Eritrean and Ethiopian Urban Refugees in Khartoum: What the Eye Refuses to See

Abstract

A decade and a half ago Chambers (1979) referred to African rural refugees as “What the Eye Does not See.” This was, inter alia, due to the remoteness of their inhabited areas and the urban bias which then characterized the responses of the international assistance regime. If rural refugees were, in the 1970s, “what the eye did not see,” today refugees in many of the African urban centers are what the eye “refuses to see.” One of the most dramatic and far-reaching impacts of war, drought and economic hardship in the 1980s in many sub-Saharan African countries has been the immense population shift from rural areas to the cities. This population shift is taking place in the absence of any structural transformation in the economies concerned. Structural transformation here refers to increases in labor productivity, a declining share of agriculture in total output, technological progress and industrialization. African host-governments see the situation in their urban centers being exacerbated by the presence of refugees who are said to compete with nationals for scarce employment opportunities and social services such as health, education, housing, water and transportation. In many African host countries where the public sector is the main employer, refugees are excluded from employment in this sector; in other countries such as Egypt and Djibouti, refugees are not allowed to take any paid employment (Wallace 1985). The policies of many African governments toward skilled urban refugees are succinctly described by Brydon and Gould (1984,4): [E]xperience has shown that skilled refugees face particular difficulties for employment and assimilation into the host society. Employment policies in most African countries have been vigorously nationalistic…and particularly for skilled workers.

African female immigration to the United States and its policy implications

“…Second, females are over-represented in forced migration flows from African countries affected by wars (Pedraza 1991). Although, it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify the contribution of female professionals to this process, the higher representation of females in many African forced-migrant populations is now well documented (Ager, Ager, and Long 1995, Kibreab 1996, Martin 2004). Lubkemann (2000), for instance, has described large female migration flows from Mozambique to Zimbabwe and South Africa during the Mozambican civil war.…”

Rethinking Household Headship among Eritrean Refugees and Returnees

“…Another study conducted among the refugees in Khartoum also showed that the male spouses of some of the FHHs were working either in the Gulf States or in one of the countries in Western Europe and/or North America, or in Australia or New Zealand (Kibreab, 1996b). Among a sample of 432 household heads, 50 per cent of the females were married and were living together with their husbands, 29 per cent were single, 2 per cent cohabiting without being married (semur ginbar), 8 5 per cent divorced and separated, 4 per cent widowed, and the spouses of another 10 per cent lived outside Sudan (Kibreab, 1996b).…”

“…Among a sample of 432 household heads, 50 per cent of the females were married and were living together with their husbands, 29 per cent were single, 2 per cent cohabiting without being married (semur ginbar), 8 5 per cent divorced and separated, 4 per cent widowed, and the spouses of another 10 per cent lived outside Sudan (Kibreab, 1996b). The family structure of Eritrean refugees in Khartoum also exhibited some unusual forms in the sense that a large proportion (20 per cent) of the`households' comprised groups of bachelors who in order to make ends meet, shared incomes, expenditures and housing (Kibreab, 1996b). Though these households comprised adults of the same sex without any sexual relationship, the arrangements involved common residence and economic co-operation and therefore fit the standard definition of households.…”

Climate variability, political crises, and historical population displacements in Ethiopia

“…Aside from intracountry movement, Ethiopia has been ''one of the most important refugee-generating countries of the world for the past 20 years'' (Bariagaber, 1997, p. 30). A further large, but uncounted number of people crossed into Sudan as a result of resettlement and other government policies in the 1980s (Kibreab, 1996), but once again, the number of individuals involved remains unknown.…”