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Refugees and Stability in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Robert O. Matthews
Robert O. Matthews
Affiliation:
Robert O. Matthews is assistant professor in the Department of Political Economy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
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Type
Review essay
Information
International Organization , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , Winter 1972 , pp. 62 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1972

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References

1 For a review of refugees in the first 40 years of this century see Stoessinger, chapters 1–5; Simpson, John Hope, The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey (London: Oxford University Press [under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs], 1939);Google Scholar and “Refugees,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 05 1939 (Vol. 203).Google Scholar

2 One indication of this shift is provided by the allocation of UN funds to the various regions of the world. Of the $4.5 million allocated on a country-by-country basis for the UN refugee program of 1969 over $3.2 million (roughly 70 percent) was slated for African countries. Europe took only slightly more than $500,000, (or 11 percent), and the rest was divided between Latin America, India, and the Middle East. See UN Document A/AC.96/396, p. iv. These figures exclude the international assistance provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency for Relief and Rehabilitation (UNKRA). On these questions see Stoessinger, chapter 10.

3 Cuénod, Jacques, “The Problems of Rwandese and Sudanese Refugees,” in Hamrell, p. 47.Google Scholar

4 See Aall, Cato, “Refugee Problems in Southern Africa,” in Hamrell, p. 36;Google Scholar and Zartman, I. William, “Portuguese Guinean Refugees in Senegal,“ in Brooks. and Ayouty, p. 158.Google Scholar

5 The former is a United Nations convention; the latter is a convention of the Organization of African States (OAS). Both conventions are reprinted in full as appendices 1 and 5 in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 225–244 and 271–278, respectively.

6 See, for instance, Omari, T. Peter, “From Refugee to Emigré: African Solutions to the Refugee Problem,” in Hamrell, p. 85;Google Scholar and Hatch, John, “Historical Background of the African Refugee Problem,“ in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 2–5.Google Scholar

7 See Zartman, ; and Mtshali, Benedict V., “Some Political Implications of the Refugee Problem in South West Africa,“ in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 191–198.Google Scholar

8 Adam, Thomas R., “Non-Constitutional Change of Government as a Course for Refugees throughout Sub-Saharan Africa,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 64.Google Scholar

9 See Matthews, Robert O., “Domestic and Inter-State Conflict in Africa,” International Journal, Summer 1970 (Vol. 25, No. 3), pp. 460–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Adam, in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 59.

11 Ballet, P., “Les Refugiés du Rwanda,” in Le Problème des réfugiés en Afrique, p. 23.Google Scholar Refugees from southern Africa may, not only voluntarily but also involuntarily, become involved in the liberation struggle. To be admitted as a refugee in Botswana, Tanzania, or Zambia a person must be sponsored by one of the recognized political parties. There do arise situations “in which … refugees who have no wish for active political participation but who are fleeing for financial and educational reasons are … coerced to support policies to which they do not subscribe, in return for accreditation.” Omari, in Hamrell, p. 89.Google Scholar Contrariwise, Zartman maintains that the bulk of refugees from Portuguese Guinea remain passive in their attitude toward the liberation struggle though he does recognize that the nationalist movements “are present in the area, and may be expected to work on the refugees.” See Zartman, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 150, 159.Google Scholar

12 See Omari, in Hamrell, p. 89.

13 George Metcalfe, “Effects of Refugees on the National State,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 73.Google Scholar Stoessinger writes that refugees in Europe were inevitably considered enemies of some nation-state and that therefore their “protection … was bound to arouse the hostility of an actual or potential member of the League of Nations” (p. 32).

14 See Organization of African Unity: Resolutions Adopted by the First Conference (Addis Ababa: OAU Secretariat, 05 1963), p. 8.Google Scholar

15 See — all in Brooks, and Ayouty, — Hovet, Thomas Jr, “Boundary Disputes and Tensions as a Cause of Refugees,” pp. 25–26; Mtshali, pp. 184–198;Google Scholar and Smith, George-Ivan, “Some Aspects of the Refugee Problem South of the Sahara,” pp. 41–42.Google Scholar

16 For a review of these disputes see Matthews, Robert O., “Interstate Conflicts in Africa: A Review,” International Organization, Spring 1970 (Vol. 24, No. 2), pp. 344–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 See Africa Research Bulletin (Political, Social, and Cultural Series), 03 1964 (Vol. 1, No. 3), p. 38;Google Scholar and “Africa's Refugees Grow,” West Africa, 09 2, 1967 (No. 2622), p. 1145.Google Scholar

