Resettlement Documents and Links: 

UNHCR maintains four resettlement hubs overseeing resettlement activities for the African Continent: Beirut for North Africa; Pretoria for Southern Africa; Dakar for West Africa and Nairobi for East Africa.   This map shows UNHCR and resettlement country coverage in Africa. Among countries of asylum, Tanzania hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa, followed by Chad and Kenya. African refugees represent about 20% of the global population of refugees, at around 2.5 million people. Over one million of these refugees are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, living in Central Africa and the Great Lakes region. The second largest refugee population at 800,000 consists of people from the Horn of Africa—Somalis, Sudanese, and Eritreans.  In the past, Liberian and Sierra Leonian refugees in West Africa constituted a large refugee population, but today that number has decreased significantly, as conditions in Liberia and Sierra Leone improve and people have been able to repatriate home. 

Graph of Refugee Populations 2007

In 2008, UNHCR resettlement efforts in Africa helped 11,500 people depart with 60% of these resettled to the United States. Nineteen different nationalities departed to the U.S., with Burundians, Somalis, and Congolese as the largest groups. These populations were predominantly resettled from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

East/Central Africa: In 2009, UNHCR will continue to focus on camps in Kenya and Ethiopia for future resettlement referrals. In Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda, UNHCR is looking at protracted populations, for possible future resettlement referrals. 

Chad: As the situation of Darfurians in Chad continues to grow worse, UNHCR and resettlement countries have sent joint missions to assess the situation, and hope that security and other conditions will allow for increased resettlement from Chad.

South Africa: After the xenophobic attacks in May 2008, UNHCR’s first priority in South Africa is to strengthen and ensure asylum for all those who need protection. There has also been an increase of resettlement from this area, which will likely continue.

West Africa: Resettlement out of West Africa has decreased, since the situation in Sierra Leone has improved and Liberians have been able to repatriate. Resettlement referrals from this area will doubtlessly continue to go down as other durable solutions are found for refugees.

*Photo - A resettlement interview in Dadaab camp in Kenya.