Causes of Mass Exodus from Etfiopia ancl Problems of Integration in the Sudan

258 Pages·2006·3.81 MB·English

Causes of Mass Exodus from Etfiopia ancl
Problems of Integration in the Sudan
Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala
Flight and Integration

Flight and Integration
Causes of Mass Exodus from Ethiopia and
Problems of Integration in the Sudan
Mekuria Bulcha
Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala
1988 Mekuria Bulcha and Nordiska afrikainstitutet
@
ISBN 91-7106-279-3
Printed in Sweden by
Motala Grafiska, Motala 1988
Acknowledgements
In the course of writing this book I have become indebted to many people and several
institutions in Sweden and the Sudan. I owe the deepest gratitude to Professor Ulf
Himmelstrand without whose generous support and guidance this work could not
have been completed. My sincere thanks also go to Docent Pablo Suarez who read
my manuscript and gave me useful criticism and advice. I should also acknowledge
my debt to Dr. Michael Stihl, Dr. Peter Nobel and Dr. Gaim Kibreab for their
support and intellectual stimulation. I would like to express my appreciation for the
assistance I received from the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies (SIAS). Karl
Eric Ericson and Ingrid Dahlquist of the SIAS have been of the utmost help. I thank
them sincerely.
I am grateful to the staff of the Office of the Sudanese Commissioner for Refugees
in Khartoum and Gedaref. My sincere thanks go also to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Sudanese Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) in Khartoum. In Gedaref, I thank Lars Jonsson of the
UNHCR, the staff of the Sudanese Council of Churches (SCC) and the International
Rescue Committee (IRC). I received valuable support from all of them. In Damazin,
Kurmuk and Yabus I am most grateful to the staff of the Oromo Relief Association
(ORA) without whose generous support my field work in those places would have
been impossible. I am grateful to the Sudanese Security Police in Damazin and
Kurmuk for their assistance.
I am also indebted to my field assistants Gebrezghi Isaias, Zerai Woldai, Humedin
Suleiman, Asmerom Berhe and Ghebregziabher Seyoum with whom I shared the
hardships of the fieldwork. I thank my friend Wendy Duncan of the Institute of
International Education at the University of Stockholm for her editorial work,
Gladys Golborne of the University of Uppsala for the assistance she accorded me in
processing the data and Sture Balgird for drawing the maps I used in this work.
Fekadu Megarsa typed the first drafts of Chapters 2 and 3. Paul Brady and Moham-
med Farah of the Department of Sociology at the University of Uppsala gave me
some of the most stimulating criticisms and views. I thank them all.
Without the financial assistance of the Swedish Agency for Research Co-opera-
tion with Developing Countries (SAREC) I could have not carried out this work
sucessfully. I am grateful to SAREC. 1 also thank the University of Uppsala and the
Swedish Institute for the scholarship grants I received from them for several years.
Finally I give my thanks to my dear Maazash who spent countless evenings,
weekends and holidays patiently typing and retyping the various drafts of this work.
Her contribution and encouragement helped me most to complete the book.
The book is dedicated to the subjects of the study - the refugees themselves.
Stockholm, January 1988
M. Bulcha
Abbrevations
ALF Afar Liberation Front
AMC Agricultural Marketing Corporation
AETU All-Ethiopian Trade Union
ASS The Anti-Slavery Society
COPWE Commission for the Formation of the Party of the Working
People of Ethiopia
COR Office of the Commissioner for Refugees
EDU Ethiopian Democratic Union
ELF Eritrean Liberation Front
EPLF Eritrean People's Liberation Front
EPRP Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
ERA Eritrean Relief Association
ESRC Economic and Social Research Council
ICARA International Conference for Assistance to Refugees in Africa
ILO International Labour Office
IMF International Monetary Fund
IRC International Rescue Committee
MEISON All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NRC National Research Council
OAU Organization for African Unity
OLF Oromo Liberation Front
ORA Oromo Relief Association
PMAC Provisional Military Administrative Council
POMOA Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs
RRC Relief and Rehabilitation Commission
REST Relief Society of Tigray
SCC Sudan Council of Churches
S1 Survival International
SID A Swedish International Development Authority
TPLF Tigray People's Liberation Front
UN United Nations
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
WSLF West Somali Liberation Front
Contents
Acknowledgements 5
List of Abbreviations 6
List of Tables 9
Figures and Maps 11
PART' I: THE GENERAL BACKGROUND
Chapter 1. General Introduction
The Study 15
Refugees in Africa: The Problem 18
Local and International Responses to the African Refugee Problem 21
