Suchergebnisse

Refugees as a security threat -- Refugee militarisation -- Refugees and inter-state conflict -- Refugees and violent conflict in host states -- Refugees and crime -- Refugees and the problem of illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW) -- Refugees and the terrorist threat -- Security and refugee policies in East Africa

The refugee phenomenon is a major force in international politics, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where refugees are major actors in the affairs of their home and host countries. This book analyses why refugees, victims of insecurity due to conflict or persecution, have themselves become viewed by scholars and practitioners as a security threat. Using Kenya and Tanzania as case studies, the work also examines responses made to this threat.

The devastation brought by the worldwide trafficking and proliferation of small arms and light weapons--man-portable weapons like assault rifles, mortars, and grenades--has overtaken land mines as the major problem facing governments and other interested groups in the non-governmental world and academia. Regional organisations in Europe, Latin America, and Africa as well as the UN (including, increasingly the Security Council) have taken up some aspect of small arms control. A major aspect in the discourse of small arms relates to the illicit or illegal arms trafficking, by which is usually (but not always) meant stocks of weapons already in circulation outside of government control. Increasingly, new stocks of small arms from various sources including government transfers (both overt and covert) as well as grey and black markets, are finding their way to African conflict theatres and they eventually reach illegal markets. For Kenya, the major problem issue with small arms relates to the trafficking and proliferation of illegal arms into the country. Although researchers and policy makers alike acknowledge that one way in which refugees threaten security is through the trafficking of illegal arms, little research has been done in this area. It is common practice in Kenya particularly among politicians and government officials, to attribute illegal weapons in the country to the presence of refugees: This paper aims at contributing to the small arms discourse by analysing the role of refugees as an external factor in the trafficking and cross border movement of illegal arms into the country. This analysis also contributes to the new scholarship in refugee studies which now considers refugees not only as victims (humanitarian issues) but also as capable of causing conflict and insecurity.

Die Aufsätze sind Ergebnis einer Konferenz vom 31.10.-02.11.1997 in Kenia und untersuchen verschiedene Konfliktformationen und -ursachen im postkolonialen Afrika. Schwerpunkt ist Ostafrika, eine Fallstudie geht mit Nigeria in den westafrikanischen Raum. Behandelt wird eine breite Spanne von Themen, die in vier Kapitel aufgeteilt werden: Globale Dimensionen (Rolle des Präsidenten bei der Konfliktentstehung, Demokratisierung, linguistische Identitäten, Bedeutung von Bildung); Beziehungen/Konflikte zwischen Staaten (bilateraler Gegensatz zwischen Äthiopien und Somalia bzw. Uganda und Sudan, Außenpolitik Kenias); soziale, politische und wirtschaftliche Grundlagen (u.a. wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, innenpolitische/ethnische Konflikte in Kenia und Nigeria, Frauen, Frauenbild in der Werbung am Beispiel Ugandas, Auswirkungen bewaffneter Konflikte auf Kinder/Jugendliche) und Fragen der Umwelt (Folgen schneller Urbanisierung; Probleme des ausufernden Straßentransports, Abfallproblematik). (DÜI-Wgm)