A/HRC/32/50 (a) Africa 43. Although discrimination against minority groups and immigrants is rarely termed xenophobia across much of Africa, patterns of bias are widespread and have sometimes led to attempts at ethnic cleansing. This has included official policies of exclusion, marginalization and expulsion, alongside forms of violence and more subtle patterns of discrimination. Forms of bias are often negotiated at the subnational level with or without government involvement. Although in many places there are extraordinarily high levels of cultural heterogeneity in which conflict and widespread discrimination are not present, conflicts have often occurred in areas where there is limited formal regulation and limited State presence.29 44. As in other parts of the world, acute economic hardship combined with the emergence of competitive politics has created a pool of grievances and incentives for mobilization.30 As some post-colonial States became weaker, identity politics further became dominant modes of mobilization, inflaming conflict and unrest. 31 A powerful language of indigeneity and nation building was brought along in the post-colonial era. National identity, citizenship, belonging, was previously mobilized as a struggle against colonial rule; post-independence, the politics of citizenship based on autochthony, indigeneity, and authenticity have been widely used to create the insider and outsider 32 dichotomy within the State. Furthermore, such political approaches have also been used in efforts to disqualify political opponents based on challenges to their citizenship, potentially fuelling broader xenophobic sentiments and legitimizing exclusionary nation-building strategies.33 The electoral crisis and preceding civil war in Côte d’Ivoire illustrates these phenomena.34 45. Due to the multi-ethnic nature of most post-colonial African states, xenophobic discrimination within Africa often overlaps considerably with ethnocentrism. 35 Amidst the widespread discrimination against immigrants, there has also been discrimination against long-standing immigrant groups or against “local minorities”, who are perceived as nonlegitimate or outsiders.36 This is perhaps most evident during times of overt political violence in which one group seeks to control State institutions or territory by expelling or 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Joshua D. Kirshner, “We are Gauteng People: challenging the politics of xenophobia in Khutsong, South Africa”, Antipode, vol. 44, issue 4 (September 2012), pp. 1307-1328. Christopher J. Gray, “Cultivating citizenship through xenophobia in Gabon”, Africa Today, vol. 45, No. 3/4, pp. 389-409; Nadine Sika, “Irregular migration in North Africa: Libya, Tunisia and Algeria”, Partners in Development; and Bonaventure Rutinwa, “The end of asylum? The changing landscape of refugee policies in Africa”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 21, issue 1-2 (2002), pp. 12-41. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, “Do ‘Africans’ exist? Genealogies and paradoxes of African identities and the discourses of nativism and xenophobia”, African Identities, vol. 8, issue 3 (2010). Francis B. Nyamnjoh, “Racism, ethnicity and the media in Africa: reflections inspired by studies of xenophobia in Cameroon and South Africa”, Africa Spectrum, vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 57-93; and Norbert Kersting, “New nationalism and xenophobia in Africa: a new inclination?”, Africa Spectrum, vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 7-18. Beth E. Whitaker, “Citizens and foreigners: democratization and the politics of exclusion in Africa”, African Studies Review, vol. 48, issue 01 (2005), pp. 109-126. See A/HRC/19/72, paras. 15-18. Abu Bakarr Bah, “Democracy and civil war: citizenship and peacemaking in Côte d’Ivoire”, African Affairs, vol. 109, issue 437 (2010), pp. 597-615. Loren B. Landau, “Introducing the demons”, in Exorcising the Demons Within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Loren B. Landau, ed. (Johannesburg, Wits University Press), pp 1-25; and Francis B. Nyamnjoh, “Racism, ethnicity and the media in Africa: reflections inspired by studies of xenophobia in Cameroon and South Africa”. 13