Of Genocidaires and Humanitarians: The Ngaran Encounter with the Rwandan Refugee Crisis, 1994-2000
Posted: 26 Mar 2014 Last revised: 28 Sep 2014
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
In April 1994, following one of the most rapid refugee influxes ever recorded, the transnational humanitarian industry descended upon Ngara a sleepy district located on the Tanzanian edge of the Tanzania-Rwanda border. Overnight, Ngara became the center for a humanitarian complex that sought to aid and confine over half a million Rwandan refugees. Based on archival research and over 100 interviews in Ngara, this paper explores the lived realities of Ngarans during the time that they became neighbors, victims and entrepreneurs within a violent refugee context. I argue that the refugee complex in Ngara, which included both refugees and expatriate aid workers, created a space of contradictory violence in Ngara: a violence that was simultaneously disruptive and productive. Ngarans experienced the physical and psychological harms of dislocation and physical violence associated with the refugee camps. Many Ngarans also took advantage of novel economic and infrastructural opportunities created by the transnational refugee complex and the instability of the refugee population. In exploring the refugee crisis in Ngara, this paper demonstrates the paradoxical nature of transnational refugee aid, and the lasting impact of this encounter on the lives and livelihoods of the Ngaran population.
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