Territorial
conflicts and people in Africa: forced migration and where it all started
Conflict induced displacement
includes those who are “forced to flee their homes for one or more of the
following reasons and where the State authorities are unable or unwilling to
protect them: armed conflict including civil war; generalized violence; and
persecution on the grounds of nationality, race, religion, political opinion or
social group”.6 Forced migration also occurs in response to border disputes,
which have led to violent conflicts in several countries.
Conflict is thus a driver of
migration. Severe conflicts often lead to flows of internally displaced people
or refugees, if they flee across borders, yet conflicts can also be a driver of
economic migration.
Intra-African and extra-continental
migration is a phenomenon that dates back to the origins of humankind.
Historical records from many centuries past show well-established trade routes
between Western Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and India, and between either end
of the Sahara through the trans-Saharan caravan trade.
Patterns of transcontinental
migration were fundamentally altered with the advent of European colonialism in
the fifteenth century. The extraction of labour, commodities and natural
resources helped to build the European and North American economies, while
denuding such opportunities for Africa. The colonial era was designed to meet
the labour demands of mining and plantation based economies, and the control
and regulation of human mobility was an essential Economic Development element. For example, France
introduced various forms of labour conscription in Burkina Faso and Mali, as
well as, to varying degrees, in Western Africa. Similarly, the hut tax was a
type of taxation introduced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland on a per hut or household basis, mainly in Eastern and Southern Africa,
that was variously payable in money, labour, grain or stock. Such economic policies
induced indigenous labour to move and work in colonial-owned mines and plantations
on the continent.
Cultural affinities and shared
languages have always played a key role in movements across borders, in terms
of both people and trade. The colonial era demarcation of international borders
often disregarded cultural and ethnic affiliations. The movement of people and
trade, however, continued in line with traditional groups. For example, undocumented
migration between Kenya, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania for work on
tea, coffee and cotton plantations has taken advantage of common cultural
affinities, languages, currencies and shared colonial experiences.
The post tomorrow will continue
focusing on the relationship between current issues related to forced
migration, displacement, refugees and the historical reasons behind the
territorial conflicts that cause them.
Economic Development in Africa Report 2018 (UNCTAD)
Jorge
Emilio Núñez
Twitter:
@London1701
11th October 2018
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