armed civilian population in the south since a 2005 peace deal ended decades of civil war, and policy on land ownership remains opaque.
Foreign governments, companies and people sought or acquired about 26,400 km, or 2.64 million hectares of land in southern Sudan from 2007 to 2010 for agriculture, biofuel and forestry projects, the report said.
Adding in domestic investments, certain agriculture schemes, investments in tourism and conservation, the figure rises to 57,400 sq km, or 9 percent of the region's total land area.
PROCEDURES NEEDED
Some of the largest deals include one by an Emirati company called Al Ain Wildlife, which has reportedly leased the entire area of Boma National Park at 22,800 sq km, while an American company, Nile Trading and Development, has reportedly leased 6,000 sq km of land outside the southern capital Juba, the report said.
"While in theory, this influx of investment could provide development opportunities for rural communities, without the appropriate procedures in place there is a danger that it will serve to undermine livelihoods," the report said.
Among the biggest threats to the local population is potential displacement, since many of the projects are in densely populated areas, the report said.
However, there were no reports of forced evictions due to the projects, it said.
The report also cited "serious deficiencies" in the extent to which local communities were being consulted over the land investment and said that lease amounts tended to be rather low compared with the value of the land.
The report also cautioned that some of the investment projects may never take off, either voided by the government or threatened by land disputes or conflicts.
It urged companies and governments to open up documents related to investment projects for public review and to temporarily ban all large-scale land acquisitions until government institutions are better established.
A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation official last year urged African governments to avoid rushing into big land lease deals with foreign investors or risk deepening poverty and ramping up social tensions.
(Editing by Jane Baird)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
