Wars have harmed Africa, but have led to a great genetic mix

The lack of citizenship rights is wrecking Africa, so said a report by billionaire George Soros’ founded Open Society Institute (OSI).

In the report, released in Kampala on Thursday, OSI said the denial of citizenship rights has had devastating human consequences.

Millions of Africans without citizenship are deprived of the right to vote, to cross borders, and to access state health or education services. 

It also notes that there is a record 12 million suffering internally displaced Africans. The reality, of course, is worse.

These displaced people also endure other heinous crimes like rape (not least at the hands of UN peacekeepers).

In the Democratic Republic of Congo — as in Kenya during the post-election violence of 2008, and recently in Guinea — rape is becoming a frightening medium scale industry.

That said, the torment of African refugees and displaced persons might not all be in vain.

In 1990, Rwandan refugees organised under the Rwanda Patriotic Front in Uganda took on the Kigali regime of the day, which had refused to repatriate refugees who were scattered around Eastern Africa. They took power in 1994.

Earlier Ugandan exiles (mainly the ones based in Kenya and Tanzania) were cobbled together in a united front by Julius Nyerere, and together with the Tanzanian army, ousted military dictator Idi Amin in 1979.

Refugees can take advantage of the freedoms they have in their host country to organise, and apply pressure on the regime back home to change its ways or be kicked out of power.

But there are more benefits, possibly bigger, benefits beyond that.

Most victims of conflict are peasants or workers, who would never have travelled far from their villages or hometowns.

To find sanctuary as refugees or IDPs in districts or countries far away from their own, they must pass through new places, encounter different cultures, and see a world they would never have in peaceful times.

Yes, people are left bitter by the humiliations and suffering of being refugees or IDPs, and sometimes get radicalised into seeking revenge upon their oppressors when the tables turn. However, they also become more cosmopolitan and worldly.

Uganda and Kenya provide a very good example.