Europe's Shame

By Peter Popham in Rome (Originally published in the Belfast Telegraph)

But as long as poverty and conflict continues to blight the African continent people will continue to find a way out. And as long as Europe needs unskilled labour this will continue to be their destination.

For three days and three nights, these African migrants clung desperately to life. Their means of survival is a tuna net, being towed across the Mediterranean by a Maltese tug that refused to take them on board after their frail boat sank.

The 27 African migrants cling on to a tuna net platform as the tug boat's captain refuses to let them come aboard.

Malta and Libya, where they had embarked on their perilous journey, washed their hands of them. Eventually, they were rescued by the Italian navy.

The astonishing picture shows them hanging on to the buoys that support the narrow runway that runs around the top of the net. They had had practically nothing to eat or drink.

Last night, on the island of Lampedusa, the 27 young men - from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan and other countries - told of their ordeal. As their flimsy boat from Libya floundered adrift for six days, two fishing boats failed to rescue them. On Wednesday, the Maltese boat, the Budafel allowed them to mount the walkway but refused to have them on board.

This is the latest snapshot from the killing seas of the southern Mediterranean, the stretch of water at the European Union's southern gate that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says "has become like the Wild West, where human life has no value any more and people are left to their fate".

On Friday, The Independent reported how a Maltese plane photographed a crazily overloaded boat in this area carrying 53 Eritreans, several of whom telephoned desperate pleas for help to relatives in London, Italy and Malta. The boat disappeared with all hands before anything was done to save them. They died, not because help was unavailable, but because no-one wanted to do anything. Malta is full up. Libya, where these voyages begin, takes no responsibility. One might think that the EU's new frontiers agency, Frontex, had a part to play. But its "rapid response team" remains on the drawing board.

Frontex is expected to begin joint patrols in the Mediterranean shortly, following a brief pilot programme last year. But the critical stretch between Malta and Libya is to be controlled by Malta and Greece, and the hard-nosed attitude of the Maltese in recent weeks does not inspire optimism.

The Maltese captain of the Budafel refused to land the men, he later explained, because he had $1m-worth of tuna in the pen. If he had taken them to Malta, the trip would have taken 12 days, given the tug's slow speed. There, he would have found himself in the middle of a diplomatic wrangle. "I couldn't take the risk of losing this catch," he said.

The captain informed the Maltese authorities. The Maltese phoned the Libyans - the Africans were about 60 miles from the Libyan coast, within Libya's area of competence for search and rescue. Libya said they would send a helicopter to the spot and throw down a life raft. Malta - by this point Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had become directly involved - said that was unacceptable. They gave Malta's armed forces the task of persuading the Libyans to pick the men up.

The 27 had by this point spent three days and nights standing on the walkway, which is 18 inches wide. The Budafel's captain said he wouldn't mind being on the walkway for an hour. Any longer - under the fierce sun, or in the chill of the night - no thanks.

The Libyan government eventually sent a fax saying they would pick the men up. But no help arrived. The Maltese steadfastly refused to take the initiative. In the past five days, 157 illegal immigrants have come ashore on the Maltese coast. The small island is full to capacity. The impasse continued all Saturday.

By a stroke of luck an Italian navy vessel, Orione, was not far away: last week Libya had given Italy permission to search for the 53 doomed Eritreans, and it was still in the area, still searching.

The Italian navy dispatched first a plane and then the Orione. By 9pm on Saturday night, after more than 70 hours clinging to the pen, they were on their way to Sicily. Last night, they were reported to be weak and exhausted but out of danger. For them it's a happy ending. But in the past five days, sources in Malta say four other boats have gone down, with the loss of about 120 lives. As Laura Boldrini of the UNHCR puts it, "setting off across the Mediterranean in these boats is a game of Russian roulette".

Up to 10,000 people are believed to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa. The passage from west Africa to the Canary Islands is no less perilous. In Spain, where shocking images of a dozen dead would-be migrants in their boat were published in newspapers last week, estimates of the total number of dead run as high as 7,000.

"Governments must encourage fishermen to save human life," says Laura Boldrini. "Now they fear that if they help, they can be stuck for days and weeks. But international maritime law says governments have a duty to allow the speedy disembarkation of people rescued at sea. We say, let's save human lives first. This must be the priority for all the parties involved."

