Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment

The document analyzes the complex relationship between African diasporas and their homelands, contrasting historical forced migrations (the slave trade) with modern voluntary and forced migration. It investigates how migrants influence homeland politics through opposition movements, lobbying, and voting, while highlighting the critical economic role of remittances, particularly for island micro-states and enclaves like Cape Verde, Comores, and Lesotho. The author notes that while diasporas can provide essential financial support, they are often viewed with suspicion by authoritarian regimes and internal political actors.

• Modern African migrants maintain more sophisticated political ties to their homelands than historical forced migrants, engaging in activities such as backing opposition movements, lobbying for international aid or sanctions, and participating in elections.
• The presence of a powerful diaspora can prolong civil wars; World Bank economists suggest the probability of a conflict resuming after a cease-fire increases sixfold if a strong migrant community has an interest.
• Authoritarian regimes in Africa often exclude diasporas from domestic politics or view them as potential opponents, sometimes restricting their right to vote or travel.
• Remittances are critical to the GDP of several African nations, particularly island micro-states and enclaves. In Somalia, private donations to family members provided more than 22% of household resources.
• Cape Verde's economy is heavily remittance-oriented, with the diaspora being larger than the archipelago's population. Remittances accounted for 28% of its GDP in 1980, though this proportion fell to 10% by 2002.
• Lesotho exhibits an extreme dependency on South Africa for labor migration; remittances once accounted for up to 50% of its GNP in the 1980s, but the contribution to GDP fell to 27% by 2001 due to mining industry crises and affirmative action in South Africa.
• The volume of remittances is influenced by the migrant's wealth, the host country's social aid, and cultural factors such as the Ibo's strong attachment to ancestral land or the Comoreans' focus on customary weddings.

APA

de Montclos, M.-A. P. (2005). Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-1

Chicago

de Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse. Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment. Institute for Security Studies, 2005. https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-1.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Montclos |first1=Marc-Antoine Pérouse |title=Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=1 March 2005 |url=https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-1 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{demontclos2005diasporas, author = {de Montclos, Marc-Antoine Pérouse}, title = {{Diasporas, Remittances and Africa South of the Sahara: A Strategic Assessment}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2005}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.org/topics/conflict-prevention-and-analysis/20-may-2008-iss-feature-xenophobia-in-south-africa/01-mar-2005-monograph-no-112-diasporas-remittances-and-africa-south-of-the-sahara.-a-strategic-assessment-marc-antoine-perouse-de-montclos/chapter-1}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }