‘Because I am a stranger’ Urban refugees in Yaoundé, Cameroon

The regional dynamics of many of the conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa generate a perspective of refugees as a potential security threat, as governments fear that some refugees will involve the country in the conflict, for example by using the host country as a base for rebel groups to attack their home country.1 The host country’s desire to protect and separate itself from the effects of conflict, and the conflict itself, influence the way in which treatment, assistance, and polices are formed towards refugees. This is often achieved by confining refugees into camps and settlements where they are prevented from moving freely, which is essential to their ability to access many of their economic and social rights, such as employment.2
Refugees in Cameroon are mostly self-settled, as there is only one refugee camp in the country, the Langui camp, located in the extreme north of the country near the border of Chad, and thus is home to a large number of Chadian refugees; however the UNHCR is working to repatriate some 1,000 Chadian refugees upon the signing and finalising of an agreement with the government of Cameroon.