Human Migration into Urban Africa;

A Case Study of Khartoum

Rural to urban human migration is one of the biggest phenomenons taking place in Africa as more and more people leave the country side and migrate to the large cities. This is very obvious when you visit cities like Cairo in Egypt, Khartoum in Sudan and Nairobi in Kenya, to name just a few. Because most African cities are simply unprepared to accommodate this additional population, what we see is the birth and growth of many shanty towns; a further mushrooming of squatter settlements of high densities which have inadequate or no services. You can just imagine how this human migration affects water services, electricity, plumbing and all kinds of municipal services in these mushrooming cities of urban Africa.

It was interesting to learn that in fact, most urban growth comes from rural-to-urban migration, and not from natural population growth. Many people leave the rural areas for urban centres for varying reasons. Environmental degradation, drought and famine as well as rural poverty are some of the common reasons. In countries with civil unrest and wars, such as Sudan, the main reason for this kind of human migration is ongoing wars. People move to capital cities and large cities to find security and to flee the unbearable conditions of their home villages. According to Mr. Siddig Gasmelseed, Director of International and Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital is growing very fast in size for one main reason. He affirms that it is the conflict in the southern, eastern and western Sudan continues to displace people, in the last fifteen years. “Most people of these areas come to Khartoum for security purposes because they find it a bit difficult to stay there, in their homeland,” he says. In the case of Khartoum, many of these people are spread across the different shanty towns in the three areas that make up Khartoum; Khartoum North, Omdurman and Khartoum.

The result of this human migration from rural to urban, into the shanty towns of large cities is the displacement of people, especially in the case of Sudan. Many of its people continue to move to Khartoum from eastern, western and southern Sudan because of civil unrest. Once they arrive in Khartoum, they join a shanty town and try to reestablish their lives. Some usually look for people from their own region and/or tribe and stay close to them. This is why it is quite common to find those that have fled from the Darfur region are living in one part of a shanty town. The Sudanese government used to give land to these new comers, for them to build their own houses. However, with such a high influx of people, it is nearly impossible to cater to all and provide them with land. As it is, Africa’s urban population is growing at an average annual rate of 4%, the highest in all world regions. Although Africa is still the most rural continent, as only 38% of its population lives in cities and towns, it is argued that within the next three decades, more than half of all Africans will be in urban centres.

With more and more people moving into urban cities, more attention should be paid to the conditions of these areas. Some African cities are introducing measures to improve the living standards in the shanty towns, for instance, in 1995, in Luanda Sul (Angola), an urban program has built 2, 210 houses and laid in drainage, piped water and electricity lines. Not only did this effort create 4,000 local jobs, but with the participation of the community in terms of the design and planning of the program, it is considered a success story in urban Africa. I think that improving standards in shanty towns is very possible once African governments acknowledge that this situation needs critical attention. They also need to turn to other African countries to see what methods were successful and which weren’t when it comes to urban planning in shanty towns.

Link:

- Geography/World Issues/Issues Curriculum

Multimedia:

-Word Document

  • Transcribed interview with Mr. Siddig Gasmelseed about the growth of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

- Video

  • Video #1: Overview of Shanty Town – outskirts of Khartoum
  • Video #2: Human migration into Urban Africa

-Pictures:

  • HumanMigration1: Young and Displaced children in a Shanty Town – outskirts of Khartoum.
  • HumanMigration2: A Shanty Town Street
  • HumanMigration3:A Shanty Town house.