REFUGEE THEORY, LAW AND SETTLEMENT

[Download the full text PDF version from here]

Abstract (not PDF) Contents (39K) Chapter 1(20K) Chapter 2(74K) Chapter 3(88K) Chapter 4(89K) Chapter 5(122K) Chapter 6(105K) Chapter 7(12K) Bibliography(73K)

This thesis is about the changing dynamics of refugee repatriation in Africa. It is of interest to refugee researchers, disaster researchers, demographers and Africanists. For a more detailed description of the thesis see theAbstract. The thesis chapters are saved in PDF format, viz- In order to open the files, you require a PDF viewer, like Adobe Acrobat Reader. This program is available free of charge for most operating systems. Click the icon below to download a copy of Acrobat Reader.   Some notes about the thesis: Some of the file sizes are quite large. This is due to the many maps and charts in the thesis. Don't forget to look at the Bibliography. At 33 pages it is quite extensive, (in 1996, it was definitive!) and has references to many unpublished papers on refugee repatriation. While the thesis is posted on-line for the public, the contents remain property of the author, and are protected by copyrightin Canada and elsewhere. You may not print or distribute copies of the thesis. If you quote portions of the thesis, please cite the author in your references. Please e-mail questions or comments tomrjohncollins@yahoo.com

 

Abstract

Voluntary repatriation has been identified as the ideal solution for most refugees in the African context. In the past, the causes of refugee migrations in Africa were often directly attributable to problems associated with the colonial era. During this period refugees were usually welcomed and well treated in exile and returned home willingly at the end of the conflict. More recently however, conflicts in Africa and the refugee situations created by these conflicts, have become more complex. At the same time, pressures on host nations and communities have increased, making refugees much less welcome in exile. As the international community, the UNHCR and NGOs have become more involved in dealing with refugee populations, they have sometimes been pressured into pursuing repatriation as the best option for refugees. These diverse pressures have called into question the voluntary nature of several contemporary refugee return migrations in Africa. There is evidence that in some cases, refugees have been forced intentionally or by circumstances, or coerced into returning home. The thesis first outlines the international legal instruments that guarantee that refugee repatriation will be voluntary. Then the information and decision-making processes of African refugees are examined, followed by an analysis the diverse contexts of refugee repatriation. On the basis of this examination, the thesis derives a new typology of refugee repatriation that emphasizes the degree to which the returnees were permitted a free choice in their decision to return home. Several detailed case studies of African repatriation are presented to verify the new model.

To the Top ^

11

CHAPTER II

REFUGEE THEORY, LAW AND SETTLEMENT

According to the most recent data available, there are nearly six million

refugees in Africa (US Committee for Refugees 1995, p. 42). These refugees fled their

home countries that were overtaken by violence and ravaged by famine. The refugees

have been forced to settle where they are generally unwanted and have often been left

to fend for themselves. The African continent is not unusual in the fact that there are so

many refugees. Large-scale refugee migrations have occurred elsewhere in the world

and these have lasted for decades without hope of solutions. However, Africa does hold

the dubious distinction that almost every country on the continent has at some time

been either a producer or a destination for refugees, or both. The existence of so many

refugees and refugee flows, seems to point to some systemic failure in modern African

society. At the same time, the fact that so many African refugees seem to adapt to their

situation and survive the experience of being in exile, also indicates some unseen

ability that is incongruent with the common perception of what a refugee is. This

chapter examines what a refugee is, how African refugees settle themselves in their

countries of asylum and how this can affect their eventual repatriation.

REFUGEE THEORY

Kunz's Typology

In order to explain how refugees can be classified, Kunz (1981, p. 44) divided

them into three distinct groups, derived from refugees' attitudes towards their

displacement. Those refugees whose opposition to political and social events at home is12

shared by their compatriots, both refugees and those who remain in home areas, are

called majority identified refugees. Refugees who have left their home areas because of

active or latent discrimination against the group to which they belong, frequently retain

little interest in what occurs in their former homes once they have left. These refugees,

who feel irreconcilably alienated from their fellow citizens, Kunz calls events related

refugees. A third type of refugee includes people who decided to leave their home

country for a variety of individual reasons. These self-alienated refugees feel alienated

from their society not by any active policy of that society, but rather by some personal

philosophy.

