Abstract
How do international structure and African agency constrain or propel the search for truly “durable solutions” to the African refugee situation? This is the central question that I seek to answer in this paper. I would argue that existing approaches to resolving refugee issues in Africa are problematic, and key to addressing this dilemma is a clear and keen understanding and apprehension of the phenomenon as grounded in history, states’ self-interested actions, international politics, and humanitarian practice. I suggest that these cardinal features of the African and international political system are the key obstacles to progress in the search for alternatives to African refugee trajectories, and that durable solutions have no chance of being truly durable if the current configuration of international and regional politics, actors, and policies persist.