Citizenship in Africa

Bronwen Manby is a Consultant and Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, previously working for the Open Society Foundations and Human Rights Watch. She is the author of numerous publications on nationality and statelessness and in the field of human rights in Africa generally.

PART I
INTRODUCTION
1. International Law and the Right to a Nationality
1.1. What’s in a Word: Citizenship or Nationality?
1.2. The Regulation of Nationality in International Law
1.3. The Content of Citizenship Rights
1.4. The Relevance of the Right to a Nationality in Africa
PART II
EMPIRE TO INDEPENDENCE: THE INVENTION OF NATIONALITY IN AFRICA
2. Membership in the Pre-Colonial Era
3. The European Colonial Period
3.1. British Territories
3.2. French Territories
3.3. Others
4. Transition to Independence
4.1. The Ottoman Empire
4.2. British Territories
4.3. French Territories
4.4. Others
PART III
AFRICAN NATIONALITY LAWS SINCE INDEPENDENCE
5. Trends and Patterns in Nationality Law
5.1. Acquisition at Birth: The Balance of Jus Soli and Jus Sanguinis
5.2. Gender Equality
5.3. Dual Nationality
5.4. Naturalisation
5.5. Loss and Deprivation
5.6. Making Sense of Legal Amendments
6. Identification and Registration
6.1. Proof of Nationality: The Civil/ Common Law Divide
6.2. Civil Registration
6.3. Child Protection
6.4. Identification and Nationality
6.5. The Relationship Between the Formal and the Informal
PART IV
COUNTRY CASE STUDIES
7. Who is a Native?
7.1. Dual Citizenship, Denationalisation and Disenfranchisementin Zimbabwe
7.2. The ‘Lebanese’ of Sierra Leone
7.3. ‘Asians’ and other ‘others’ in Kenya and Uganda
7.4. Côte d’Ivoire’s War of Conjunctions: The ‘and’ and the ‘or’
7.5. The Banyarwanda of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
7.6. Mauritania’s Efforts to Enforce a ‘Nation-State’
7.7. ‘Indigeneity’ in Nigeria: The Links Between Local and National
8. State Successions Since Independence
8.1. Eritrea/Ethiopia: State Succession and Mass Expulsion
8.2. Sudan and South Sudan
8.3. The Bakassi Peninsula
8.4. The Tebu and the ‘Aouzou strip’ between Chad and Libya
8.5. Other ICJ Rulings in Border Disputes
9. Access to Citizenship for Refugees
9.1. Former Liberian and Sierra Leonean Refugees in Guinea
9.2. Tanzania: A Unique Offer of Citizenship to Refugees
9.3. South Africa: The Dream Deferred
PART V
CONCLUSIONS
10. The Importance of Nationality Law in Africa
10.1. Categories of the Excluded and Commonalities with other Regions
10.2. Patterns, Continuities, and Discontinuities in the Law
10.3. The Influence of International Law
10.4. The Instrumentalisation of Nationality Laws
10.5. The Unintended Consequences of the Initial Frameworks for Nationality Law
10.6. The Impact of Changes in Nationality Laws
10.7. Marginal Citizens: The Buffer Zone
10.8. The Importance of Recognised Nationality and the Impact of Statelessness
11. An Agenda for Research and Reform
11.1. Pathways to Citizenship
11.2. Resolving the Question of Theoretical other Nationalities
11.3. The Situation of Nomads
11.4. Bringing Naturalisation in from the Arbitrary Cold
11.5. The Role of Decentralised Decision-Making
11.6. The Importance of Subsidiary Legislation and Administrative Procedures
11.7. ‘Legal identity’ and New Technologies in Africa
11.8. Future Directions: Nationality in National and Continental Law