Asylum policies in the post - Southern Africa liberation era: the case of Tanzania's refugee policy.

This study reviews Tanzania's current refugee regime (practice and legislation) by assessing how the domestic, regional and international level variables influence policy direction. It examines the forces responsible for the transformation of Tanzania's refugee policy, which was drastically altered as a result of developments after the end of the Cold War. Forces that contributed towards a next policy direction start with the pos- 1990 political changes. A case study approach was utilized to examine how Tanzania's pre-1990s' open door refugee policy was transformed. Primary data on refugee policy was obtained through interviews with key informants from the government and NGOs working with refugees. Research was undertaken to fill in data and the dependency model was a useful tool for analyzing the endings. This study shows that Tanzania, which after independence was among the major refuge hosting states in the world, embarked on a restrictive policy in terms of admission and protection in the 1990's due to structural, organizational and managerial changes that directly or indirectly stemmed home external forces and their interaction with the country's politics and economy. Finally, Tanzania's relations with neighbours, particularly refugee’s countries of origin, had an impact on policy implementation and were examined in terms of conflict and cooperation. The mix of sour and smooth relations was noted, ranging from diplomatic mediation and joint repatriation of refugees by states on the one hand to officials' fierce exchange of words and the exchange of fire between armies on the other.