Bridging the Scholarship Gap on Statelessness in Africa The article demonstrates aptly why academicians and practitioners should ‘think about statelessness as one of the threats/ risks associated with protracted refugee situations’ and give more attention to the link between the risk of statelessness and local integration as a solution to protracted refugee situations. The cases of Rwandan and Angolan refugees seeking to regularize their stay in Zambia are deployed to highlight the risks of statelessness in protracted refugee situations. Issues such as the risks of cumbersome requirements (for example, the need to have national identity documents) that refugees have to meet in order to become locally integrated in a host country especially when their refugee status ceases, the risks of intergenerational transmission of statelessness to children because their parents have a weak bond with their country of origin and because Zambia operates on the basis of jus sanguinis and therefore does not grant citizenship by birth, as well some potential policy solutions are proffered. While the focus of the article are Rwandese and Angolan refugees in Zambia, and some comparison with other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region on how they have resolved protracted refugee situations through naturalisation is undertaken, the findings have significant resonance to other refugees on the continent such as South Sudanese refugees in Uganda and Congolese refugees in Rwanda. As can be gleaned from the above, all the articles tackle important and contemporary issues pertaining to statelessness in Africa. A good number of them offer a combination of theoretical as well as practical insights. Some also underscore that part of accountability in upholding the rights of stateless persons should entail not just taking action, but taking action with a sense of urgency. The articles contained in this Special Issue are refreshing and do not skimp on depth or detail, but leave no doubt that much more remains to be done. As a result, one golden thread that runs through most of the articles is the need for more focused research on statelessness in Africa- a topic to which this Editorial now turns. IV. GRAPPLING WITH SOME OLD DEBATES AND A FEW EMERGING THEMES Scholarship around statelessness in Africa still needs to grapple with existing debates. These include: the impact of membership requirements (such as race, ethnicity, religion) contained in nationality laws on statelessness; prolonged residency requirements for naturalisation; the disproportionate risks of statelessness and accompanying protection gaps faced by children36 and women; the links between See, for example, Yoana Kuzmova and Thomas McGee, ‘Comment on the Zhao Case: Can A “Victory for Human Rights” in the Netherlands Benefit Children at Risk of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa?’ (2022) 4(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 145; Mihloti Basil Sherinda and Jonathan Klaaren “The South African Constitutional Court Decides Against Statelessness and in Favour of Children: Chisuse v Director-General, Department of Home Affairs [2020] ZACC 20 (2022) 4(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 170; Benyam Dawit Mezmur, ‘Making Their Days Count: The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention on the Rights of the Child’(2022) 4(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 198; and Jacqueline Bhabha “Editorial” (2022) 4(1) Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1.. 36 11