Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The long road home: Protracted refugee situations in Africa

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 47; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00396330500156636

1468-2699

Gil Loescher, James Milner,

Global Peace and Security Dynamics

Abstract Protracted refugee situations are a critical and growing element in continuing conflict and instability, especially in Africa. Such situations can result in direct security concerns, including the presence of armed elements within the refugee population and the spill-over of conflict across borders, and indirect security concerns, as tensions rise between local populations and refugees over the allocation of scarce resources. Somali refugees in Kenya and Burundian refugees in Tanzania constitute two of the most challenging protracted refugee situations in Africa. The overall response to protracted refugee situations remains fragmented, compartmentalised and ineffective. What is required is a new policy agenda that extends beyond conventional boundaries and seeks to integrate the resolution of chronic and recurring regional refugee problems with economic development and security issues. Notes Loescher and Milner have previously co-authored a number of publications, including a forthcoming Adelphi Paper on protracted refugee situations and regional and host state security. 1. Dennis McNamara, Global Survey of the Humanitarian Situation of Uprooted Populations, keynote address, ECHO Seminar, Cartagena, 7 June 2004. 2. UNHCR, Protracted Refugee Situations: An Analysis of the Past Decade, Working Paper, 2004. 3. UNHCR, Protracted Refugee Situations: An Analysis of the Past Decade, Working Paper, 2004. 4. Details of the policy responses in Kenya and Tanzania were collected during field visits to Nairobi and Dadaab (2001 and 2004) and Dar es Salaam (1999 and 2004) and Kibondo (2004). Internal reports and statistics on these programmes are held on file with the authors. 5. See Aristide Zolberg, Astri Suhrke and Sergio Aguayo, Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). 6. For background see the collection of case studies in Hugh Brooks and Yassin El-Ayouty (eds), Refugees South of the Sahara: An African Dilemma (Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1970). 7. UNHCR archives, HCR/KAM-Gen-49, Recent Influx of Refugees from Congo and Sudan into Uganda, 21 September 1964. 8. Jacques Cuenod, 'The problem of Rwandan and Sudanese Refugees', in Sven Hammel, African Refugee Problems (Uppsala: The Scandanavian Institute of African Studies, 1966), pp. 345–53; and Rene Lemarchand, Rwanda and Burundi (London: Pall Mall Press, 1970). 9. See Aristide Zolberg, Astri Suhrke and Sergio Aguayo, Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989). 10. See Gil Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). 11. See Christopher Clapham, Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). 12. Recent field visits by the authors to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, for example, reveal that large numbers of refugees and displaced people live clandestinely and on the margins of society so as to avoid detection by the authorities. As a result, many host states and UNHCR country offices are unaware of the precise scale of their protracted urban refugee populations. 13. Jeff Crisp, 'Forms and Sources of Violence in Kenya's Refugee Camps', Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, 2000, pp. 54–70. 14. Kathi Austin, 'Armed Refugee Camps as a Microcosm of the Link between Arms Availability and Insecurity', Programme on Global Security and Cooperation, Workshop on International Law and Small Arms Proliferation, 6 February 2002, p. 5. 15. See Monica Kathina Jum and Peter Mwangi Kagwanja, 'Securing Refuge from Terror: Refugee Protection in East Africa after September 11', in Niklaus Steiner, Mark Gibney and Gil Loescher, Problems of Protection: The UNHCR, Refugees, and Human Rights (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 225–236. 16. See BBC News online, 'Kenya Inquiry Targets Somali Militants', 30 November 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Africa/2529655.stm; and Danna Harman, 'In a Dire Kenyan Camp, Links to al-Qaeda', Christian Science Monitor, 18 December 2002. 17. See Beth Elise Whitaker, 'Refugees in Western Tanzania: The Distribution of Burdens and Benefits Among Local Hosts', Journal ofRefugee Studies, vol. 15, no. 4, 2002, pp. 339–58; Sreeram Sundar Chaulia, 'The Politics of Refugee Hosting in Tanzania: From Open Door to Unsustainability, Insecurity and Receding Receptivity', Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, 2003, pp. 147–66; and International Crisis Group, Burundian Refugeesin Tanzania: the Key Factor to the Burundi Peace Process, ICG Central Africa Report no. 12, 30 November 1999. 18. See International Crisis Group, Burundian Refugees in Tanzania. 19. Bonaventure Rutinwa, The End of Asylum? The Changing Nature of Refugee Politics in Africa, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 5 (Geneva: UNHCR, May 1999). 20. US Committee for Refugees, 'Warehousing Refugees: A Denial of Rights, a Waste of Humanity', World Refugee Survey 2004 (Washington DC: USCR, 2004), pp. 38–56. 21. See Zolberg et al., Escape from Violence. 22. For a more detailed analysis of the security implications of protracted refugee situations, see the Gil Loescher and James Milner, Security Implications of Protracted Refugee Populations, Adelphi Paper no. 375 (Abingdon: Routledge for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in press). 23. See Fionna Terry, Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002); Stephen Stedman and Fred Tanner, Refugee Manipulation: War, Politics and the Abuse of Human Suffering (Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2002); and Jeff Crisp and Karen Jacobsen (eds), 'Security in Refugee Populated Areas', Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 19, no.1, 2000, pp. 3–23. 