In recent months the international news media has again focused on refugees and internally displaced people in Mozambique, Angola and the Horn of Africa. Many of these are “hunger migrants,” people on the move in search of food. But hunger is only one form of forced displacement. It is clear that drought and famine are the companions of war and civil conflict, which disrupts water supply, planting, harvesting and the patterns of economic life in the countryside. In some instances, this disruption is chosen as the means of warfare carried on against the population.

The papers in this symposium develop different aspects of the dynamics of displacement and repatriation. The first paper focuses on forced displacement in Africa, with special consideration of the situation in southern Africa. The second two papers take up the questions of repatriation and reintegration of refugees into their home communities. Together they raise the central issues, which governments and international agencies often are unwilling, or unable, to address.

The first paper presents a general overview of the refugee/displacement map in Africa and develops the general thesis that contemporary displacements in Africa, as elsewhere, are caused by economic and political forces which generate oppressive and dehumanizing situations. It evaluates the instruments which the international community has developed to protect refugees and notes the politics of refugee definition. The central thesis analyzes the geo-political forces involved in refugee generation in Africa, specifically in the southern African context. The conclusion looks at implications for collaborative action on the part of the university and nongovernmental communities in both northern and southern countries.