Development of a concerted approach in dealing with the African refugee situation and natural disasters
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1983-03Author(s)/Corporate Author (s)
United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa.;Organization of African Unity;
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Two major meetings have, in recent years, dwelt on refugee problems in Africa: the 1979 Arusha Conference on the situation of Refugees in Africa, and the 1981 International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in Africa (ICARA). Both events raised hopes and focussed attention on the plight of five million up-rooted Africans; both were also followed by attempts to improve the general conditions of the African refugees. Actions taken, inter alia, by UNHCR and OAU, to follow-up on the recommendations of the Arusha Conference or to gear ICARA pledges to productive results, if duly reviewed, might put this paper out of focus. What still remains is that the refugee situation in Africa requires a curative as well as a preventive approach. Refugee protection and assistance are remedial activities, but what could and should be done to prevent the refugee situation from further deteriorating, if the present trend cannot be reversed, is a longer-term prospect that requires a subtle approach and a careful consideration.