African States and the Politics of Refugees: Refugee Assistance as Political Resources
Jacobsen, Karen
2002-01-25
- Mass influxes of refugees are widely held to be one more intractable problem for impoverished and conflict-ridden African countries -- âa luxury [the worldâs poorest states] .. can no longer affordâ as a recent text put it (UNHCR 1998: 71). Refugees are seen to impose a variety of economic and environmental burdens on host countries, and to create or aggravate security threats. However, for ... read morethe past twenty years, refugee flows have also been accompanied by a significant resource transfer in the form of international humanitarian assistance and human capital. Refugee camps have become the repositories of such resources as relief supplies and food aid, vehicles, communication equipment, and other locally valued and scarce materials. The refugees themselves bring human capital in the form of labor, skills and education. In addition, refugees are, if only for a brief burst of international media attention, a highly visible phenomenon, capable of focusing attention on regions normally lost to the public eye. They therefore represent political leverage for savvy actors in the region. Thus, a sustained injection of material, social and political ârefugee resourcesâ is suddenly available in a receiving region. In most African host countries, however, refugee hosting areas are poor and underdeveloped, and commonly experience increased security problems with a refugee influx.read less
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- tufts:UA197.008.008.00010
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