By Hassan Ibrahim Conteh
The mass exodus of African youths to foreign nations through illegal and perilous means seeking ‘greener pastures’ has been a hot topic of discussion recently.
The high seas, over the years, have been the gateway, and countries such as the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, among others, have been the landing places for these youths. The risks are high because the host countries, most times, refuse them entry and they have to devise means to beat the systems.
But the risks are higher during their voyage at sea.
The affected nations have raised eyebrows as they perceived the transnational migration as a threat to their security, especially in an era marred by terrorism, trafficking of narcotics, child and human trafficking, among others.
False or forged travelling documents and impersonation of citizenship is the main ploy adopted by the irregular migrants to beat down security operatives deployed along the porous borders.
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, sounded overwhelmed with the illegal migrants conundrum and made no mince of words in out rightly condemning it.
“Britain is open and tolerant to different people of the world, but cannot allow people to break into it,” he said via a BBC media link.
As nations continue to battle with the age-old problem akin to that of the ‘black poor’ menace in England in the 18th century, Spain in 2013 provided funds for 15 West African countries as part of its approach to tackle the influx of illegal immigrants.
The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) implemented a programme to tackle the menace of irregular migration through this funding. The project titled: ‘Capacity Building for Combating Irregular Migration (CBCIM)’ was coordinated by Umu Nyallay Gbappy. She recounted her experience travelling around the world and witnessing the “contemptuous” treatment meted out to illegal immigrants by some host nations. She described how these “unfortunate people” were chained into bands and others stranded at the borders in their attempt to enter these countries.
“They’ll handcuff and take you into custody. Those who went for further studies and their time expired are also regarded as illegal immigrants,’’ she said.
Bribery
Although the local media hasn’t covered the issue, Sierra Leone, according to reports monitored online, has actually been affected. A number of young Sierra Leoneans have boarded boats and joined the perilous journey. A few made it to Europe, and the stories have been mixed.
One man who didn’t make it is Sheka Bangura.
In 2011, Bangura and six of his friends decided to embark on the journey. They boarded a ship, hiding in a small compartment throughout the six-day journey they thought would end in some European country. They had with them satches of water, gari [pounded cassava, a common die in West Africa], groundnut paste, and even some medicines.
Bangura and his friends used a small boat to board the ship which was anchored off shore. The crew of the ship wasn’t even aware of them.
They chose the ship on the basis of national flag it was flying, he said.
“By so doing we will know which country it is coming from,” he told Politico. But they ended up in Ivory Coast.
Many young people like Bangura and his friends are smuggled this way out of Sierra Leone, through the Queen Elizabeth II Quay. Sometimes they bribe officials working at the port.
These officials would take money or any valuable article from desperate youths to allow them board the vessels.
The journey is no less challenging. Sometimes a ship will take 20 days at sea. Bangura said some vessels, like theirs, were not heading directly for Europe because they would have to offload their cargoes in other African countries.
When he and his friends dropped off in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, after nine days at sea, they thought they were actually in Morocco. They had been discovered by one of the crew.
They were suspected as terrorists while in custody in Abidjan.
“They asked us why we decided to hide on the boat. We told them that we wanted to go to Europe to seek for better living condition,” the young man narrated.
“We were eventually treated nicely when they later realised that we were neither criminals nor terrorists,” he added.
Lack of funding
Bangura and his friends spent 10 days in Abidjan as their lessee passé (traveling documents) were been prepared in Monrovia, Liberia.
“It seemed as if we did not have an embassy in Ivory Coast,” he said.
Bangura shares an almost similar story with Alhaji and Alieu, who are currently stranded in Guinea.
According to David Bayo, the elder brother of Alieu, the two boys left after they had arranged with their friend going by the name Keita, who is now in Germany.
Keita had asked them to contribute Le2m each in order to prepare their traveling documents. They were expected to travel by road, commencing in Guinea, going through Liberia, Mali, and Algeria. But the two friends couldn’t raise the money. Alhaji and his friend stole his brother’s furniture and sold them to pay their way.
“And now they are calling us every day to send them more money,” David explained to Politico.
Bayo said he later learned that Keita did not go to Germany by road. He said his father, who lives in the US, had arranged his travel.
“How can somebody ask you for money when he is abroad! I wonder if things are not even difficult for him too!” Bayo wondered.
NaCSA’s CBCIM project assisted people like Bangura with stipends, micro grants to easily reintegrate.
Some 187 people benefited from the project that lasted for 18 months, between January 2012 and June 2013.
Because of lack of funding it phased out.
Gbappy said after the project ended they received many calls from immigrants wanting to return home.
‘’Almost every day, we receive calls from immigrants. At the moment, we have 50 names, but there is no fund. We all know that irregular migration is a very big problem,” she said.
Through the project, NaCSA also conducted training courses for border guards as well as police and military personnel on how to detect “fake travelling documents” carried along border crossing points.
(C) Politico 03/0316
