Migrants from neighboring countries are being blamed for the slow improvement in the standard of living of Blacks since apartheid ended in 1994. Migrants have been harassed and attacked by South Africans, and police often do not intervene.

South African blacks have tended to harbor a feeling of superiority over other Africans, taking pride in their country's developed infrastructure and its avoidance of the civil wars and widespread ethnic infighting that have plagued much of the rest of Africa. Migrants are often blamed for crime, AIDS and other diseases, and for threatening the nation's general stability.

There are 271,500 legal immigrants from other African nations in South Africa, and an estimated two to four million illegal migrants in the country of 44 million.

Many experts say that South African blacks fear competition from migrants, while advocates for migrants say that their presence expands the economy, creating more jobs. The Home Affairs Department threatened to step up the enforcement of employer sanctions, which are up to R40,000 per unauthorized foreigner.

In August 2001, Malawi Vice President Justin Malewezi called on the 14 countries in the Southern African Development Community to loosen immigration restrictions and ease movement of labor in the regional economic bloc. He said "Migration, transfer of skilled personnel and returning workers" can contribute to regional economic growth and facilitate the free flow of skills.

Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe announced plans to expropriate 8.3 million hectares of farm land, including 3.3 million hectares acquired legally before the 1999 launch of "fast-track" resettlement. The government has targeted more than 4,600 white-owned farms for confiscation without compensation; 1,700 were occupied between March 2000 and August 2001.

Land reform has gone slowly: some 130,000 plots have been given to settlers, but only 20,000 to 30,000 are occupied, since there is not yet a support infrastructure for small farmers. At independence in 1980, white farmers owned more than 11.6 million hectares.

Since February 2000, militants led by veterans of the independence war have illegally occupied more than 1,700 white-owned farms. Many analysts predict that Zimbabwe could slide into civil war, as the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front tolerates violence and undermines the judiciary in order to help President Robert Mugabe win re-election in 2002. The ZANU-PF strategy is apparently to resettle landless poor on expropriated land in 2001, so that the first harvest occurs during 2002 elections.

If Zimbabwe slides into recession and violence, most experts predict more migration to South Africa. Real wages are lower than they were in 1980, and unemployment is at least 40 percent.

Land invasions may spread. Namibia's black communal farmers urged the country's 4,000 mainly white commercial farmers to speed up land reform to avoid Zimbabwe-style farm invasions. The government says that 75 million acres are owned by 4,000 whites and 5.5 million acres by 243,000 communal black farmers.

The South African government is reportedly bracing itself for a possible mass exodus from Zimbabwe if violence and economic turmoil worsens. A government official estimated that about 1,200 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants to South Africa are being deported each week. The government uses deportation trains to return illegal Zimbabweans. The South African government is also preparing an emergency plan should Zimbabwean farmers cross the border to seek asylum. The plan is to accommodate them in army tents on a showgrounds until the Home Affairs office can determine their status. Security forces would provide the necessary protection.

Kenya. Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi marked the third anniversary of the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in August 2001 with a call for tighter immigration controls. Kenya had 29 million residents in 1999.

Egypt. There are an estimated 20,000 Sudanese in Cairo, and another 3,000 to 4,000 in Alexandria. About 30 percent are recognized by the UNHCR as refugees, which gives them an opportunity to be resettled abroad. Those who arrived prior to President Hosni Mubarak's attempted assassination in Ethiopia in 1995 are allowed to stay indefinitely; those who arrived later usually have one-month visitor's visas, which they do not attempt to renew.

Egypt signed the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, but entered a reservation that excludes refugees from work, access to national health facilities, government schools and subsidized housing. Egypt also signed the 1969 the Organization of African Unity (OAU) refugee convention, which widened the definition of refugees to include victims of civil wars and wars of colonization, and allowed refugees to be recognized on a group basis. But Egypt never developed national legislation to determine refugee status.

There are 4.5 million internally displaced Sudanese, and some critics say that many interests have little incentive to end the fighting. Operation Lifeline Sudan, begun by the U.N. and the World Food Program in 1988, is the largest, longest, most expensive humanitarian operation ever mounted.

"South Africa braces for Zimbabwean Refugees," New Zealand herald, August 25, 2001. Ann M. Simmons, "Migrants Feel Sting of S. Africans' Anger," Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2001. "Brain drain poses threat to SADC economies," Business Day, August 7, 2001. "Home Affairs to Clamp Down on Employers of Illegal Aliens," South African Press Agency, August 6, 2001.