In his work, while Kunz does not specifically address the problems associated

with repatriation, it can be suggested that the first type of refugee, the majority

identified would be the most likely to participate in a repatriation. Refugees who retain

a strong attachment to both the feeling of homeland and to people who did not flee as

refugees, are the most likely to want to repatriate. In the African context, the majority

identified category can be applied to a significant proportion of the current refugee

population, as well as almost all refugees created in the period of anti-colonial wars.

Kunz notes that "…these refugees identify themselves enthusiastically with the nation,

though not with its government." (p. 43).

Refugees from Namibia in the 1980s, from Angola and Zimbabwe in the 1970s

and from Algeria in the 1950s all fled their countries because of the effects of foreign

domination. These refugees however, did not altogether abandon their nations, rather in

many cases they actively participated in liberation struggles. Once liberation occurred,

they were anxious to return home to resume their former lives.

Some more recent refugee migrations in Africa tend to fit into Kunz's events

related category. Refugees who have been subjected to discrimination and often

outright violence feel that they are unwanted, or unsafe in their own homelands. After

becoming refugees, the desire to return home can only be aroused were there to be13

substantial change at home. Ethnic conflicts often leads to the creation of events related

refugees in Africa. An example of this type of migration are Burundi and Rwandans

displaced to each other's country and to Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire. The majority of

these refugees were displaced by the ethnic conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi. Before

the recent upheaval in these two states in 1994, little hope was seen for the thousands of

refugees who had fled Burundi and Rwanda. Many refugees in Tanzania had settled for

an extended period and had been granted citizenship by the Tanzanian government.

In Africa, self-alienated refugees have played only a minor role in the largerscale refugee picture. There have been some cases, however where individuals or

groups of people have been displaced because of philosophical differences between

them and governments. For example, upwards of twenty thousand Jehovah's Witnesses

fled from Malawi to Zambia during the late 1960s and early 1970s (Coles 1985, p.

112). While the Jehovah's Witnesses were self-alienated, they were subject to

discrimination and harassment prior to their decision to flee. Elsewhere in southern

Africa, many of the refugees who fled South Africa to participate in the fight against

Apartheid could be classified as self-alienated. Recent political changes in South Africa

allowed most of the country's refugees to return home, where they have been able to

participate actively in that nation's new democracy. Individual cases of self-alienated

refugees abound on the continent. Many Ethiopian intellectuals who fled the tyranny of

the Mengistu regime could also be classified as self-alienated refugees, as could white

Mozambicans and Angolans who returned to Portugal during the 1970s. However, to a

great extent, the self-alienated refugees category is more relevant to other areas of the

world than it is to Africa.

Colonialism, Tribalism and Refugees in Africa

In an attempt to explain the very large number of refugees in Africa, some

researchers have provided one fundamental explanation: colonialism and its lasting14

effects in Africa. Much early literature on African refugees focuses on the fact that

yesterday's colonial policies and the boundaries that they imposed are to be held

directly responsible for today's refugees (Kibreab 1985, p. 32). The basic premise

suggested is that the colonial boundaries that were superimposed on Africa by

European colonial powers were artificial and therefore separated ethnic and linguistic

areas that were formerly closely linked into two or more colonies that often had

different colonial masters. Figure 2.1 provides a very general indication of the number

and distribution of ethnic groups on the continent.

During the colonial period, little attempt was made to develop a sense of

nationalism among the many ethnic groups in a colony. In some instances, colonial

governments would use inter-ethnic rivalries to their advantage. At the end of the

colonial era, old rivalries and conflicts between ethnic groups, that had been suppressed

during the colonial era, often came to the surface during the fight for control of the

emerging nations. In some cases, such as with Biafra and Katanga, the conflict resulted

in secessionist movements. Elsewhere, as in Southern Sudan, a protracted civil war has

developed from a secessionist movement. In other examples such as Namibia, Rhodesia

and the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique, the

desire to overthrow colonial governments and to achieve independence led to lengthy

guerrilla wars. In many of these examples, the violence and instability inherent in these

conflicts drove many people to seek asylum outside their homelands.

