Book Reviews 99
Refugees and Development in Africa, Peter Nobel (ed), Seminar Proceedings No
19, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, 1987 (121pp, SEK11Q-).
This volume is die twelfth book on refugees published by the Scandinavian Institute
of African Studies. It marks the end of a research project under the tide of Refugees
and Development in Africa, funded by the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation
with Developing Countries (SAREC), during the period 1982 to 1985.
This project aimed to produce studies on die legal, economic and social aspects of die
situation of refugees in Africa, and these were presented at an international seminar
on die subject in Uppsala in 1985 and are the subject matter of this work. This edited
book includes die work of diree main authors, Peter Nobel, Mekuriar Bulcha and
Gaim Kibreab, all of whom have written widely on the subject of refugees in Africa.
There is also a further section on the right to development, witii contributions from
the editor and from Adama Dieng.
Of particular interest in this book is the fact diat it introduces a discussion of the
concept of people's rights, reflecting on the adoption, on the part of the Organisation
of African Unity (OAU), of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, in
June 1981. This Charter, often referred to as the Banjul Charter, following a meeting
by Heads of State in the capital of Gambia, was later endorsed by the UN General
Assembly. It emphasises people's rights to development as well as other civil and
political rights. In the Charter the term 'people' is used in a loose and flexible way
and is not seen as synonymous widi die concept of a sovereign state. Nobel points
out, in his well-discussed chapter on the subject, that this is in harmony with Africa's
historical tradition, where multi-ethnic and multi-cultural 'states' are the norm. The
implication is that people should not be denied their rights simply because diey do
not represent the entire population of a single state, and that states dierefore have a
responsibility for all those who find themselves within dieir borders. The Banjul
Charter is reproduced in full in an appendix to diis volume.
In further chapters Bulcha and Kibreab offer studies on selected refugee issues
which relate to Ethiopia and Sudan respectively. Bulcha presents an analysis of die
causes of refugee flows in Africa, which he traces, firsdy, to die ending of die colonial
era widi its process of 'nation-building', its enormous conflicts and changes; and
dien, secondly, to the conflict between die super-powers for areas of influence in die
Third World. However he does not only blame Africa's refugee problem on outside
factors, but points out diat Africa has also contributed to its creation. He is extremely
critical of unnamed African leaders whom he identifies as some of the chief culprits in
die creation of the refugee problem, particularly regarding the cult of 'boundary
fetishism' (p 21) and an intolerance towards dissident opinion. Ediiopia is presented
as an example of these causative factors, where regional conflicts related to conquest
and colonisation (eg Tigray and Eritrea), political persecution, war, poverty, military
conscription, forced labour and involuntary resetdement, all contributed to the
creation of a vast refugee problem in die region. Bulcha, in a later chapter, studies the
degree to which Ediiopian refugees have become integrated in the Sudan. His radier
pessimistic conclusions indicate that there is in fact very little interaction between the
refugees and local people due to a variety of factors, including language, religious
differences, inter-personal and inter-group cqnflicts.
Kibreab offers a study of the dynamics of flight, using as a case study rural Eritrean
100 Book Reviews
refugees in the Sudan. His interest lies in the refugees' stated reasons for flight, as he
poiftts out that fleeing a country is likely to be only one alternative among many
available to them. His study identifies, firstly, that flight is a decreasing function of
geographic distance — ie those nearer a possible country of asylum are more likely to
leave; secondly, the more sedentary peasants are and the more attached they are to
their villages and land, the less likely they are to break their ties and leave; thirdly,
populations with relatively adequate economic, social and political opportunities are
characterised by a stronger inertia which countervails mass exodus. While these
conclusions may seem obvious to the reader, Kibreab's conclusions indicate that
substantive and 'reinforcing' factors (p39) are probably more likely to influence the
decision to flee, rather than certain dramatic or single factor events. In a further study
on the ambitious settlement programme adopted by Sudan for its vast refugee
population, Kibreab welcomes the initiative, but points to several serious problems
inhibiting its successful realisation. These include the dire straits of Sudan's
economy, the perception that refugees are transitory, and a lack of effective participation
by refugees in their own development.
Dieng, in his contribution, discusses the role of law and lawyers in development.
