Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
46
noncombatants.162 This created widely fluctuating levels of displacement, in which thousands
of Congolese refugees would flee, and then return, based on their perception of the
situation.163 Today new instances of displacement and returns continue, with over 500,000
refugees residing in other African countries (including close to 200,000 in Uganda) and 1.5
million displaced internally.164
Refugees from Burundi and South Sudan have exhibited similar dynamics of forced migration.
Burundi has previously seen two massive outflows of forced migration during mass killings of
Hutus by a Tutsi-led army in 1972, and again in 1993 after the assassination of President
Melchior Ndadaye sparked a civil war that would last for 12 years.165 While many refugees
returned after these bouts of violence subsided, forced migration from Burundi was sparked
anew in 2015 amidst a deteriorating security situation including violence and human rights
abuses following the controversial election of President Pierre Nkurunziza to a third term.166
In South Sudan, a peace agreement in 2005 led to the country’s independence in 2011 after
decades of conflict with the northern regions of Sudan. Many of the refugees who returned
after the peace agreement continued to rely on cross-national ties and migration routes from
their time of displacement, while some left siblings or children behind to continue their
education.167 In 2013, civil war broke out after a high-level dispute between the country’s
president and vice-president, which filtered down into ethnic conflict at local levels.168
Thousands of South Sudanese once again fled the country, often returning to the networks and
camps where they had taken up refuge in the past.169 Despite a 2015 peace deal between the
two factions, violence once again began to escalate in July 2016: as of August 1, 2016, 740,000
South Sudanese had fled the country since 2013.170 Most take refuge in Sudan, Ethiopia or
Uganda.171
2.5.2. Protection frameworks in East Africa
Most states in East Africa are signatories to the 1951 Convention and the 1969 OAU
Convention, and major refugee-hosting countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya have
adopted legislation to create national asylum systems. But while refugees can access
162 The Economist, “A Report from Congo: Africa’s Great War”; IRIN News, “Fighting flares as civilians run in eastern Congo,”
October 10, 2008
163 IRIN News, “Congolese refugees flee to Uganda,” October 21, 2008
164 UNHCR, “DR Congo Factsheet 31 May 2016,” accessed August 5, 2016,
IDMC, Global Report on Internal Displacement 2016.
165 European Commission, “Burundi refugee crisis: May 2016,” accessed August 8, 2016,
Tendai Marima, “Burundi refugees: A life of
displacement and despair,” Al Jazeera, November 25, 2015,
166 European Commission, “Burundi refugee crisis: May 2016”
167 International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), Conflict in South Sudan: Refugees seek protection in Uganda and a way home
(Kampala, Uganda: International Refugee Rights Initiative, 2014), 11-12,
168 BBC News, “South Sudan: What is the fighting about?” May 10, 2014
169 IRRI, Conflict in South Sudan; Richard Nield, “South Sudan: Portrait of a civil war refugee,” Al Jazeera , February 24, 2016,
170 UNHCR, “South Sudan Situation: Information Sharing Portal,” accessed August 8, 2016,
171 UNHCR, “South Sudan Situation”