The colonial and ethnic explanations of Africa's refugee problem present some

difficulties. While the demise of colonial powers undoubtedly left many African states

as a heterogeneous collection of ethnic groups, ill-prepared for independence, the result

has not been universally chaotic. Although many states have singled out some ethnic,

religious or linguistic groups, and pursued discriminatory policies against them, the

majority of Africa's people remain unaffected in this way. The fact that African states15

Figure 2.1 Distribution of Ethnic Groups in Africa

Adapted From: Murdock 1959 insert16

are today, for the most part, tenuous alliances based on ethnic grounds would seem to

call into question the simple colonial/ ethnic explanation for refugee migration. Some

alternate explanation must be available that takes the complexities of modern Africa

into account.

While not denying the impact of the colonial precursors to contemporary

African society, Kibreab (1985; 1991) suggests that the current causes of refugees on

the continent run much deeper. He notes that "…at the heart of the African refugee

problem lies a lack of respect for fundamental human rights, including the right of

peoples to determine their own destiny…" (Kibreab 1991, p. 21). He continues:

"…The refugee problem in Africa is a result of an inter-play of political,

social, economic and environmental factors. It is not easy, therefore to

isolate one factor to the neglect of others and to state the real cause with

certainty. The factors that generate refugees are inextricably intertwined

with each other…" (Kibreab 1991, p. 23)

Colonialism is a fact in African history, but using it as a crutch to explain

continuing refugee migrations becomes less viable as the colonial era sinks further into

the past. Kibreab attempts to reduce the scale of the perspective, from the continental

level of the colonial theorists, to the micro-scale of the regional conflict. This reduction

in scale can prove useful. Each refugee migration, be it large or small, long or shortterm, has its origin in discrete socio-economic causes that do not occur elsewhere in the

same form. The causes and the solutions of refugee migrations in Africa lie in the

complex social and economic interactions manifest in everyday life. While inter-ethnic

conflict might be the catalyst in one refugee migration, another might be the result of

environmental stress brought on by economic and demographic pressures. The

governments of many African states are increasingly directly involved in situations that

cause refugee migrations, through enforced villagization, or the direct persecution of a

single ethnic group. The application of the 'colonial explanation' to all these migrations

does not, in the end, shed much light on the real reasons for these migrations.17

African Refugee Theory

The complex interplay of socio-economic factors which can lead to refugee

migrations does not affect each migrant in the same manner. The varieties of different

refugee migrations are as complex as the situations which can create them. People have

different perceptions of exactly what they consider is a threat to them. In some

situations the mere rumour of instability can be enough to impel people to move. In

other situations, people do not flee until they have been overtaken by violent conflict.

Because in the African context, the line between political and economic repression can

become blurred, many refugees could (and are) classified as economic migrants. In

other cases, ecological change can be the cause of mass migrations. This latter variation

of migration is usually ignored by contemporary definitions.

Rogge (1979, p. 55) derived a typology of refugees based upon an examination

of the activating agent for the refugee migration, the objective of the migration, and

whether the migrants possess refugee characteristics. Figure 2.2 shows the outline of

Rogge's typology, with more contemporary examples replacing the originals. This

more complex examination of refugee decision making is more in line with Kibreab's

explanation of the refugee situation in Africa.

Rogge's typology initially identifies two classes of involuntary migration:

forced and impelled. The typology continues by outlining seven distinct types of

refugees and their characteristics. It should be noted that the terms forced and impelled

were introduced into the migration literature by Petersen (1958, p. 261). According to

Petersen, the difference between these two classes of migration lies in the amount of

free choice an individual has when they are involved in forced migration. Forced

migrants are expelled from an area by an external force, such as a government, the

people involved have absolutely no choice in the matter of their removal. In Africa,18