24. See Alan Dowty and Gil Loescher, 'Refugee Flows as Grounds for International Action', International Security, vol. 21, no. 1, Summer 1996, pp. 43–71. 25. Macedonian deputy foreign minister, speaking at the Emergency Meeting on the Kosovo Refugee Crisis, Geneva, 6 April 1999. 26. Loescher, Refugee Movements and International Security, p. 42. 27. Tiyanjana Maluwa, 'The Refugee Problem and the Quest for Peace and Security in Southern Africa', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 7, no. 4, 1995, p. 657. 28. Tiyanjana Maluwa, 'The Refugee Problem and the Quest for Peace and Security in Southern Africa', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 7, no. 4, 1995, p. 657. 29. See Jeff Crisp, 'Refugees and International Security', paper presented at 4th International Security Forum, Geneva, 15–17 November 2000; and Rutinwa, The End of Asylum. 30. Rutinwa, The End of Asylum, p. 2. 31. Matthew Gibney, 'Security and the Ethics of Asylum after 11 September', Forced Migration Review, no. 13, 2002, p. 13. 32. Bonaventure Rutinwa, 'The Tanzanian Government's Response to the Rwandan Emergency', Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 1996, p. 299. 33. Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) p. 3. 34. Jeffrey Herbst, States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) p. 255. 35. See for example William O'Neill, 'Conflict in West Africa: Dealing with Exclusion and Separation', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 12, suppl. 1, 2000, pp. 171–94; and Bonaventure Rutinwa, 'Screening in Mass Influxes: The Challenge of Exclusion and Separation', Forced Migration Review, no. 13, June 2002, pp. 35–7. 36. Jean-Francois Durieux, 'Preserving the Civilian Character of Refugee Camps: Lessons from the Kigoma Refugee Programme in Tanzania', Track Two, vol. 9, no. 3, November 2000, pp. 25–35. 37. Roy Herrmann, 'Mid-term Review of a Canadian Security Deployment to the UNHCR Programme in Guinea', Geneva, UNHCR, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, EPAU/2003/04, October 2003. 38. Jeff Crisp, 'Lessons Learned from the Implementation of the Tanzania Security Package', Geneva, UNHCR, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, EPAU/2001/05, May 2001. 39. See Lisa Yu, Separating Ex-Combatants and Refugees in Zongo, DRC: Peacekeepers and UNHCR's 'Ladder of Options', New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 60 (Geneva, UNHCR, August 2002). 40. Mats Berdal, 'The UN After Iraq', Survival, vol. 46, no. 3, 2004, pp. 83–102. Berdal cites Kofi Annan's May 2004 speech outlining for the Security Council the multidimensional tasks of today's peacekeeping missions: 'Peacekeeping today has become increasingly multidimensional. The missions you mandate are implementing peace agreements, helping manage political transition, building institutions, supporting economic reconstruction, organising the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, assisting humanitarian aid programmes, supervising or even organising elections, monitoring human rights, clearing minefields, disarming and demobilising militias, and reintegrating their members into the civilian economy'. 41. Mats Berdal, 'The UN After Iraq', Survival, vol. 46, no. 3, 2004, pp. 83–102. Berdal cites Kofi Annan's May 2004 speech outlining for the Security Council the multidimensional tasks of today's peacekeeping missions: 'Peacekeeping today has become increasingly multidimensional. The missions you mandate are implementing peace agreements, helping manage political transition, building institutions, supporting economic reconstruction, organising the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, assisting humanitarian aid programmes, supervising or even organising elections, monitoring human rights, clearing minefields, disarming and demobilising militias, and reintegrating their members into the civilian economy'. 42. See Gil Loescher and James Milner, 'The Missing Link: the Need for Comprehensive Engagement in Regions of Refugee Origin', International Affairs, vol. 79, no. 3, 2003, pp. 519–617. 43. In 1998, there were over 300 reported cases of violent crime in the Dadaab camps, of which 104 were cases of rape. By 2003, that number had fallen dramatically to 36 reported cases of violent crime, of which 15 were cases of rape. 44. Centre for the Study of Forced Migration, University of Dar es Salaam, The Impact of the Presence of Refugees in Northwestern Tanzania (Dar es Salaam, September 2003). 45. See Karen Jacobsen, 'Can Refugees Benefit the State? Refugee Resources and African Statebuilding', Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 40, no. 4, 2002, pp. 557–96. 46. UNHCR, 'Protracted Refugee Situations', UNHCR, Standing Committee, 30th Meeting, 10 June 2004, EC/54/SC/CRP.14. 47. Larry Minear and Iain Smillie, The Quality of Money: Donor Behavior in Humanitarian Financing (Somerville, MA: Humanitarianism and War Project, Tufts University, April 2003). 48. See Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics; and UNHCR, The State of the World's Refugees (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). 49. UNHCR, 'Press Release: New Border Crossing Drums up Interest in Burundian Return', 24 June 2004. 50. This section on the Somalia CPA is based upon authors' interviews with staff of UNHCR Africa Bureau, Geneva, September 2004. Additional informationNotes on contributorsGil Loescher The author of The UNHCR and World Politics (Oxford University Press, 2001). James Milner Working on the politics of asylum in Africa. He has previously worked as a consultant for UNHCR in West Africa and in their Geneva Headquarters.