Borderlands have been the setting for many refugee crises over the last decades. By far the largest part of the world refugee population is hosted just across the border from the country they have fled. Since refugee law stipulates that persons who fear persecution and can no longer be protected by their own state have the right to seek asylum in another state, in order to become a refugee one has to cross a border. However, international borders have often separated people sharing the same ethnic background. The refugee regime is fully dependent on the existence of international borders, since individuals are identified with nation-states (Adelman 1999). Other identities of refugees, formed by a mixture of origin, culture and language, are often neglected. Yet where a border has been drawn arbitrarily through a populated area, this complicates relations between people on either side of it and also between hosts and refugees. Many African borders are arbitrary, sometimes just drawn as straight lines on the map. Nevertheless, they must be drawn somewhere in order to create a modern state. International borders have been essential for the creation of national identity, or nationhood. Cohen (1997) argues that nation states have coped with ethnic diversity by demanding exclusive citizenship, border control, linguistic conformity and political obedience. Since independence, African states have generally accepted existing borders and aimed to reinforce, or create, national identity. However, in this paper I shall argue that transnational borderlands create a specific identity that should be taken into account by relief efforts in crises of forced migration. The identity of people living in borderlands might be more important than a “refugee” identity, nationality or specific “ethnicity.” Several questions come to mind in considering the Uganda–Sudan borderland specifically and borderlands in general. What importance do governments and aid agencies attach to the identity of refugees, to which they are contributing by implementing large-scale assistance programmes? Do humanitarian organizations consider the specific characteristics of a borderland, such as isolation, underdevelopment and proneness to conflict? These questions will be addressed in this paper and suggestions for policy will be made. A further objective of this paper is to study the impact of refugee movements on local host communities sharing the same borderlands. What does a refugee influx mean to the hosts? Do they see the refugees as a burden or as an opportunity? Host communities in Africa have often gone through experiences similar to those of their “guests,” and in many refugee crises share with them a similar cultural and ethnic environment. This impact will be studied in relation to refugee assistance programmes that, while they have good intentions, often fail to address substantial issues.