The continent of Africa features some of the most hopeless and depressing aspects of the world's refugee crisis. The scale of population displacement increased fivefold between 1981-6, and the United Nations claims that up to 100 million people in Africa are at risk from the political and environmental factors which have already created large numbers of refugees. Drought and desertification in the Sahel continue to displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of them severely malnourished. Military conflict, ethnic rivalry and economic underdevelopment determine that they meet great difficulty and hardship in finding a suitable place of refuge. The countries which have traditionally provided refuge are themselves facing severe economic and resource problems. Some three-quarters of African refugees are women and children (reflecting general demographic patterns) who are particularly vulnerable to the many problems which are associated with their flight from the comfort and familiarity of their home communities.