MigrantDeaths,XenophobiaTopAgendaatECOWAS Parliament
As several young Africans continue to die in the desperate bid to illegally enter Europe, urgent action is required to provide better opportunities to halt the unnecessary carnages. The ECOWAS Parliament has added its voice to the call for urgent action.
As several young Africans continue to die in the desperate bid to illegally enter Europe, urgent action is required to provide better opportunities to halt the unnecessary carnages. The ECOWAS Parliament has added its voice to the call for urgent action. Damilola Oyedele reports
According to reports, at least 1,800 illegal immigrant deaths have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015 alone; with more than 80 per cent of them, Africans who are trying to run away from the harsh economic conditions in most parts of the continent.
Several years after independence from colonial masters, most African countries continue to grapple with the inability to provide the most basic social amenities which Europe and other parts of the world have taken for granted.
Illegal migrants from the ECOWAS sub-region attempt to enter Europe by road, then sea, criss-crossing ill-manned and porous borders, moving under the cover of darkness, and subjecting themselves to the elements in the desert. Citizens of Nigeria, Mali, Gambia and Senegal are among the highest number of illegal immigrants, according to the European Union.
“I have always been street smart, and I considered myself to be a tough guy, but I had no idea what awaited me on this journey. We travelled through the desert and it was a terrible experience.
We first went to Chad; the journey through the desert was in rickety vehicles with little shelter from the elements.
We exchanged guides from city to city, and these guides were heartless and showed no mercy to even the women among us. We were not allowed to rest,” he had told this writer in an interview.
He chickened out in Morocco, and asked the Nigerian embassy for help to return home. Critical Question How bad could it be back home, that young able-bodied West Africans are willing to risk the uncertainty of such travels in their bid to Europe for a better life? An answer could be that these countries blessed with natural resources have most of their citizens living in abject poverty.
African leaders, not just West Africa, have been accused of bad leadership, resulting in a failure to lift their countries’ populations out of poverty. With corruption allegations plaguing almost every government on the continent, the young people therefore do not see much hope for themselves in the continent.
A scathing article by New York Times West African Correspondent, Adams Nossiter noted that African leaders were not necessarily shocked at the deaths of their citizens in the Mediterranean. It also noted that while European governments have faced criticism at the way they are handling the migrant crises, critiques have remained silent about the responsibility of migrants’ home countries.
Asides poverty, some of these men and women have been led to believe that the streets of Europe is lined with gold, and is theirs for the picking, leading to false hope. Input of ECOWAS Parliament The ECOWAS Parliament at 2015 First Ordinary Session of the Third legislature, which opened in Abuja Monday, has made the migrant crises a top agenda to be debated.
The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu in his address at the opening ceremony blamed greed, ignorance and false expectations as some of the reasons why Africans embark on such suicidal journeys.
“…while the Trans-Atlantic slave trade saw Africans chained and forcefully taken to foreign lands, the harsh economic realities at home today force our people to embark on suicidal journeys into Europe and other parts of the world,” he said.
Describing the crises as scandalous, Ekweremadu, who is also Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian Senate, emphasised that Africa must initiate urgent and concerted efforts to end the need for such desperation from its citizens.
He called on regional and national parliaments to step up legislative efforts to entrench good governance which would provide jobs, equal opportunities and cater to the welfare and security of Africans.
Also a former Africa, European and World Player of the Year, George Weah (who is a Liberian) agrees that the deplorable poverty on the continent is the key reason why Africans risk the tragic routes to Europe.
Speaking with THISDAY in an interview on the sidelines of the ECOWAS Parliament, where he is a member, Weah said African governments have to address the development crises affecting the continent.
“There are two things here, I must be honest with you, and sometime we take decisions that we don’t know, but then it is unfortunate that our brothers and sisters want to go away through these tragic routes. I will not encourage anyone to get on a ship to go for safe haven that way.
There is a process to obtain visa, get on the plane and you go,” Weah, who is now a Senator in the Liberian parliament, said.
“But it is sad to see Africans perish that way in the Mediterranean Sea. I hope Africa can address this issue so that people will not be running, because some of them are leaving for economic means. There are two types of war in Africa, some countries have actual war and some have another war which is poverty. So, people are going away but at the end of the day even the safe haven that they look for they don’t reach the shores of the safe haven. Xenophobia as Migrant Crises Many analysts have linked the re-occurring and recent xenophobic attacks on African migrants in South Africa to a form of migrant crises. This is because for many South Africans, foreigners are taking the few jobs that are available.
The Executive Director, Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) Ms. Diane Senghor, at a recent regional seminar on information and Migration organised by the Institute for Media and Society (IMS) in Abuja said the migration of foreigners into South Africa has led to the violations of the human rights for some.
“According to the media, seven deaths were recorded, but xenophobia is not a new thing there, it has happened a lot and a lot have died… but these foreigners are contributing to the development of South Africa,” she said. Urgent Need for Action African leaders have to stop making excuses for their failures and act.
It beats logic that in a continent blessed with arable land, 200 million people face the threat of food insecurity. Decent standard of living with infrastructure, security, proper healthcare, education can be guaranteed by African governments if there is the political will.
As Weah, who garnered all the accolades that matter in football from his humble background in a Monrovia slum said, African governments have to address the crises which put the continent at the bottom of development indexes.
The last round of violent xenophobic attacks on African migrants in South Africa elicited a better response from governments in the continent that the ones before it. Vitriolic statements were issued against the Government of South Africa for not doing enough to curb xenophobia in the country, which is the largest beneficiary of Africa’s collective will for self rule.
But South Africa was most pained by Nigeria’s reaction to the attacks. From social media to articles, Nigerians called for a boycott of services provided by South Africa owned business such as DStv, MTN, Shoprite and others.
The Nigerian government, following demands from its Parliament, summoned its senior envoys from Pretoria and Johannesburg.
South Africa is seemingly taking steps to curtail reoccurrence, but what happens in the future would reveal the sincerity of the government, which has also been accused of protecting those whose utterances provoked the latest round of violence.
Already the ECOWAS Parliament added its voice to calls that the perpetrators of the violence be apprehended and handed over to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.