Figure 1.--Here Biafran refugee children are being fed during the Nigerian Civil War. The press caption read, "Life Line to Biafra: The children are the first to be fed highprotein food made of corn-soy and powdred milk." The photograph was dated Octover 5, 1968. As the war went against the Biafras, tragically the children began to starve.

Most African countries since independence have facd refugee problems, either refugees fleeing the country or regions of the country or refugees fleeing into the country from problems in neighboring countries. The countries most affected have been Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan, but there are virtully no African country that has not been affected. The conflicts have varied over time. The refugee problem has persisted in the Congo from the earliest days of independence. The causes run the gammet of problems creating refugees, including birder disputes, civil war, the Cold War, corruption, drought, failing economies, famine, gnocide, political repression, rebellion, religious intolerabnce, resources, and tribal violence. Economic failure has been an ongoing problem. The Cold War coincided with decolonization and fed into the violence and refugees. The end of the Cold War, however, did not end the refugee problem. At the end of the century, Islamic fundamentalism has been a growing problem. The Islamic Sudanese Goverment lunched campigns bordering on genocide.

Angola

Unlike the other colonial powers, Portugal decided to resist the independenc movement, resulting in a protracted colonial war creating refugees. When a coup in Portiugal led to independence, resistance groups launced a civil war (1975). This became a front in the Cold War and created more refugees than the independence war.

Congo

Refugees appeared in the Congo when rhe Belgian began to grant independence. The first refugees were the wjite Belgian and other Europeans. They had to be evacuated to escape the escalating violence. They were a relatively small group and sucessfully evacuated in a few months. Soon Congolese refugees begn to appear and this has been a persistent problem in the Congo to this day. Both tribal and political rivalries were involved. The fight over Katanga was the first problem (1960s). Congo became a battlefront in the Cold War. The Rwandan genocide and conflict between the Hutis and Tutsis in the eat greatly escalted the violennce.

Eritra

A protracted war with Ethiopia resylted in refugees. This was exacerbated by the indeopendence movemenmt in neighboring Ethiopian Tigray.

Ethiopia

The overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie resulkted from fmine (1973). This eventually led to a Communist dictatorship the Derg (1974). The incompetence and brutality of the Derg as well as drought and wars with Sonalia and Eritrea led to huge numbers of refugees .

Kenya

The Mau-Mau Rebellion in British colonial Kenya (1950s) resulted in some of the first post-World War II refugees in Africa. The rebellion was generated by Britih colonia policy which helped white settlers seize much of the best agricultural land.

Mozambique

Unlike the other colonial powers, Portugal decided to resist the independenc movement, resulting in a protracted colonial war creating refugees. A coup in Portiugal led to independence. Support for the African resistance effort in South Afria led to South Afria supporting resstanbce groups in Mozambique.

Namibia

One of the most tragic refugee groups the Heroe who rose up against the Germans in Southwest Africa (Namimbia). German refression was essentially genocide.

Nigeria

An early tribal conlict was the Nigerian Civil War. The Christian Ibo people in the southeast wanted independence as Biafra.

South Africa

An early refugee crisis was the Boers in South Africa. They attempted to flee from the British into the interior, but eventually war broke out--the Bohr War. The Bohrs put up a tough resistance. Eventially the British began confining Bohr civilians in concentration cmps to prevent them from supporting the resustance forces.

Sudan

The Islamic Arabized government of Sudan pursued vicious campaigns against African populations in the south and west. The population in the oil rich south was Christian. Part of the campaign there was to seize children for slavery by Muslim northerners. The campaign in the west (Darfur) was even more vicious even though tnhe population there was Muslim. The campaign in Darfur bordered on genocide.

Tanzania

Tanzania has offered a haven for reugees even before becoming independent (1961). The country has been a force for stability in East Africa. It birders on many troubkled countries which people have fled to escape viloence resulting from civil war, genocide, economic failure, and tribal condlict. The country helpe srabilize the region hen it united with troubled Zanzibr. From an early point refugees from brdering countries (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Mozambique) as wll as the Comoro Islnds and Somalia. The largest number of refugees have come from Burundi which like Rwanda has been racked by tribal conflict. The first wave of asylum seekers camne from Rwanda (1959). Tanzania had at that time an open door policy towards refugees. A massive wave of refugees arrived from Burundi (1972). Terrible tribal killings there mounted to a 'selective genocide. [Minority Rights Group]. Some 160,000 Burundian refugees crissed the border into Tanzania. Many have been naturalized instead of retuning to Burundi. Uganda refugees fleeing the Ifi Amin regime sought refugee in Tanzania and organized a resistace movement. When Amin invaded Tanzania, the Tanzanian Army struck back aiuded by Ugandan residrance fighters and overthrew Amin (1978-79). Mist of the Ugandan refugees returned to their country. Rwanda refugees were settled in Ngara villages (1989). The Islamic violence in Somalia drove thousands of refugees to Tanzania (1990-91). Many settled in Dar Es Sam,em without permission. Even more Burundins, some 300,000 fled acrodss the border when a civil war erupted (1993). The Tanzania Government reported an estimated 1 million refugees in the country (2000). The vast majority canme from the Great Lakes region. The overwhelming majority came from Burundi (nearly 70 percent). [Roos, 2005.] This is in part because of genocidal violence in Rwanda and Burundi and in part because many ealier refugees have become naturalized. A million refugees is a masive drain on resources for a reklstively poor country like Tanzania. The Government currently is attempting the end the refugee situation in the country. Refugees are being encouraged to live in the two remaining refugee camps (Nyarugusu and Mtabila). Those who are unwilling to return to their country are mostly self settling in Dar Es Salaam.

Sources

Minority Rights Group.

Willems, Roos (2005), "Coping with displacement: Social Networking among Refugees," in Ohta Itaru and Yntiso D. Gebre (eds.) Displacement Risks in Africa: Refugees, Resettlers and their Host Populations (Trans Pacific Press, Australia: 2005), pp. 53-77.

Created: 9:03 PM 10/28/2018
Last updated: 12:06 PM 10/30/2018