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smitten with sorne form of social
malady. Algeria serves as a har–
bor of refuge for revolutionaries
fleeing war in the western Sahara.
Cameroon is now host country for
more than 80,000 refugees escap–
ing the conftict between Chad's
president and defense minister.
Zaire and Zambia harbor home–
less people from the civil war in
Angola. Neighboring coun tries
oft en receive refugees from each
other!
Numbers and stat istics seem
steri le in meaning. What you
have is the equivalent of whole
populations of American and Eu–
ropean cities bei ng suddenly dis–
placed without sufficient re–
sources even to house or feed
them. With teeming hoards of
people spread over the continent
with nowhere to go, you would
think someone would be able to
do something, right?
There is someone-sort of: The
Organizat ion of African Unity
(OAU), a loosc federation of
African nations that by rights
should be able to contribute to
the solution. Listen to what the
Times
of London says:
" The OAU's weakness ... is
that it is bound by its commit–
ment to the sovereignty of nation–
states. Its fai lure to exert more
innuence [over the policies of
African nations] after 17 years
[of existence] is surely exempl i–
fied by the existence in Africa of
four million política! or tribal
refugecs."
The OAU is limited by its own
interna! politi cal problems.
l t
lacks author ity to make the deci–
sions that would end the tragedies
from which people ft ee. But if so
significant an organization as the
OAU lacks the authority, who
has the authority to solve Africa's
dilemmas? Mark this, because it
touches on the real nature of the
problem.
Simi lar problems exist world–
wide. The United States, the
wealthiest country in the wor ld, is
hard-pressed to deal with refu–
gees pouring across the nar row
strait between Cuba and Florida.
lt
is neither prepared nor able to
20
absorb thousands of r efugees
from Castro's Soviet-backed gov–
ernment. America's own minori–
ties face domest ic hardsh ips with–
out the influx of another new and
complex problem.
Thai land, an essentially r ural
count ry can hardly be expected to
absorb the vast human fall out
from age-old struggles in Indo–
china. As you circle the globe,
unsolvable problems plague the
governments of man.
What Produces Refugees?
But what's the cause? The United
States Library of Co ngress
s ummed il up: " The cause
... may be rooted in a growing
disregard by governments for the
basic righls of their cilizens and a
wish to force interna) problems
onlo the shoulders of the world
communily."
Why can't we have a solu–
tion?
Take Somalia as an example.
We see the country locked in a
head-to-head st ruggle with neigh–
boring Ethiopia over the Ogaden
region. Somalia claims lhe region
as theirs. Ethiopia rules the land .
Now throw in Sovicl-provided
a rmam enl for Ethiopia a nd
American funds for a rms in
Somalia and you have a bloody
conftict- bul no solul ion.
The rcsult is obvious. Thou–
sands of innocent cilizens caughl
in the middle. Whal would you
do if army tanks rumbled by your
fronl lawn and your bedroom was
splintered by mortar fi re? You'd
grab your family and flee into the
nearest re lat ively safe area.
The United Nalions has
brought 80,000 tons of food lo
those who escaped Ethiopia lo
Somalia. This world coalition of
nations assembled an aid package
of $120 million purcly for the
refugees.
But all lhis treats lhe effects,
not the causes.
l nstead of exercising authorily
to stop lhe fighting, the Uniled
Nations sponsors an aid package lo
alleviate the result of a confticl il
cannot stop. Even more tragic, lhe
80,000 tons of food delivered via
the aid package barely provides
each refugee a little more than a
pound of food a day! Remember
also a large parl of the world that is
sponsoring this aid is in thc grip of
a reccssion and drought or floods.
What happens if the food su pply
were to be cut?
l f you want to have human
righls- lhe righ t to live peace–
ably, the right lo practice your
beliefs and to have a secure job–
you have to live under a govern–
ment that allows you these rights.
lf
you live under a system that
doesn' l grant lhese freedoms or
rights, you simply don't have
them. This translates into a crisis:
you either accept your loss of
righls or leave lhe country and
system behind- if you can-and
become a refugee.
(Sorne take authority inlo their
own hands, become revolulionaries
and seek to topple the system. All
too oflen the siluat ion
worsens
and
more
refugees are created.)
The solution is then clear: man
must stop thinking only in terms
of treating effects by sending aid
to displaced people-as needful
as that is. Man must face the
heart of the
problem-the self–
centeredness of human govern–
ment.
and acknowledge lhat a
hi gher authorily than man, a
supreme authority above all gov–
ernments of man must come.
That means the reestablish–
ment of the government of the
Crea to r God! What we have
today are the governments of men
guided by seif-interest. Only
af–
ter
we reap the problem of human
suffering in the form of refugees
do nations exlend a helping hand.
But they seem powerless to deal
with
causes.
Listen to what the Bible says
about sel f-centered human rule.
Here is a classic illustration about
the nalure of human rule down
through the ages: " These will be
the ways of lhe king who will
re ign over you: he will ... ap–
point
for himself .
..
sorne to
plow his ground and to reap his
harvest, and to make his imple–
ments of war and the eq uipment
of his chariots....
The PLAIN TRUTH