Their Suffering, Our Burden How Congolese Refugees Affect the.pdfVIP

Their Suffering, Our Burden? How Congolese Refugees Affect the Ugandan Population Merle Kreibaum 1 - Comments very welcome, do not quote without author’s consent. (June 9, 2014) Abstract The situation of refugees all over the world gets increasingly protracted, as civil wars in their home countries are not resolved. Especially in developing countries, the sudden inflow and long- term presence of refugees can represent a significant strain on infrastructure and markets. Uganda has an exemplary legal framework in its Refugee Act aiming at the economic independence from aid of refugees and the inclusion of public services for hosts and the displaced. Three waves of two different household surveys are used, in order to employ a difference-in-differences approach. In doing so, the natural experiment of two sudden inflows is exploited, while simultane- ously controlling for long-term trends in refugee numbers. The findings presented here suggest that Uganda can benefit from its decades long experience in hosting refugees as well as its policy frame- work when it comes to the economic welfare and the public service provision of its nationals. Yet, there are small warning signals regarding social integration. This could motivate policy makers to look further into this issue and possibly increase efforts to reduce prejudices between the groups. 1 Introduction The Second Congo War has also been named Africa’s World War, referencing its disastrous impact as the deadliest conflict since World War II. Beginning in 1998 when the Rwandan civil war and genocide spilled over into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the conflict involved up to nine African states and about 25 armed groups, fighting along ethnic lines and over valuable