Forced Impelled

INVOLUNTARY

MIGRATION

MIGRATION ACTIVATED

BY THE INDIVIDUAL

FAMILY OR CLAN

MIGRATION

ACTIVATED 

BY THE STATE

TO ESCAPE 

DETERIORATING

ENVIRONMENTAL

CONDITIONS

TO ESCAPE

PERSECUTION

OR PERCEIVED 

DANGER

TO BE RID OF MIGRANTS

OR CONFINE THEM TO

A SPECIFIC AREA

TO USE

MIGRANTS LABOUR

OR THEIR LANDS 

YES YES YES NO

ESCAPEE

VICTIM OF

HOSTILITIES

REFUGEE

SUR-PLACE

EVACUEE ECOLOGICAL EXPELLEE

FORCED

RESETTLEMENT

TYPE OF

MIGRATION

ACTIVATING

AGENT

OBJECTIVE

REFUGEE

CHARACTERISTICS?

TYPES OF

REFUGEES EXAMPLES

Mozambicans

in Malawi

Somalis

in Kenya

Internal

displacees

in Angola

Eritreans

in Sudan

Rwandan

students

abroad

White

Rhodesians

from

Zimbabwe

Ethiopians

in Sudan

Ugandan

Asians

Mozambicans

from

South Africa

Bantustans in

South Africa

Villigization

in Ethiopia

Internal

displacees

in S. Sudan

Figure 2.2 Typology of Involuntary Migration in Africa

Adapted From: Rogge 1979, p. 55

Rwandans

in Zaire19

examples include Ugandan Asians expelled by the Amin regime in the 1970s, or South

Africans forcibly removed to homelands under Apartheid. Impelled migrants, on the

other hand, do retain some degree of choice regarding their possible flight. Before

making the decision to migrate, 'impelled' migrants have the opportunity to weigh the

factors involved and then make a choice between moving or remaining in the face of an

external threat. Recent African examples of impelled migration include Somalis or

Rwandans fleeing to neighbouring states. Most, but not all, African refugees fall into

the impelled category.

The motivation for a refugee's migration becomes important when their legal

status is determined. According to Rogge's typology, some types of refugees are more

likely to obtain official recognition than others. Ecological refugees, for example,

almost never receive official international recognition, but do sometimes receive

international assistance, such as Malians in Niger (1974) and Tigrayans in Sudan

(1984).

REFUGEE LAW

African Refugees and International Law

The different types of refugees as identified by Kunz, Petersen, Rogge and

others are subject to various international and regional laws. In the African context,

three important legal instruments, two from the United Nations and one from the

Organization for African Unity (OAU), govern the manner in which refugees are

defined, what assistance they are able to receive and how they should be resettled.

Repatriation is also of central importance in these documents. The right of refugees to

determine how and when they should return home is clearly stated in two of the three

major documents. In addition, each document has clauses that affect the status of every

African refugee.20

United Nations Statutes

Following the Second World War, several million people remained displaced

throughout Europe. The newly formed United Nations was given the task of providing

a framework for the resettlement of these people. Following on the work of the

International Refugee Organization, that was part of the disbanded League of Nations,

the UN drafted the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and established

the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (Holborn 1975, p. 65). The new UN

Convention defined a refugee as any person who

 "…owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,

religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political

opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable to, or

owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that

country…" (UN 1951, I.1.A[2]).

In addition, the 1951 Convention limited the definition to anyone who was a refugee

because of events that occurred in Europe before January 1951.

In 1967 the UN, recognizing the limitations of the original Convention

regarding the clause which limited official refugees to people of European origin before

the 1951 date, approved a Protocol to the Convention. This Protocol extended the

definition of 'refugee' to include all people who have fled their homeland owing to a

well-founded fear of persecution (Onyango 1986, p. 5). The extension of the

Convention institutionalized the international refugee protection system, including the

UNHCR. Initially UNHCR's mandate was to run for three years. However since it first

expired, the mandate has been extended by the UN General Assembly every five years

(Crisp 1995, p. 256).

