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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Relief and Repatriation: Views by Rwandan Refugees; Lessons for Humanitarian Aid Workers
Author:Pottier, JohanISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:95
Issue:380
Period:July
Pages:403-429
Language:English
Geographic terms:Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Rwanda
Tanzania
Subjects:refugees
Rwandans
Miscellaneous (i.e. Demography, Refugees, Sports)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/723574
Abstract:In 1995 the author carried out research among Rwandan refugees in Ngara (Tanzania) and Goma (Zaire) in order to access their views on various aspects of the emergency assistance provided. The research was carried out under the auspices of the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, undertaken on behalf of a Steering Committee comprising 37 agencies. The author focuses on two relief sectors: food aid and community services, and examines the linkages between food aid, community services and repatriation. He shows that a year into the (new) Rwandan refugee crisis, Rwandan Hutu refugees had come to believe, more strongly than ever, that the UN, most NGOs and the new government in Kigali were linked in conspiracy. In addition, refugees felt that UNHCR officials, along with most aid workers, were (and remain) ignorant when it came to grasping the complexities of Rwandan politics. Humanitarian agencies continually fail to situate those who claim to speak for the majority of refugees. Rather than investigate the political scene in the camps, they adopt a learn-on-the-job approach. The author argues that the value of community mobilization should be recognized from the start of an emergency, because the majority of the refugees regard social breakdown as part of the emergency, and social reconstruction as part of the response required. Notes, ref.
Views
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