Africa's refugee population has been growing consistently since the early 1960s. Until relatively recently, virtually all refugee migrations were rural to rural movements. Not only has there been a growth in urban to urban refugees, but there has also been and even greater increase in the number of rural to urban refugees. The rate of change in the proportion of urban refugees is without a doubt greater in Sudan than elsewhere in Africa. This article summarizes several of the options currently open to the urban refugee, and assesses the extent to which these options are currently utilized: 1) repatriation, 2) spontaneous integration, 3) resettlement to rural settlements, 4) the semi-urban settlements, 5) overseas labor migration, and 6) 3rd country resettlement. The Refugee Act of 1980 developed a quota system for 3000 African refugees per annum. An inordinately high proportion of educated and skilled refugees apply for resettlement, and become successful in the process, because they have, by virtue of their education, the greatest knowledge of the resettlement program and gain access to the various steps in the process most effectively. Many urban refugees come to the city primarily with the intent of getting accepted for resettlement. Perhaps 1 of the most tragic results of the program as it currently stands, is the false hope that 1 1/2 engenders in so many of the refugees, who, upon hearing that their applications have been rejected, suffer severe disappointment, despair, and depression, and see little in the way of hope for themselves thereafter.

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urban population educational status refugee population social policy demography social change Migrants developing country Population Dynamics Developing Countries Refugees Middle East rural population policy socioeconomic status Arab Countries Settlement And Resettlement social status sociology Acculturation Africa socioeconomics cultural factor Northern Africa Article Africa, Northern migration population and population related phenomena Demographic Factors Emigration and Immigration Transients and Migrants social class Population Characteristics public policy Migration Policy Population Policy Sudan