In the context of repatriation, the UN statutes include two principles central to

the refugee population in Africa. The first is the right to asylum. Once a nation has

ratified the Convention and the Protocol, refugees have the right to settle in that21

country. In addition, Article 33 of the Convention states that refugees have the right not

to be refouled, or returned to their country of origin against their will, while their life

might still be in danger. The principle of non-refoulement is an essential element in the

protection of refugees against forces that might want to expedite a solution to a refugee

situation. In principle, this article provides individual refugees with the choice of

repatriating when they choose to do so. In reality, however, when governments and

NGOs make arrangements for official repatriation programs, refugees are frequently

not consulted about their concerns with security in their home areas. Once governments

have decided that it is 'safe' for refugees to return, the agendas of the authorities

frequently over-ride those of the refugees or the conventions of international law. The

UNHCR is given the mandate to protect refugees covered by these international

agreements.

The United Nations Statutes and Africa

When it was drawn up, the UN Convention was widely regarded as a 'western'

document that had little or no relevance to the African refugee situation (Onyango

1986, p. 4). The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol reflected a Euro-American

centred perspective of the concept of 'refugee' that was derived following the Second

World War (Paton 1990, p. 4). This perspective viewed refugees as a one-time problem,

that required a one-time solution: the 1951 Convention (Schultheis 1989, p. 8). The

United Nations Convention provided a universal definition of a refugee, with respect to

the aftermath of the Second World War. The definition's strength lies in the fact that it

concentrates on individuals and their rights regarding refugee status and protection. The

UN definition however, has a weakness that can be exploited when migrants have a less

well founded "…fear of persecution…", that allows them to be more easily excluded

from official recognition and its benefits, should a host nation wish to exclude them

(Goodwin-Gill 1990, p. 28).22

One type of migrant who is most likely to be excluded by the UN definition is

the so-called 'economic' refugee. Although some refugee migrations do have strong

roots in economic factors, people who use the lack of economic opportunities as a

reason for claiming refugee status are often denied that status (Schultheis 1989, p. 9).

Paton (1990, p. 4) argues that this discrimination originates in an abnormal separation

of politics from economics and is peculiar to the developed world, particularly the

United States. This separation is then used to justify the position that politically

motivated refugees are legitimate, while economically motivated ones are not.

The Organization for African Unity and Refugees

In the years preceding the formation of the OAU in 1963, many African peoples

were trying to achieve liberation from European colonial powers. During this period,

Africa's refugee population began to grow rapidly. By 1967, it is estimated that onehalf million people had been displaced outside their home countries (Onyango 1986, p.

3). In this early phase of the post-colonial era, most African refugees were the product

of anti-colonial struggles. Apart from the UN Convention, which had its deficiencies,

no legal instrument officially protected refugees on the continent; at that time to show

solidarity with peoples still under colonial domination, the OAU decided to establish its

own wide-reaching refugee policy.

In 1969, the sixth session of the OAU adopted its own Protocol for refugees.

The OAU Protocol incorporated the 1951 UN Convention on refugees, but expanded

the definition of who is a refugee. In addition to including the UN definition of a

refugee, the OAU definition includes anyone who:23

"…through aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events

gravely disturbing public order in part, or in all of his country of origin,

or the country of which he has nationality, is obliged to leave his usual

place of residence to seek refuge outside this country." (OAU 1969,

Article 1)

The intention of the OAU definition was to extend refugee status to persons

fleeing colonial domination and anti-colonial warfare. The OAU definition was worded

in such a way as to make it easier for a nation to extend immediate protection of

refugee status to a large group of people at once, who were fleeing colonial oppression.

At the time this convention was drafted, there were only 900,000 refugees in Africa,

many of whom were expected to return home quickly at the end of colonial domination

(Bakwesegha 1995, p. 6). Unlike the UN definition, which places the emphasis on

individual persecution, the OAU definition concentrates on groups of people who are at

risk during a conflict (Holborn 1975, p. 189). More recently, the clause providing status

for those fleeing events gravely disturbing public order, has provided Africans with the

most liberal definition of 'refugee' in the world.

