The Politics of Asylum in Africa

This chapter examines three distinct periods: the colonial period of the 1960s during when refugees first became a major concern in Africa; the post-independence period of the 1970s considered a ‘golden age’ for refugees; and the encampment period of the 1990s to the present which has witnessed the collapse of the institution of asylum. These issues are critically analysed in order to provide a better understanding about the factors that has driven the institution of asylum in Africa from hospitality to deterrence and now to encampment in just three decades. For context, 33 of the 54 African nations have established some of the largest refugee camps in the world. It is this current approach to the problem: the institutionalisation of asylum and the securitisation practice that I have critically analysed with a view to conceptualising new ways forward. In examining the phenomenon of ‘prolonged’ refugee encampment in Africa, I argue that encampment which is a temporary de facto fourth durable solution to the refugee phenomenon, has become a permanent institution for concentrating millions of refugees.