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Africa, seen from space, is a continent of two colours – a broad band of light brown in the North and shades of rainforest green in the remaining regions. But closer to the surface, one finds the landscape dotted with pockets of turquoise UN relief camps. For the 30 million individuals living in such camps throughout the world, fear, violence and uncertainty has become the norm. Nearly half of them are found in Africa.
How does a continent, which hosts little more than a tenth of the global population, put forth 48% of the world’s displaced individuals? By comparison, Asia with 61% of the world population, provides only 35% of the global displaced population. Similarly, Europe and the Americas, which host 13% to 15% of the global population, provide only 5% and 10% of the global displaced population respectively. By and large, scholars are looking at the effect of foreign intervention in African politics to explain the creation of a disproportionately high number of displaced individuals in Africa.
But the term “displacement” has consistently defied attempts at unequivocal classification. Displaced populations are generally divided into two categories: Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Only refugees are internationally recognized and granted protection under The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which restricts the term to those who have crossed a political boundary and seek asylum in a foreign country. This definition does not address the issue of internal displacement within countries, a significant limitation given that IDPs outnumber refugees by a ratio of more than 2:1. Both groups face the same hardships and have the same basic needs – shelter, food and security. IDPs are unable or unwilling to leave their country behind due to the hardships involved in travelling to the country’s border and the danger involved in leaving the country undetected. However, the origin of persecution and the capabilities of the persecuted to escape should not be decisive in determining refugee status. Instead, the guiding principle should be whether or not a person deserves international protection because it is unavailable within his or her country. Accordingly, international institutions have opted to group refugees and IDPs under the umbrella term of “Displaced Individuals” to include all who have fled their homes to escape persecution and violence.
Two forms of foreign interventions have impacted the refugee creation process: Colonialism and the Cold War. Both interventions have created and intensified African conflicts leading to the displacement crisis on the continent.
The Colonial Legacy
The colonial legacy of polarizing religious and ethnic identities by favouring a single identity over all others led to some of the most devastating civil wars in African history. Armed conflict also arose due to the direct involvement of colonial powers in post-colonial conflicts of African states. Countries like Sudan, Rwanda, Nigeria and Congo provide poignant examples of these phenomena.
The British were initially impressed by the cultural richness of the northern Muslim region of Sudan. In comparison, the south was heterogeneous and relatively undeveloped, consisting of animistic cultures. The colonial power invested a great deal of money educating and furthering the development of the northern regions while leaving southern Sudan underdeveloped and exploited. The educated and modern elite in northern Sudan began fighting for autonomy but their attempts were crushed by giving more power to the traditional northern rulers and by reducing the authority exercised by the educated elite. As a preventative measure against any similar demands of autonomy in the south, the British government completely cut off any contact between the north and the south parts of Sudan. Over decades, Northern Sudan developed while Southern Sudan remained in extreme poverty and without essential services. The colonial powers had effectively polarized the nation into the north and the south characterized by strong feelings of resentment between the two regions. At the outset of independence, Britain merged them into one nation. The developed north was given control over the country and the south was left with very little political representation. The newly-formed Islamic government began enforcing the policy of forced Islamization on the Christian and animist south, leading to internal conflict that continues today on an intra-state civil level as well as an inter-state level between neighbouring countries. In addition to the direct violence caused by the conflict, war-induced famine has also affected regions of Sudan where opposing forces have destroyed food supplies and placed landmines in agricultural regions. The cumulative result of this has been the deaths of two million civilians and the displacement of at least four million.
The well-known case of Rwanda shows the extreme consequences of ethnic polarization. The Belgian colonialists rule favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutus. The Sudanese pattern emerges here since the Tutsis were given total representation in the government and education system while the Hutus were denied such basic rights. The strict colonial rule suppressed any conflicts that could arise by such inequality between the ethnic groups. But during the process of decolonization, Belgium reversed its policy and, in the hope of creating a more equitable Rwanda, handed over all power to the Hutus. This led to the first wave of displacement as nearly 150,000 Tutsi civilians left Rwanda afraid that the newly formed Hutu regime would oppress them for past injustices. Three decades later, the resentment that simmered within the Hutu population climaxed after the alleged assassination of the Hutu President by a Tutsi armed group. Nearly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in a span of a hundred days. Following the genocide, more than a million Hutu civilians and army officials fled Rwanda to seek asylum in nearby countries fearing retribution and criminal justice. Like the case of Sudan, polarizing of the nation on the basis of ethnicity led to extreme ethnic violence and mass displacement.
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Saurabh Sunil Chitnis
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Comments
Migration: Comment Henry Ekwuruke | Mar 5th, 2007
The issue of migration in Africa cannot be understood without taking an economic view of the matter and also with a human face; human face in the sense that we are "one".
I appreciate your conclusion where you told us the importance of partnership for one important global community to raise to the challenges of curtaining this trend for good for all and working hard to make poverty history through partnership for migration development, because the coin is two sided.
Just a Thought, Jesture and Comment Eugenia Bivines | Mar 14th, 2007
If Africans were to unite as a nation many of the problems faced today would not exist.
Africa has all resources of its own and needs no one to run our country.
In todays day and age there are many well educated Africanians and some live here with the US.
In stead of being a nation divided by its own people. Africa needs to stop the division of its people and join together.
This posting comment is from a quote in this article.
"Africa still suffers heavily from the colonial legacy, despite attaining independence for many of its states, showing the complex and long-term effects of colonialism. The mistakes made by colonial powers decades ago still resonate strongly in the lives of the millions of displaced individuals who have been forced to flee from civil conflict in Africa."
If the Africanians that live her in the states take what they have learned and go back to Africa then educate others and put there education to use. The Mother Land Would Be Restore ie.... on its way to restoration.
This is something that I work on with in the US. Getting African involved in building up Africa.
Stand Up Africa and take back what is rightfully yours.
Africa is a BearySpecial Nation Divided
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