Article Three of the Convention prohibits the use of the protection of refugee

status in one country as a base for subversive activities against another OAU member

state. This provision is in line with the Convention's pretext that the acceptance of

refugees by a state should not be regarded as a hostile act by the state that generated the

refugees. Ideally, the granting of asylum should be a neutral decision, not influenced by

inter-state rivalries. In reality, subversive activities and sometimes outright hostilities

do occur across frontiers. The most recent notable example of refugees using one

country as a base for subversion of another occurred in Rwanda in 1990. In November

of that year, the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), consisting mainly of Rwandan

refugees from Uganda, crossed into their homeland and seized control of the nation

(Khiddu-Makubuya 1995, p. 143).

Article Five of the OAU Convention specifically addresses the question of

durable solutions for refugees. (The full text of Article Five is included as Appendix I)24

The Convention assumes that voluntary repatriation should be the ultimate solution for

African refugees. Once the conflict that generated the refugees has ended, signatories to

the convention must work towards the promotion of voluntary repatriation. It should be

noted that explicit provision is made for the refugees themselves to determine the time

and manner in which they will return home (Bakwesegha 1995, p. 11). As with the

OAU definition of 'refugee', the assumption that repatriation must be the eventual

outcome of a refugee situation emanates from the era in which the Convention was

conceived. When it was drafted, the majority of African refugees had fled European

colonies or anti-colonial wars. Following national independence, rapid repatriation was

the most likely solution for these refugees.

The OAU definition of a refugee does not specifically address the economic

aspects of refugee migrations. However, the Convention's section dealing with

"…events seriously disrupting public order…" does provide a window for the granting

of refugee status to some 'economic' refugees. The problems surrounding official

definitions of who is, and who is not a refugee, have led researchers to create the phrase

'de facto refugee'. Any person who has fled their homeland to another country,

regardless of their legal status, is a de facto refugee. While the whims of government

officials might not define these people as 'refugees', they do exist, and share the same

characteristics as officially recognized refugees.

The OAU Convention, like the UN Convention and Protocol does not provide

recognition for internally displaced refugees. Both the UN and the OAU recognize the

states' authority to be paramount regarding matters within their own frontiers.

International protection and assistance cannot be officially provided to an internally

displaced population without the agreement of an internationally recognized

government (Schultheis 1989, p. 8). Recently there has been some adjustment in this

position at the international level. The crisis in Somalia, for example, prompted the UN

and the United States, after much delay, to decide that there was in fact no legitimate25

national government in Somalia and that it was therefore necessary to impose a solution

that included some responses to the large internally displaced population.

Whatever strengths and weaknesses are apparent in the international legislation

regarding refugees, the content of such agreements becomes irrelevant if governments

choose not to enforce them. Onyango (1986, p. 1) describes the OAU charter as

'pragmatic' and 'progressive'; and notes that (at the time) thirty-three member states

had ratified the agreement. However he also observes that only a few of these countries

have modified their national legal systems to reflect the Convention's principles.

Despite the existence of the OAU Convention, some African countries have not altered

national laws and statues to reflect the requirements of refugees. Because of this, there

exists the potential for selective abuses of refugee rights, for which the refugees have

little or no recourse on a national level. In many cases, refugee migrations in Africa are

so large and occur with little forewarning that questions of the validity of the refugees

claims for asylum are rapidly superseded by the more pressing basic needs of refugees

such as food and medical care. Among those states that have incorporated aspects of the

OAU's Convention into their domestic legal system are major refugee receiving

countries such as Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. In these countries, specific policies and

agencies for the management of refugees have been established. In many cases, these

agencies or governments have been able to react to large-scale refugee migrations

within their borders. In some cases however, such as in Sudan, national legislation

regarding refugees has not necessarily been applied evenly to all refugees.

Many African countries have signed and ratified the OAU Convention. Many

more have signed the UN Convention and Protocol on refugees (a compete list is

included as Appendix II). While some states have signed the OAU Convention and

ratified it in their legislative assemblies, others have signed but not yet ratified the

agreement. A few states have only signed the UN Convention or Protocol. Despite the

holdouts, this widespread acknowledgment of the responsibilities of states regarding26

refugees has been useful to international agencies such as UNHCR. In some cases,

UNHCR has been able to invoke provisions of these conventions in countries that have

signed them, thereby providing enhanced international protection to refugees

(Bakwesegha 1995, p. 15).

