Resumo

ADEOLA, Romola. Preventing Xenophobia in Africa: What Must the African Union Do?. AHMR [online]. 2015, vol.1, n.3, pp.253-272. ISSN 2410-7972.

The issue of xenophobia has, for many years, been one of the pressing challenges in Africa. While South Africa currently appears as a poster-child of this problem in Africa, the issue of xenophobia is not solely a South African problem. Traces of these attacks have long existed since the 1960s with countries such as Ghana and Nigeria raising agitations against each other and occasioning displacements of millions of people. Similar to the South African narrative, the agitations were borne out of a need to create an economic haven, the realisation of which was impeded by the influx of foreign populations. In recent years, the issue of xenophobia has equally resonated in the treatment of Somalis in Kenya following the attacks by the Somali-dominated insurgency group and in the treatment of Rwandan refugees in western districts of Uganda. While the discourse on xenophobia has focused on the obligation of states to protect non-nationals within their territory, the roles of supranational institutions beyond the state are rarely discussed. Specifically, the role of the African Union as a continental institution saddled with the mandate of promoting human rights, fostering African unity, furthering development and ensuring peace and security on the continent is not often central to the discussion on durable solutions to the problem. This paper considers what relevant institutions within the African Union can do in addressing the issue of xenophobia in Africa.

Palavras-chave : migration; African regional institutions; mass expulsion; foreign population.

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