The Setting of the Present Study 25
Chapter 2. The Mass Exodus from Ethiopia: Historical Background
Introduction 32
The Conquest and Colonization of the Oromo, Sidama and Other Adjacent Peoples
(1876-1909) 33
Basic Features of Abyssinian Feudal Colonialism 39
Resistance and Rebellions 50
Conclusions 60
Chapter 3. The Ethiopian Revolution of 1974
Introduction 62
The Contention for State Power 63
The Question of Nationalities 67
Conclusion 72
PART 11: THE FLIGHT
Chapter 4. The Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Introduction 77
The Paucity of Theoretical Literature 77
The Conceptual Framework used in this Study 78
Integration in the Socio-Economic Structures of the Host Society 84
Research Methodology 91
Chapter 5. Immediate Subjective and Objective Causes of
Mass Flight from Ethiopia
Introduction 98
Subjective Definitions of Reasons for Flight and Prevalent Objective
Conditions 100
Armed Conflicts 106
Military Conscription 109
Poverty as a Cause of Flight 110
Large Scale Implemention of Forced Labour as Direct Cause of Flight 112
Relocation: A Contributory Factor to Refugee Flows 115
Current Mass Relocation in Ethiopia 116
Responses to Relocation 120
Villagization and Displacement: A Critical Assessment 124
Types of Respondents and Forms of Displacement 126
Chapter 6. Flight Dynamics and Intervening Obstacles
Introduction 130
The Decision to Flee 130
Intervening Problems and Hardships 138
Arrival in the Host Environment 140
Conclusion 144
PART 111: THE DIMENSIONS OF INTEGRATION
Chapter 7. The Economic Dimension of Integration
Introduction 149
Conditions and Limitations 149
A Portrait of the Sample Population 150
Employment: First Step Towards Integration 156
Meeting Basic Needs and Achieving Self-Sufficiency 159
Income Distributions of Sample Population 162
Survival Strategies 168
Conclusions 172
Chapter 8. The Social Dimension of Integration
Introduction 174
Social Interaction and Informal Relationships Between Respondents
and Hosts 176
Intermarriage Between Refugees and Sudanese 181
Voluntary Organizations 183
Social Conflicts and Integration 188
Conflict in the Refugee Situation 189
Summary 196
Chapter 9. Cultural and Psychological Aspects of Adjustment and Integration
Introduction 198
Causes of Refugee Maladjustment 199
Acculturation: Indicator of Adjustment or a 'Passing' Mechanism? 202
Education and Acculturation 205
Insecurity, Anxiety and Guilt 207
Operative Variables in the Generation of Fear and Anxiety 210
Preflight Variables: Causes of Flight 210
Insecurity and Post-Flight Variables 212
Summary and Conclusions 217
PART IV
Chapter 10. Summary and Policy Implications
Notes 236
Bibliography 241
Appendix 252
Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1 African refugee flows from 1963 to 1982 23
Table 1.2 Refugee influx into the Sudan by year and country of origin 28
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 The ethnic backgrounds of the populations of the major towns in the
conquered regions of the south 45
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Percentage distribution of respondents by date of arrival in the Sudan 98
Table 5.2 Reasons for flight 99
Chapter 6
Table 6.la Distribution of respondents by information 130
Table 6.lb Distribution of respondents by flight plan 130
Table 6.2 Duration of flight by sample site 135
Table 6.3 Flight days by type of refugee 136
Table 6.4 Means of transport by type of refugee 136
Table 6.5 Educational background by place of settlement in country of asylum 137
Table 6.6 Major problems encountered during flight 139
Table 6.7 Types of hardship encountered by respondents during flight by settlement site 139
Table 6.8 Type of problems encountered by respondents on arrival in host country 140
Table 6.9 Solution of initial problems by settlement sites 142
Table 6.10 Solution of initial problems by type of settlement 143
Table 6.11 Source of assistance received on arrival by type of settlement 144
Chapter 7
Table 7.1 Age of respondents by type of settlement 150
Table 7.2 Distribution of sample households by number of children and type of
refugees 151
Table 7.3 Distribution of respondents by marital status 151
Table 7.4a Distribution of sample households by type 152
Table 7.4b Type of households by type of refugee 152
Table 7.5a Distribution of heads of household by sex 153
Table 7.5b Distribution of heads of household by sex and type of refugees and
settlement 153
Table 7.6 Respondents' level of education by type of settlement 154
Table 7.7 Occupational status of respondents before and after flight 155
Table 7.8 Length of employment 157
Table 7.9 Length of employment by type of refugees and type of settlement 157
Table 7.10 Length of employment by level of education 158
Table 7.11 Estimated income levels for existence minimum and self-sufficient
households (1982-83) 160
Table 7.12 Distribution of respondents by sufficiency of income for existence
minimum 162