UNHCR. has risen manyfold over the years. Not only does this humanitarian aid save hundreds of thousands of human lives. but by dampening a source of potential conflict it is a powerful force for peace and stability. My experience has been that efforts to help refugees have not been in vain. The refugees of yesterday are not the refugees of today. A few days after becoming high commissioner in January 1978. I made my first trip to see and talk with refugees. I chose southern Africa. where the major refugee problem at that time resulted from the bitter conflict in what was then called Rhodesia. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans had fled their wartorn country to crowd into the refugee camps in neighboring states. We saw them in Mozambique where the rural settlements still showed the vestiges of air and ground attacks. we saw them in desolate barracks in Botswana. and we saw many children. especially at the Victory Camp outside of Lusaka. where hundreds of girls welcomed us with enthusiastic singing. A year ago when I was in Zimbabwe for independence celebrations. a government minister shook my hand and reminded me that the last time we had met was in a refugee camp. His compatriots have now returned and. whether minister or farmer. have gotten down to the job of building their country. a hard job but infinitely more rewarding than waiting in a refugee camp in a foreign land. Africas five million refugees must be given the means first to survive. and then to rebuild their lives in dignity.*
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refugee refugees