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CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND
1. There are about 5,500 refugees currently registered in Senegal, the majority having fled from Guinea-Bissau during the coup there În 1981. The balance is made up of various other West African nationals (Burkina, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia) with a sprinkling of East Africans (Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire). Most refugees have come to Dakar on spontaneous individual initiative, with or without their family, and there has been, and is unlikely to be, no mass influx of refugees over the short or long term.
2. Some refugees have doubtless arrived periodically in Dakar after drought and desertification in their home countries, or because their economic outlook at home is bleak. However such refugees are not recognised by UNHCR, whose charter limits it to registering only those refugees who have a fear of prosecution at home.
3. A further small category of refugees are in Dakar for educational training, having already received asylum elsewhere (eg. SWAPO members enjoying asylum in Angola). A few other refugees are in Dakar for medical treatment.
4. The needs of new refugees are assessed on arrival in Dakar and each individual has to prove that he needs assistance. Standard allowances are then given for 6 months, during which time the refugees must try and become self-sufficient. Counselling services are available at a UNHCR social centre in Dakar. Some refugees are awarded scholarships under the extensive educational programme available from the UNHCR Dakar office and others may receive grants for establishing themselves in business. The principle behind such assistance is to supplement Government support. But whereas European governments are quite likely to be able to support refugees in their countries from their own
CONFIDENTIAL
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