The new proposals for the Great Lakes region include: confining refugees in safe zones within the countries of origin; settlement and absorption of the present wave of refugees in host states in return for development assistance from the international community; placing Rwanda and Burundi under the administration of an external agency or federating them with more stable neighbours such as Tanzania and Uganda; and the formation of a regional economic zone to address the economic reasons said to underlie the political problems. These proposals are unlikely to work, because they are not acceptable to Rwanda, Burundi or the neighbouring and other interested states. The more realistic measure is to strengthen the existing mechanisms of conflict prevention, and to institute a fair system of sharing the refugee burden once forced migration has occurred.

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(Central) regional development strategy Africa economic strategy refugee crisis refugee policy