Journal of Humanitarian Assistance
We would like to acknowledge a number of individuals without whose assistance this report could not have been completed. First, the members of the inter-governmental committees supervising the study were always supportive and understanding without trying to influence the outcome. Second, we wish to thank the other teams involved in the study. It was recognized from the beginning that the teams had overlapping areas to cover and we found that the teams openly and willingly shared information and materials. We are particularly grateful to the leaders of Study III, with whom we had the greatest overlap. Third, this study has depended on the contributions of numerous persons and agencies. Several academics and scholars in effect became members of an expanded team: their research is listed in the bibliography and acknowledged in the text. A much larger group of academics and other observers gave valuable comments and some read parts of the draft report. A large number of officials in Africa, Europe and North America gave of their valuable time, taken from already overburdened schedules, to provide information, analysis, interpretations and explanations, and patiently subjected themselves to being questioned. Many shared documentation to ensure factual accuracy. Their agencies and organizations are listed in the Appendix.
Workshops to test out ideas and receive critical feedback were held at the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University in Toronto, and the New School for Social Research in New York. An international conference on Conflict Resolution in Africa organized by the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen helped to crystallize some of the conclusions.
We would also like to thank the Chr. Michelsen Institute and the Center for Refugee Studies at York University for providing institutional and intellectual support. The graduate and post-graduate students at the Center for Refugee Studies made a singularly valuable contribution by assisting with data collection and index preparations.
Finally, and not least of all, we would like to thank our spouses and children, who had to put up with an intense travel schedule and our absence even when physically present as we struggled dispassionately to dissect a human catastrophe.
Bergen and Toronto
December 1995
A.S., H.A.