PRESS BRIEFING ON AFRICA REFUGEE DAY

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON AFRICA REFUGEE DAY

Africa's refugee population has reached 3 million persons, and 6 million more have been displaced, an official of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said at a Headquarters press briefing today marking Africa Refugee Day.

Nicholas Bwakira, Director of the UNHCR Liaison Office to the United Nations, said the agency spent $300 million each year to assist refugees in Africa. The root causes of the refugee problem must be addressed, and he expressed gratitude to the Organization of African Unity (AOU) for its 1974 African Refugee Convention that instituted the Africa Refugee Day observance on 20 June each year. He also praised African States for opening their doors to the millions of refugees, despite their economic and social constraints.

Mr. Bwakira used the occasion to call upon the international community to do more in burden sharing. He expressed concern about the increasing xenophobia in countries that once welcomed refugees, and the growing confusion between economic migrants and genuine refugees. "More and more African countries, which used to be very generous, are closing their doors to refugees because of their economic and social constraints and because of competition between their nationals and refugees for scarce resources", he said.

Asked what the root causes of the refugee crisis were, he said they included conflicts, poverty, tensions among populations because of poverty, and internal ethnic tensions. There were more than 10 conflicts in Africa now being dealt with by the Security Council. The refugee problem could not be solved without a resolution of the major political questions facing many African States.

Asked whether consideration had been given to resettling refugees temporarily in non-African countries, given the burden they shouldered, he said the host countries usually accepted the "cream of the cream" of educated Africans. In terms of solution to the refugee crisis, he said resettlement was a very limited contribution. From 5,000 to 7,000 refugees were resettled outside the continent every year -- "a drop", considering the millions of refugees and displaced persons.

Had he seen any step in the direction of African States putting their house in order as called for by the Secretary-General? a correspondent asked. Mr. Bwakira answered in the affirmative, adding that the OAU had established a mechanism to prevent and to resolve conflicts. That mechanism was working -- it helped resolve the conflict in Mozambique and in the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Resolving conflicts took a long and patient effort.

He told a questioner that, generally, the majority of refugees were children, and the UNHCR was focusing on meeting their needs. In Sierra Leone, the UNHCR was making special efforts to help prevent the recruitment of children into combat.

Africa Refugee Day Briefing - 2 - 20 June 2000

He distributed a statement issued to mark the Day by Sadaka Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In the statement, she said the continent's escalating refugee problems needed attention today more than ever. Last year, there had been encouraging signs. The ceasefire agreements in Lomé and in Lusaka raised the hope that hundreds of thousands of refugees in western and central Africa would finally be going home.

But, making lasting peace agreements continued to be a major challenge, she said. The UNHCR had resumed its repatriation of Liberian refugees from Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. It had begun working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank on a transitional programme that would promote the reintegration of Sierra Leonean refugees from Guinea and Liberia. But, by mid- year, new tensions had emerged and the truce had begun to unravel. The equally tragic situations in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were other examples of the open or simmering conflicts that continued to plague other regions of Africa.

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