11 - Rwandan Refugees in Tanzania, 1994–1996

Summary

Beginning in April 1994, following one of the most rapid refugee influxes ever recorded, the transnational humanitarian industry descended upon Ngara, a quiet district located on the Tanzanian edge of the Tanzania-Rwanda border. Overnight, Ngara became the center for a humanitarian complex that sought to aid and confine more than half a million Rwandan refugees, including both victims and perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.Based on archival research and over 100 interviews in Ngara, this essay explores Ngaran lived realities during the time that they became neighbors, victims, and entrepreneurs within a violent refugee context. The author argues that the refugee complex in Ngara, which included both refugees and expatriate aid workers, created a space of contradictory violence: a violence that was simultaneously disruptive and productive. Ngarans experienced the material and psychological harms of dislocation and physical violence associated with the refugee camps. Many also took advantage of novel economic opportunities created by the transnational refugee complex and the refugee population. This chapter demonstrates the paradoxical nature of refugee crises, and the lasting impact of this encounter on the lives and livelihoods of the Ngaran population.