In the final analysis however, the UN and the OAU are ultimately bound by the

wishes of their member states. These international organizations and their component

agencies, such as UNHCR, are sometimes compelled to act when there might be

internal opposition to decisions made at a political level. Because of this constraint,

UNHCR has occasionally had to participate in repatriation exercises organized by two

sovereign nations, that it would otherwise not have initiated independently.

REFUGEE SETTLEMENT

The manner in which refugees settle when they are in exile has a direct effect

upon their repatriation prospects. Many of the assumptions made about refugee

settlement and voluntary repatriation in Africa come from an the anti-colonial era of

African history. During this period, refugees were often welcomed in exile as comrades

in the fight against European colonialism. More recently, as refugees have become a

major burden to many states, there have been severe limitations placed on the land

available to refugees and the assistance that they receive. What follows is a summary of

how and why refugee settlement has changed in Africa and how the voluntariness of

repatriations can be affected.

Refugee Settlement: The Anti-Colonial Era

During the anti-colonial era, the majority of Africa's refugees migrated from

one rural area and settled in another. In some cases, such as in Sudan, (Karadawi 1987,

p. 115) some refugees did settle in cities, however most displacees found refuge in rural

areas, where they engaged in some type of subsistence agriculture or wage earning.27

Because of the lack of comprehensive surveys, the proportion of African refugees that

settled in rural areas is difficult to estimate. Rogge (1985, p. 21) states that until the

mid-1970s upwards of ninety percent of all refugees were settled in rural areas. Those

refugees that did settle in rural areas were either provided with land in a settlement

scheme, or settled themselves spontaneously wherever they found land available. While

the proportion of spontaneously settled refugees has never been accurately determined,

the 1979 Arusha Conference on African refugees fixed the fraction at sixty percent

(Rogge 1985, p. 123). Since this proportion represents little more than an estimate on

behalf of researchers and officials, it is clear that at the time the majority of Africa's

refugees were self-settled and did not rely on settlement schemes for land.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Robert Chambers (1979; 1982) conducted

significant research on the process of refugee settlement in Africa. Through his field

experience, he noted many of the characteristics of refugees that had settled without

external assistance in rural areas (1979, p. 386). His work provides a valuable insight

on how refugees settled during the anti-colonial era and in comparison with more recent

literature, becomes a useful benchmark on the extent to which refugee settlement has

changed over the last decades.

According to Chambers, refugees who had recently arrived in a settlement area

were instantly impoverished, since they had only what they could easily carry with

them during their flight. The refugees had frequently abandoned the tools with which

they formerly made their living, or the animals upon which they relied for food. Some

refugees, due to the vagaries of boundaries fixed during the colonial era, found

themselves among people of similar ethnic backgrounds, however this was not always

the case. Many refugees had traveled far enough to settle in regions populated by

different ethnic groups, where they were not as welcome. Whatever the case, the large

scale influx of an impoverished group of people, who at the least required some land28

upon which to settle or cultivate, placed extreme pressures on the relationship between

refugees and hosts.

Upon arriving in exile, many refugees had nothing to sell but their own labour.

During the period before the refugees planted and harvested their first crops, their

labour was one of their only saleable items. Unfortunately for a refugee seeking to enter

the local labour force, a refugee receiving area was usually saturated with other

refugees who had a similar goal. The pool of unemployed refugees had a tendency to

force down the average wage of available jobs. During the 1960s and 1970s there were

many areas of Africa that remained sparsely settled. Some governments provided land

for large-scale refugee settlement. However, much of this land was of marginal

agricultural quality, so refugees who moved in large concentrations still encountered

problems gaining access to fertile land on which to settle.

