Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 1.5, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: The east African country of Tanzania, once praised for its "e;Open Door Policy"e; and its committedsupport for refugees fleeing turmoil in their respective home countries, has shifted dramaticallywithin the last two decades. This paper will investigate the changed policy of the Tanzaniangovernment towards continuous refugee influx after its independence in 1964. It is apparent thatperceptions of refugees have also shifted in local, regional and international arenas and due to theconfines of this paper, developments on these fronts will only be mentioned peripherally. The refugee situation in the Great Lake Region of Tanzania is of exceptional importance for aselected number of reasons:1) Tanzania has been host to the highest number of refugees on the African continent thereforeputting a uncontested burden on the nation2) The country acts as case for an increasing awareness of sovereignty, especially in terms ofnational security in post colonial Africa3) The historical implications of ethnic separation questions the notion of territoriality in aregion still struggling to create stability4) Government leadership and ideology influence the perception of refugees and therefore theformulation of policyThis paper will investigate the above, firstly outlining the refugee arrivals in western Tanzania sinceindependence; secondly investigating the perception of refugees under the presidency of the PanAfricanist, Julius Nyerere until 1985; thirdly it will account for refugee policy adjustmentsimplemented by the government post Nyerereism; and lastly by concluding the above notionsutilising the findings of the preceding paragraphs. Tanzania has been a safe haven for refugees from its western neighbours, namely Burundi, Congo(former Zaire), Uganda and Rwanda for several decades and the country has continuously hostedrefugees from these countries. Estimates on the number of refugees vary greatly, and no exactnumber can be drawn from existing figures post Tanzanian independence, but it is reasonable toassume refugee volumes of several hundred thousand up to a million from 1959 until 1993. Refugees arriving in the biggest wave between 1993 and 1998 from Rwanda, Burundi and theDemocratic Republic of Congo are thought to have reached close to 1.3 million people.