18 Bustin, Edouard, “The Congo,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 187.Google Scholar

19 For example, on March 16, 1965, Radio Bangui reported that Sudanese forces had violated the Central African Republic's frontiers and fired on Sudanese refugees. In the case of Uganda various border incidents have taken place, the latest of which involved an attack by Sudanese military forces on the Ugandan villages of Paranja and Jule. See Africa Research Bulletin (Political, Social, and Cultural Series), 03 1–31, 1965 (Vol. 2, No. 3), p. 257, and 06 15, 1968 (Vol. 5, No. 5), p. 1062.Google Scholar

20 See Hovet, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 28–29.

21 Galtung, Johan, “Peace,” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. Sills, David L. (16 vols.; New York: Free Press and Macmillan, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 487.Google Scholar

22 Metcalfe, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 73–74, 77. Writing about the League of Nation's experience in the 1920s and early 1930s, Stoessinger, notes that the “organization dealt very superficially with some of the symptoms of the malaise of the international body politic, but not with the basic cause, the persistent abuse of basic human rights by some member states” (p. 32).Google Scholar

23 Forsythe, David P., “UNRWA, the Palestine Refugees, and World Politics: 1949–1969,” International Organization, Winter 1971 (Vol. 25, No. 1), p. 27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Schachter, Oscar, “Legal Aspects of the Refugee Problem,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 48.Google Scholar

25 Omari, in Hamrell, p. 89.

26 As of April 1969, 55 states had ratified or acceded to the convention, of which 23 were African.

27 For the protocol see Brooks and Ayouty, appendix 2, pp. 245–249. By April 1969, 32 states had acceded to the protocol, of which eleven were African.

28 This convention was the result of five years of patient work and sometimes difficult negotiation on the part of a ten-state Refugee Commission set up in February 1964 at the second regular session of the OAU Council of Ministers.

29 Stoessinger, pp. 17–18.

30 Legum, Margaret, “Problems of Asylum for Southern African Refugees,” in Hamrell, p. 59.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., p. 60.

32 Ibid., pp. 61–62.

33 Awad, Mohamed, “Refugees from the Sudan,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 128.Google Scholar

34 General Assembly Official Records (24th session), Supplement No. 12, pp. 19, 21, 24, 28;Google Scholar see also Africa Research Bulletin (Political, Social, and Cultural Series, 11 30, 1970 (Vol. 7, No. 10), p. 1896.Google Scholar

35 Cuénod, M. J., “Les Réfugiés du Soudan et des territoires portugais,” in Le Problème des Réfugiés en Afrique, p. 33.Google Scholar

36 Zartman, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 158–159.

37 Stoessinger, p. 204. On the question of resettlement see his chapter 8.

38 Khan, Sadruddin Aga, “The Problem of Refugees,“ in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 212.Google Scholar For another statement on the role of the UNHCR see Jaeger, M. G., “Les Buts et les moyens du Haut Commissariat pour les réfugiés,” in Le Problème des réfugiés en Afrique, pp. 45–50.Google Scholar

39 On the part played by the voluntary organizations see Matthews, in Hamrell, pp. 97–109; and Fisher, M. E., “Le Role de la Croix rouge en faveur des réfugiés,” in Le Problème des réfugiés en Afrique, pp. 11–20.Google Scholar

40 On the question of zonal planning see Kironde, Apollo, “An African Evaluation of the Problem,” p. 110, and Aga Khan, p. 213,Google Scholar both in Brooks and Ayouty. In conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) future zonal development projects are now under consideration for Burundi, the Central Africa Republic, and the Congo (Kinshasa).

41 On this whole question see John Eldridge, “Education and Training of Refugees and Their Potential Contribution to Development,” in Hamrell, chapter 6; Joseph Short, “Utilization of the Educated Refugees from Southern Africa,” in Brooks and Ayouty, chapter 7; and Jacqz, Jane W., Refugee Students from Southern Africa (New York: African-American Institute, 1967).Google Scholar

42 Short, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 93–94.

43 Omari, in Hamrell, p. 95.

44 Hovet, in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 29.

45 This point is touched on peripherally by Bustin, in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 189.

46 “The 11-Nation ‘Good Neighbor’ Summit,” Africa Report, 05 1966 (Vol. 11, No. 5), p. 15;Google Scholar and Africa Research Bulletin (Political, Social, and Cultural Series), 04 1–30, 1966, p. 510.Google Scholar

47 General Assembly Official Records (22nd session), Supplement No. 11, p. 46.

48 On this point see Hovet, in Brooks and Ayouty, pp. 28–29.

49 Wine, James, “The U. S. State Department's Attitude Toward the Problem of Refugees,” in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 204.Google Scholar

50 Kironde, in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 110.

51 Stoessinger, p. 33.

52 Aga Khan, in Brooks and Ayouty, p. 217.

53 Hatch, pp. 6–7, and Kironde, p. 106, both in Brooks and Ayouty.