He recommends that initiatives be undertaken for individual legal experts and
human rights activists to work closely with local populations, perhaps through the
assistance of NGO's. He quotes an initiative in Senegal, as an example of this
solidarity, where lawyers and NGO personnel set up a legal service for the benefit of
peasants. Dieng also examines the debate surrounding the 'right to development',
and although endorsing the principle, sounds a warning with the following quotation:
"Development, how many crimes have been committed and are being
committed in thy name?" (p57).
A useful and imaginative addition to this volume are the seminar discussions,
placed at the end of each chapter grouping. I found this very useful as the chapters
raise many important questions, which in many cases are left unanswered by the
authors. The seminar discussions allow for some reflection on the topics discussed,
and provide continuity between each segment of the book. On a critical note, the
book should have been more carefully proof-read before publication, as there are
many spelling and typographical errors throughout.
The final section, entitled 'Views in Common', allows the three main authors to
summarise key points and respond to various refugee issues, including voluntary
repatriation, the pressure on the host country and problems of dependency. It is
worthwhile, in my view, to reproduce the three pre-conditions which they identify as
needing to be fulfilled in order to guarantee that the repatriation of refugees is
voluntary, and that it succeeds in offering a 'durable solution'. These are:
A. The political conditions — a secure political settlement is required in order to
end insecurity for refugees on their return home and to ensure their physical
safety.
B. The legal conditions — refugees should be guaranteed freedom from arbitrary
arrest or persecution through clearly defined legal decree or ordinances, which
precisely define the status of refugees on their return home. An amnesty is an
example of such a decree permitting free return.
C. The socio-economic conditions — assistance is required to enable refugees to
have a realistic chance to resettle and earn a livelihood once more.
Book Reviews 101
The authors also recommend that much more respect should be paid to the rights,
safety and dignity of all Africans and that refugees should be accorded much the same
treatment as nationals wherever possible. On a practical level they recommend the
production of handbooks detailing basic information regarding refugee' rights and
obligations, which at limited cost could add stability and confidence to their lives.
A final point that is stressed throughout the book is that, in the interests of equity
in development, the local population must be involved in the development initiative,
as indeed refugees themselves should. Development is seen as consisting of three
essential factors: direct, practical assistance, the participation of people at every stage,
and finally guarantees for their safety and dignity. In general, we are informed that a
genuine respect for human, or people's, rights is essential if 'development' is o> be
worthwhile, either for local people or refugees. It is difficult to be at odds with such
worthy sentiments.
Although a short volume (123 pp including appendices), I consider that this book
is a very useful addition to the literature on the African refugee problem. Its contribution
is also timely in reminding us diat there is indeed an African Charter on
Human and People's Rights which deserves more careful scrutiny than perhaps we
have given it to date.
Reviewed by N Hall, School of Social Work, Harare.
State, Resistance and Change in South Africa, Philip Frankel, Noam Pines and
Mark Swilling (eds), Croom Helm, London, 1988 (325pp, £30 hbk)
In recent years, the dialectics of popular protest and state repression in South Africa
have spawned a plethora of conventional literature seeking to analyse the cause(s)
and to predict possible outcomes of the apartheid quagmire. For the most part the
resulting literature has remained within the confines of liberal skepticism, failing to
foresee possibilities for paradigmatic political change in South Africa.
The authors of State, Resistance and Change in South Africa are liberal skeptics
in that, while seemingly recognising the magnitude of the apartheid problem, they
nevertheless see no meaningful political development beyond the apartheid state.
The authors postulate a dual thesis which sees South Africa in the grips of a
Gramsci type of an interregnum consisting of a social stalemate where 'the old'is
dying and the new cannot be born'. The old is dying because the apartheid state
does not have die requisite ideological and political resources required to reestablish
its racial dominance without recourse to more and more coercion. On the
other hand, the new cannot be born because the various organisations and movements
that represent the interests of the oppressed majority do not possess the
organisational capacity and political power or coercive strengdi to overthrow the
state and bring about meaningful political change.
According to one of the authors, Mark Swilling (p 16), the capacity of black resistance
organisations to oppose state policy directly affects the relationship between
the reformist and repressive apparatus: the more opposition there is, the more
repression is used, which in turn destabilises conditions for reform; whereas when
opposition diminishes, repression becomes increasingly functional to reform, and
so the resulting greater unity of purpose within the state reinforces the chance of
success of reformist strategies; although the former possibility is more probable.