African Refugees: An Analysis
Authors: Ray Vanita 
Published: July 2017

The past decade has witnessed a staggering increase in the number of refugees in Africa; from 1.5 millions in 1969, their numbers have today risen to more than 5 million—that is, of the 10 mlliion refugees in the world, 5 millions are African. Even more alarming is the fact that the number of refugees in Africa is now greater than the populations of very many African countries. They criss-cross the entire continent and there is not a single country in Africa which has not been affected by the refugee problem. And always behind the flight of these peoples is the spectre of injustice and strife, of racial persecution or civil war—all violations of human rights.

The first major group of African refugees arose as a result of national liberation struggles; thousands were dispersed to the neighbouring countries. While the National Liberation Front of Algeria (FLN) fought for the country's independence (beginning 1956), many women and children waited in refugee camps in Tunisia and Morocco. Thereafter, fortunately, most of sub-Saharan Africa obtained independence peacefully, but as the waves of independence struck the strongholds of settler and white dominated southern Africa, the travails of refugees emerged once more. Massive movements of people accompanied the strife in Angola, Mozambique, as well as Guinea Bissau. Thereafter, there was a stream of refugees from South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, because of internal conflicts, Africa was having its own refugee problems. Some of the most serious ones arose out of the inter-ethnic clashes in Burundi and Rwanda, with the Tutsi fleeing Rwanda and the Hutu escaping Burundi. Then the civil war in Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo) occurred in different places at different times (1960–65 and then again in March 1977–78), and has still not completely subsided. Similar is the case of Chad; the civil war in the country, which has recurred time and again, has sent large numbers of refugees fleeing to the Cameroons. Again the 20 year civil war in Sudan caused much of its southern population to scatter to the surrounding countries and as they were returning home, Sudan started receiving Ethiopian refugees from 1967—first from Eritrea, then other parts of Ethiopia. The warfare in Ogaden, the defeat of the Somalia Army by Soviet-armed and Cuban-reinforced. Ethiopian forces in 1977–78, left Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti with large displaced populations. Large sections of the populations of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Uganda were forced to seek exile because of harsh rule in their countries. New waves of refugees—millions of men, women and children—came out from Nigeria following the civil war in that country.

Finally, the other important category of refugee that the continent cannot ignore are the “economic” refugees—people who leave their home simply because they cannot eke out a living or are escaping starvation due to the recent droughts. This last category usually pass unnoticed as long as the host countries accept them. Nevertheless, when sent back to their own countries, as Ghana and Uganda did and most other countries would ultimately do, they have difficult problems of integration.

Keeping in mind this conceptual heterogeneity of the refugees in Africa, an attempt is made to analyze three types of problems and their combinations which cause refugee migrations in sub-Saharan Africa. For this purpose, sub-Saharan Africa may be divided into three parts—Southern Africa, that is the frontline states; Tropical Black Africa and states neighbouring the Sahara. For further analysis, the cause for which people seek refuge may be characterized as: 1. Domestic instability arising out of tribal issue conflicts and apartheid; 2. Border clashes, again resulting out of tribal rivaries and apartheid; 3. Foreign intervention towards preserving domestic clientele.