Abstract
This article argues that the westernised concept of liberalism, which assumes the ability of States to control migration, is inappropriate in an African context at a number of fundamental levels. In particular, in many African States the boundaries are ill defined, governments lack appropriate resources for border control, and the movement of asylum seekers is mostly that of mass influx. Hence, it is contended, addressing Africa's refugee ‘problem’ calls for locally engineered perspectives rather than westernised ideas with a focus on the following three central elements: definition of ‘refugee’, procedures used to assess asylum applications, and the nature of protection offered to those in need.