Managing refugees in Kenya: Development assistance and conflict management

Abstract

In a world society of complex interdependence the Refugee problem need to be addressed as an international relations issue that affect state security, foreign policy choices, development plans and environmental concerns. When human rights are securitized state representatives claim a special right to use unconventional means to protect state interests thus depriving citizens basic rights. Security is what takes politics beyond the rules of the game. Failure to provide for the needs of citizens challenges the legitimacy anQsovereignty of refugee producing countries that are locked in dysfunctional conflicts. This dissertation examines the effectiveness of giving refugees living in Kenya humanitarian relief that take stock of long term development assistance for capacity building that will enable them attain self-reliance while in exile and when they return home. The long-term development assistance strategy aims at stabilizing the socioeconomic structures of the host country to stem negative responses to the institution of asylum embracing sustainable development. Refugees are a vote of no confidence to their government for failing to provide security to its citizens. Addressing their political causes to enable a dignified return of refugees and enhance regional stability necessary for development can solve the Somalia and Sudan conflicts. It is hoped that the people of Somalia and Sudan will give the concluded peace agreements a chance. This dissertation concludes that conflicts are caused by elite conspiracy in subjective allocation of national resources and the unwillingness to share power that is often countered by self -determination struggles to share territory. The international community has an obligation to oppose crimes against humanity, share the refugee burden and resolve conflicts through consultative consensus building procedures so as to reach negotiated settlement, management or resolution of conflicts that invite all parties to post- conflict reconstruction. Only then, we people of the world, would have solved the refugee problem and future generations from dysfunctional conflicts.