After thirty years of war, Eritrean exiles returned home after liberation in 1991 and independence in 1993. How did the post-war government set about the monumental task of reviving a population and an economy destroyed by conflict? A recent study by the University of Oxford, poses two key questions. How are returnees integrating into the fabric of the newly independent Eritrea? What is the effect of government initiatives to transform deep-rooted traditions and practices? Have reintegration programmes been sufficiently participatory to prevent tension between the local population and returnees? The research further questions the description of these programmes as ‘reintegratory’: do they not prevent returnees – with their differing experiences, expectations and needs – from taking part in negotiated debate?