Millions who risk death for a better life
By Steve Bloomfield

Across Africa, millions are dreaming of fleeing to Europe. Families scrimp and save to find the money needed to secure a seat on a boat. Young men, often fathers, squeeze on to overcrowded, rickety fishing boats that leave Senegal, Libya or Somalia in the dead of night. They take with them nothing more than the hope that a better life lies across the sea.

Some leave because of conflict, most because of poverty. All hope to find enough money in Europe to be able to send some back home to their families. The money earned by a migrant on a construction site in Spain or hawking sunglasses on the streets of Italy can be several times more than he would have made back in Mali, Nigeria or Eritrea. African migrants' remittances are growing at a faster rate than official aid from foreign governments.

Trafficking Africa's migrants has become a lucrative business. Boats leave every night from the shores of Senegal in the west, Libya in the north and Somalia in the east. But it is not only Senegalese, Libyans and Somalis that make the trip. Others from across the continent will walk and hitch rides thousands of miles to reach the coast.

The port town of Bossaso in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia, is the centre of the Horn of Africa's people-trafficking industry. Hundreds of Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopians arrive in Bossaso every day, desperate to leave the poverty, drought and war which blights the region. The current round of fighting in Somalia - the latest in the 16 years since the country last had a functioning central government - has seen up to 400,000 people flee the capital, Mogadishu. In Eritrea, an anti-western dictator has shunned international food aid as his people starve, while in eastern and northern Ethiopia rebel groups have waged a growing campaign for autonomy against an autocratic regime in Addis Ababa.

Across the continent, in west Africa, it is a similar tale. Civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast have devastated the region in the past decade, while poverty has taken hold in countries such as Senegal and Mali despite their relative peace and democracy. No one knows exactly how many die pursuing the dream of a life in Europe. According to the UN's refugee agency hundreds of would-be migrants have drowned so far this year. The real figure could be far higher. Boats are unregistered and there are no passenger lists. It is impossible to know how many boats failed to reach their destination or how many people were on board.

But as long as poverty and conflict continues to blight the African continent people will continue to find a way out. And as long as Europe needs unskilled labour this will continue to be their destination.

Comments

[Nga Adolph]

AFRICAN EMIGRATION AND WESTERN HYPOCRISY.

When I see how my fellow Africans go through the greatest denigration and unparalled humiliations because they want to flee the Mother Continent,my eyes are filled with tears.The answer to the question of how a people abundantly blessed by the god's of nature and Nature's God are able to fall so low to this sub human condition is not difficult to answer.Western interference in the affaires of African countries and the preponderant role played by their henchmen who hold the reigns power in perpetuity.Africa's problem is not the lack of resources to stimulate our economies and create employment nor laziness or lack of expertise as some westerner's hold.It is the greedy exploitation of the continent by resourceless western nations.How much have western corporations(Chevron_Texaco,TotalFinaElf,Exxon Mobil,Royal Dutch Shell)benefitted from corrupt regimes in a country like Nigeria where Abacha and his cronies went on a thieving spree depriving state coffers of more than 4 billion dollars.How much benefits has France reaped by keeping the archetype of buffoons,like Paul Biya,Omar Bongo,Sassou Ngeussou etc on the corridors of power for more than a quarter of a century?Belgian policies in the Congo was tantamount to massive rape of the countries resources.The country has only started breathing from this greed only after 45years but not without the greatest fratricidal wars and a predatory dictator,Mobutu who preyed on the countries resources thanks to Belgian and western ingenuity.The Rwandan Shoa and conflicts in the Great lakes Region have turned the area into the largest graveyard ever.France and Belgium the countries that have caused the biggest attrocities in Africa are today the greatest advocates of the slogan "contre l'immigration sauvage et pour une immigration choisi".Hypocrisy is the West's most cherished trademark.
Every year Africa looses the best of its skilled labour particularly doctors and nurses in a brain drain spree caused by the high demand by western nations.Meanwhile the average ratio of doctor per person in Africa is 1:1000 or even more in hard hit areas.They waste time condemning Mike Moore,out going World Trade Organisation(WTO)Director General for not bringing an end to agricultural subsidies.The very subsidies that they have adamantly refused to stop and which has brought untold hardship to our farmers and has broken the backbone of our economies(agriculture).
Today,we are faced with a situation of utter hopelessness and every route is now leading to Europe and America for 'greener pastures'
When these succesfully arrive the so called
'Economic Nirvana's',they become targets of xenophobia,racism,discrimination,stigma etc.
But so long as the belly of Africa keeps aching and the hearthrobe of our economies continue to beat at snailpace,the white washed walls surrounding Europe and America will continually be soiled by dark hands.

