With Dr. Tomas Van Acker, Ghent University, Dr. Theo Mbazumutima, REMA, Burundi, Dr. Godefroid Muzalia, GEC, DR Congo and Jean Claude Malitano, APRU, DR Congo.

For decades, population displacement and return have transformed political constellations in the Great Lakes region, both nationally and locally. Nevertheless, many repatriation programs and interventions to assist return have focused on humanitarian needs and economic reintegration, while often neglecting the short- and long-term  repercussions and conflict potential of refugee return.  Based on extensive field research in Burundi and DR Congo, the speakers shed light on the ways in which return movements shape power relations and legitimacy, play into dynamics of political and armed mobilization and reinforce notions of citizenship and processes of social, economic and political exclusion in return zones.

(Photo credit; Marie Cacace, OxfamInternational)