ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the majority of Angolan refugees chose to settle themselves in Zambian border villages rather than be settled in government-administered locations where they would receive assistance. It deals with a brief survey of the basic features of African refugees, most of who self-settle, before providing the ethnographic and historical context within which this specific refugee movement occurred. The label of refugee is sometimes applied to anyone who travels away from misfortune. Africa's refugees are overwhelmingly a consequence of wars among Africans rather than of anticolonial wars against Europeans or European powers. The refugees described in the preceding cases responded in a variety of ways to the outbreak of war. Refugee chiefs were always reported, because chiefs are reputed to possess charms and powers as sorcerers and residents were afraid to allow them to remain. A critical factor affecting refugees' ability to settle and establish a new life in the villages was host relative hospitality.
