Historical Complexities and Transformations of Refugee Policies in Kenya and Tanzania

Abstract

This article discusses the history of hosting political refugees in Kenya and Tanzania. It argues that refugee hosting is not merely a humanitarian act, but a complex interplay of domestic interests, political ideologies, and foreign policies. The intertwinement of economic, social, and political factors creates situations in which refugee-related policies and their implementation are fraught with inconsistencies and contradictions that explain varied reactions to refugees from different politiconational backgrounds. Tanzania and Kenya, at various points in their history of hosting refugees as postindependence states, have alternately embraced and rejected specific refugee communities, showing how refugee hosting is not exclusively about the principles of humanitarian law. Reactions to political refugees in Kenya and Tanzania have crystalized in recent times into stringent regimes, as domestic and foreign-policy interests are increasingly formulated in ways that exclude refugees.