Refugee identities and relief in an African borderland: a study of northern Uganda and southern Sudan

Borderlands have been the setting for many refugee crises over the last decades. By far
the largest part of the world refugee population is hosted just across the border from the
country they have fled. Since refugee law stipulates that persons who fear persecution
and can no longer be protected by their own state have the right to seek asylum in another
state, in order to become a refugee one has to cross a border. However, international borders
have often separated people sharing the same ethnic background. The refugee regime
is fully dependent on the existence of international borders, since individuals are identified
with nation-states (Adelman 1999). Other identities of refugees, formed by a mixture
of origin, culture and language, are often neglected. Yet where a border has been drawn
arbitrarily through a populated area, this complicates relations between people on either
side of it and also between hosts and refugees.
Many African borders are arbitrary, sometimes just drawn as straight lines on the map.
Nevertheless, they must be drawn somewhere in order to create a modern state. International
borders have been essential for the creation of national identity, or nationhood.
Cohen (1997) argues that nation states have coped with ethnic diversity by demanding
exclusive citizenship, border control, linguistic conformity and political obedience. Since
independence, African states have generally accepted existing borders and aimed to reinforce,
or create, national identity. However, in this paper I shall argue that transnational
borderlands create a specific identity that should be taken into account by relief efforts in
crises of forced migration. The identity of people living in borderlands might be more
important than a “refugee” identity, nationality or specific “ethnicity.”
Several questions come to mind in considering the Uganda–Sudan borderland specifically
and borderlands in general. What importance do governments and aid agencies attach to
the identity of refugees, to which they are contributing by implementing large-scale assistance
programmes? Do humanitarian organizations consider the specific characteristics
of a borderland, such as isolation, underdevelopment and proneness to conflict? These
questions will be addressed in this paper and suggestions for policy will be made.
A further objective of this paper is to study the impact of refugee movements on local
host communities sharing the same borderlands. What does a refugee influx mean to the
hosts? Do they see the refugees as a burden or as an opportunity? Host communities in
Africa have often gone through experiences similar to those of their “guests,” and in
many refugee crises share with them a similar cultural and ethnic environment. This impact
will be studied in relation to refugee assistance programmes that, while they have
good intentions, often fail to address substantial issues.