Refugee settlement as dialogue: conversations and contestations between the Tanzanian state, Mozambican liberation leaders and humanitarian officials (1964–1971)

Abstract

ABSTRACT During decolonization, African host states, liberation leaders and humanitarian officials debated, negotiated and modified who they each thought best to manage refugee settlements: expatriates or African staff. Using 1960s postcolonial Tanzania as a case study, this article synthesizes a range of archival materials from the agencies responsible for establishing Mozambican refugee settlements in Tanzania: the Lutheran World Federation, Tanganyikan Christian Refugee Service and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It demonstrates and interrogates why these humanitarian agencies and the Tanzanian state sought to have fewer expatriates in refugee camps, while the Mozambican liberation movement, FRELIMO, advocated for the opposite. It argues the Tanzanian state preferred nationalist staff over expatriates due to governmental presumptions that African staff could better monitor refugee daily life – and identify subversive activity – than expatriates could. This put the Tanzanian state at a crossroads with FRELIMO, while humanitarian agencies often found themselves caught between the two agendas.