United Nations High Commission on Refugee and Management of Refugees in the West African Sub-Region

Abstract

The West African sub-region became a hotbed for conflict escalation following the departure of the colonial masters, who distorted the social cohesion among the Africans. The conflict in the Sub-region necessitated the influx of refugees and internally displaced persons across the sub-region. The influx of refugee presented the problems and challenges of management of refugees and internally displaced persons to the African governments and heads of state.  This burden overwhelmed the African government and necessitated the intervention of United Nations High Commission on Refugees to take over the management of refugees in the West African Sub-region. The methodology adopted by this study is ex post facto design. Its data presentation and analysis is by content analysis. Social production and reproduction akin to Marxian theoretical assumptions were adopted in the study. The finding by the study is that parlous political and economic conditions were responsible for failure of management of refugee in the West African Sub-region; hence the whole burden of management of refugee became the sole duty of United Nations High Commission on Refugees in the Sub-region. The study recommends that joint and concerted efforts of the West African governments and the UNHCR are needed to provide lasting solution to the problems of refugees and its management in the Sub-region.