Nga Adolph.
Leuven(Belgium).

[nlatane]

I saw this dramatic rescue on TV and melted at the desperation of fellow Africans.This is soo sad.

I continue to be amazed at the nonchalance of our African rulers. They have no shame and seem not to be bound by any impulse of collective responsibility to do something about the continuous hemorrhaging of the continent’s very best. Soon, Africa is going to skip a whole generation as the gap widens with the young all fleeing the sinking ship.

We need a Messiah to save us.

[Ma Mary]

Ntalane's statement that we need a messiah needs further comment. It could be read as a statement of despair, someone raising hands in surrender because he or she can see no way out. I hope that is not what is meant. Something good has emerged in this past decade, and it is the internet. I would never have learned about this story otherwise. Perhaps the messiah Ntalane speaks of would be moved to action by reading the story on the internet. On my part, i hope we are not waiting for the messiah, because we could each be a small piece of a collective messiah, by planning a course in which dedicated individuals each take a piece of the task and together we can turn this thing around. I reject powerlessness, because there is always something that we can each do as individuals. It could be as simple as spreading the word. How many people have you forwarded this story or link in order to increase consciousness of our plight. Something that simple will bring more people on board.

[Rosemary Ekosso]

I understand that people in the UK are being shipped home in large numbers. I have heard stories of people sending in their passports for visa extensions, and receiving letters ordering them to go and fetch their passports from the airport and leave the country forthwith.

This is probably a result of the influx of Polish and other Eastern European immigrants. They cannot keep them out because of EU rules, so guess who they're kicking out to make space?

My question is this: did Mungo Park have a visa? Did Livingstone? Did all the people who raped and plundered Africa have visas?

No.

In the end, the immigration policy these people follow will fail because there are too many desperate people to keep out. Desperate situations require desperate measures, and if they go on like this, there will be a revolt one day. I shudder to think what it will be like.

[Sokari]

I agree with Rosemary's take on this. People are still arriving on the shores of Spain and I have seen the population of young Senegalese grow here in Granada. Millions depend on the receipts of these young, mostly men. Their earnings here in Spain are a pittance but still they manage to send money home by living a life of austerity and marginalisation from the rest of country.

[Franco Negro]

Europe and Shame?
That is an oxymoron. If whitewashing were an emotion, they would have an endless supply.

[SJ]

Europe and the west are reaping the whirlwind. Since slavery, they have supported corrupt African elites that engage in policies, under western tutelage, that pauperize their populations and make life unaccomodating in their homelands. From Paris to London to D.C., where bank accounts are bursting with African financial reserves, to all the Bretton Woods institutions who turn a blind eye to this but yet impose the so-called Structural Adjustment Programmes, you'll find the real puppet masters who could care less about the plight of these Africans beyong self-congratulatory rhetoric at champagne galas.

The same largesse shown Mobutu yesterday by the civilised west is being shown to the corrupt elite all over the continent today as western companies and speculative institutions are making hay in the place, while the losers are the African populations who must now literally sink or swim in a darwinian struggle for survival.

Will Europe and other western interested forces stop supporting the corrupt African elite that have created the conditions for this mass emigration? No.

Only when the balance ceases to be in favor of European governments through their companies who pillage the continent with the help of the corrupt African elite, and the costs of massive emigration from Africa to Europe and the west becomes unsustainable politically or otherwise; only then will the root cause of the massive emigration from Africa will be addressed: enshrined global policies and institutions that seek to maintain the loot and benefits of slavery and colonialism to the whiteman.

Or as Sarkozy is doing in France, when the Africans there have been given cash-money to return back home, witness the previleges that the corrupt African elites accord to French citizens and interests in Africa, then maybe they'll become incensed enough to do something about it: organize and make revolution so that their own children may not need a promise land beyond the shores of the continent.

[Ma Mary]

Anything that starts in America soon spreads around the western world. The multinational corporations that rampaged Africa are now doing the same in their homelands. In America, they are pushing down the cost of labor and hurting the lifestyles of their people, by exporting jobs to places that offer labor at a lower cost (China, India, Mexico). Some of them are moving their corporate headquarters to tax sheltered places (Cayman Islands, Dubai) and abandoning their home countries rather than pay the tax burden.

Sarkozy is starting something that could very well rupture the French empire in Africa. In a sense, it is a good thing. Let him continue. Do you figure that France can handle Ivory Coast x5? I am not so sure.