In some cases refugees became the targets of unwarranted persecution from host

governments. While this persecution sometimes took the form of eviction from their

lands, it also took the form of periodic refoulement or arrest of refugees. Because few

countries had clear domestic policies concerning refugees, local government officials

could use refugees as convenient scapegoats for problems that surfaced in a refugee

receiving area. However well refugees became integrated into a host society, in the long

term, they usually remained last on governments' priority list for land, food, water,

education and credit. The same processes that affected refugees upon settlement:

declining wages, rising prices, restricted access, inherently affected the host

community. While some large landowners benefited from a refugee influx by renting

land, selling food and hiring cheap labour, the poorer hosts were negatively affected by

all these factors. The limited pool of resources available in any one area was invariably

drained to the detriment of both refugees and poorer hosts.29

Refugee Settlement: The Contemporary Situation

While some of the characteristics of African refugees in Chambers' time still

ring true today, such as their instant impoverishment and the relative lack of services

provided for refugees, there have been significant changes (mostly for the worse) in the

conditions to which contemporary refugees are subjected. Since the early 1980s a series

of large-scale refugee migrations that are not directly linked to the anti-colonial era

have altered the way in which refugees are treated.

One change that has had a profound effect on refugees is the apparent demise of

the 'traditional hospitality' (Hansen 1979, p. 375) that was shown by locals to the

refugees that settled among them. As population pressures have increased, so has the

value of land in Africa. Increasingly as land is bought and sold, traditional land tenure

systems have fallen into decline. Refugees who once might have had access to land

through kinship ties, are now frequently unable to use these ties to obtain sufficient

land. Kibreab (1985, p. 68) heralded the end of 'traditional hospitality' in Africa. He

argued that this hospitality might once have existed in response to African migrations,

but since the rise of African nation states, and with the widespread introduction of the

private ownership of land, this concept has become a 'museum piece'. The lack of

available resources to already impoverished rural hosts virtually eliminates

opportunities for the hosts to provide assistance to the refugees. Increasingly, refugees

are being left to the whim of their local hosts, who can exploit them for cheap labour or

as a market for overpriced goods. Today, refugees who attempt spontaneous settlement

in Africa find themselves in an unwelcome competition for land, jobs and food. Where

land is unavailable or where governments want to restrict refugee settlement, they find

themselves confined to refugee camps that provide little more that basic services

(Hocké 1989, p. 37).

Because of the increasing restrictions being placed on refugee settlement in

Africa, UNHCR has had to emphasize the organized settlement of refugees. Today,30

refugees in Zaire, Burundi, Algeria, Sudan and elsewhere are confined to camps with

little or no opportunity to become self-supporting. The UNHCR maintains these

refugees in camps that offer the occupants little in the way of services or economic

opportunities. While in the early 1970s, upwards of sixty percent of UNHCR's African

budget was spent on organized agricultural settlements for refugees (Rogge 1985, p.

67), more recently, UNHCR has earmarked most of its African budget for emergency

relief for refugees (Kibreab 1991, p. 35). This shift of emphasis from long-term

organized settlement to short-term emergency relief has serious implications for the

process of voluntary repatriation. Refugees who are without hope in relief camps are

increasingly taking risks, or are forced into taking risks and are returning home. The

voluntary nature of some of these return migrations thus becomes very questionable.

SUMMARY

The forced migration theories, especially those of Petersen and Kunz, have

introduced the concepts that underlie the current debate about the voluntariness of

repatriation. Particularly important to the question of repatriation is Petersen's

differentiation between forced and impelled migration. Many of his categories and the

sub-categories derived by Rogge, can be conveniently adapted to a contemporary

repatriation situation. Is repatriation in Africa, as the UN and OAU Conventions would

dictate, a free choice? Or is repatriation increasingly being impelled or forced upon

refugees? The international law regarding refugees provides a standard against which

nations that deal with refugees can be compared. From the basic theoretical framework

of African refugees, the focus turns to the specific question of how and why refugees

decide to return home.

Refugee settlement practices in Africa have changed substantially over the last

fifteen years. The increasing use of refugee camps as places to confine refugees, rather

than help them become self-supporting has led to an increased burden being placed on31

the international community. Many of these settlements, for example those in Kenya or

Zaire, have become little more than basic feeding centres for refugees. In many cases,

these organized settlements provide officials with an easily identifiable target

population for repatriation exercises.