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The Refugee Situation in the Horn of Africa and Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Aderanti Adepoju
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Extract

– “One of the most pressing problems of the world today–the plight of over 5 million refugees in Africa”

– “Every other refugee in the world is an African”

– “The refugee tragedy in Africa is a human tragedy”

– “The largest refugee problem on the continent is in the Horn of Africa”

The quotations above succinctly describe the refugee situation in Africa, in general, and especially in the Horn of Africa. In recent years, the Horn of Africa has been experiencing a rapidly worsening refugee situation. In 1979, the Organization of African United indicated that Africa, apart from “becoming the continent with the largest number of least developed countries and harbouring the largest number of the most economically backward regions in the world–constituting the periphery of the periphery in the international economic system, Africa is ... becoming the continent with largest number of refugees who constitute more than 40 per cent of the world refugee population.” The situation has since worsened as the number of refugees has reached, perhaps passed, the 5 million mark.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 12 , Issue 1-2 , Spring/Summer 1982 , pp. 29 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1982 

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References

Notes

1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), News from the UNHCR: Special Issue on Africa, No. 2, March/April 1981.

2. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 1, January/February 1981, p.4.

3. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 2, March/April 1981, p. 2.

4. United Nations, The Refugee Situation in Africa: Assistance Measures Proposed, Geneva, p. 4.

5. Organization of African United (OAU), Report of the Administrative Secretary General on the Conference on the Situation of Refugees in Africa held in Arush Tanzania, from 7-17 May 1979, (presented to the Council of Ministers, Thirty-third Ordinary Session, Monrovia) July 1979, p. 17.

6. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), “The Present State and Development Prospects of Least Developed African Countries: An Assessment of the Major Sectors,” in Conference on the Problems and Prospects of the Least Developed African Countries, Addis-Ababa, March 17-22, 1980.

7. OAU, The BPEAR: 20 Questions and Answers, Addis Ababa, n.d., p.l. See also Melander, G. and Nobel, P. (eds.) African Refugees and the Law. Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute on African Studies, 1978 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. United Nations, The Refugee Situation in Africa: Assistance Measures Proposed (International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in Africa), Geneva, 1981, pp. 21-22.

9. United Nations Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA), Ethiopia: Report of Mission on Needs Assessment Assistance Report, No. 33, New York: United Nations, 1979, pp. 25-26.

10. United Nations Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA), Somalia: Report of Mission on Needs Assessment for Population Assistance, Report No. 22, New York, 1979, p. 4

11. International Labour Organization/Jobs and Skills Programme for Africa (JASPA), Economic Transformation in Socialist Framework: An Employment and Basic Needs Oriented Development Strategy for Somalia, Addis Ababa, 1977.

12. Khogali, M. M., “Sedentarization of the Nomads: Sudan,” in Galaty, J. G.; Aronson, D.; Salzman, P. C. (eds.), The Future of Pastoral People, Ottawa, IDRC, 1981, p. 303 Google Scholar; UNFPA, Sudan: Report of Mission on Needs Assessment Assistance, Report No. 33, New York, 1979, p. 12.

13. Bonvin, J., “Human Resources: Wealth of the Poorest,” People (IPPF, London), Vol. 9, No. 2, 1982, pGoogle Scholar.

14. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 6, November/December 1981, p. 5.

15. UNHCR, ICARA Report, No. 1, January 28, 1981, p. 2; Erikson, L. G.; Melander, G.; Nobel, P. (eds.), An Analysing Account of the Conference on the African Refugee Problem, Arusha, May 1979, Scandinavian Institute for African Studies, Uppsala, 1981, p. 110 Google Scholar.

16. D’Souza, F., The Refugee Dilemma: International Recognition and Acceptance, Report No. 43, Minority Rights Group, London, 1980 Google Scholar.

17. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 4, July/August, 1981, p. 3.

18. Adepoju, A., “The Dimensions of the Refugee Problem in Africa,” African Affairs, Vol 81, No. 322, January 1982, pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hausen, A., “Refugees Dynamics: Angolians in Zambia 1966 to 1972,” in Stein, B. N. and Tornasi, S. M. (eds.), Refugees Today (Special Edition of International Migration Review), Vol. 15, Spung-Summer, 1981 Google Scholar.

19. UNHCR, UNHCR: The Last Ten Years, Geneva, 1980, p. 2.

20. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 3, March 1982, p. 1; J. R. Rogge, “African Resettlement Strategies,” in Stein, B. N. and Tornasi, S. M. (eds.) Refugees Today.

21. United Nations, The Refugee Situation in Africa: Assistance Measures Proposed, Geneva, 1981, p. 71.

22. Ibid.

23. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 3, May/June 1981, p. 4.

24. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 2, March/April 1981, p. 5.

25. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 4, July/August 1981, p. 3.

26. Christian Aid News, No. 31, April/June 1981, p. 3; Melander, G., Refugees in Somalia (Research Report No. 56), Uppsala, 1980 Google Scholar.

27. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 2, April/May 1980.

28. UNHCR, The Refugees Child, Geneva, 1979, p. 64.

29. Melander, G., Refugees in Somalia (Research Report No. 56), Uppsala, 1980), p. 20 Google Scholar.

30. F. D’Souza, The Refugee Dilemma, p. 7.

31. Laiten, D. D., “The War in the Ogaden: Implications for Siyaad’s Role in Somali History,” The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1979, pp. 95-115Google Scholar.

32. David, S., “Realignment in the Horn: The Soviet Advantage,” International Security, Vol. 4, No. 2, Fall 1979, pp. 69-90CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Newland, K., Refugees: The New International Politics of Displacement, World-Watch Paper No. 43, Washington, 1980 Google Scholar.

33. G. Melander, Refugees in Somalia, pp. 1-48.

34. S. David, “Realignment in the Horn,” op. cit., pp. 69-70.

35. Ibid., p. 71.

36. Ibid.

37. UNHCR, No. 2, March/April 1981, p. 8; West Africa, April 20, 1981, p. 849.

38. F. D’Souza, The Refugee Dilemma, p. 7.

39. UNHCR, The Refugee Child, pp. 12-13.

40. UNHCR, Refugee, No. 5, September/October 1981, p. 9.

41. UNHCR, The Refugee Child, p. 64.

42. United Nations, The Refugee Situation in Africa.

43. G. Melander, Refugees in Somalia, p. 22.

44. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 1, April/May 1980.

45. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 2, June/July 1980, p. 6.

46. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 1, January 1982, p. 8. See also B. W. Neldner, “Settlement of Rural Refugees in Africa,” in Erikson, L. G.; G. Melander and P. Nobel (eds.), An Analysing Account of the Conference on the African Refugee Problem, pp. 761-164 for a detailed discussion of Africa’s rural refugees.

47. UNHCR, News from the UNHCR, No. 2, March/April 1981, p. 8.

48. UNHCR, Refugees, No. 2, February 1982, p. 3.

49. G. Melander, Refugees in Somalia, p. 25.

50. F. D’Souza, The Refugee Dilemma, pp. 5-7.

51. United Nations, The Refugee Situation in Africa, Assistance Measures Proposed, pp. 64-65.

52. Ibid., p. XI.

53. OAU, A Compendium of Resolutions on the African Refugees (Tenth Ordinary Session of the Coordinating Committee of the OAU), (n.d.) BPEAR, Addis Ababa.