Patterns of the Refugee Cycle in Africa : A Hazardous Cycle with No End in Sight?

The rise of civil wars and internecine conflict in Africa has seen millions of people fleeing the horrors of violence in their homelands to seek refuge in other countries. Refugee camps have correspondingly become a prominent feature of the African political landscape. Set up as transitory places of hope, nourishment and relief, refugee camps have turned out to be cesspools of unbridled misery and despair for refugees. In cognisance of such challenges, this paper problematises and explores the experiences of refugees in Africa (both inside and outside refugee camps). It further opines that refugee camps often defy the projections of their existence as they mutate into permanent settlements, with refugees rarely returning to their homelands. Based on secondary data collated on refugees across the African continent, this paper identifies cultural bereavement, the loss of migration networks, and protracted conflict as some of the prominent factors prolonging the duration of the refugee cycle.