Opinion: « ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION », WHY THE WEST IS GETTING IT WRONG, by Sylvain De Bogou

Besides its economic nightmares symbolized by the Greek crisis, the West is dealing with a matter, “illegal immigration” in a way that children play with fire and refuse to listen to their parents until they get burnt. We are not about to talk economic or international monetary theories, we are here to deal with a “monster” created by the West and how the creator is lying to its own populations to avoid condemnation by the latter.
Let us go straight to the facts. Before the assassination of Gadhafi and the total destruction of Libya (the world leading wealth fare State), immigration from Africa to the West was less than 207,000 people seeking a better life in the other side of the Mediterranean and mentioned by the UNHCR for 2014 only. The UNHCR also said in the same Report (December 2014) that 70,000 people fled Africa during the war in Libya. At least 3,419 deaths were from migrant vessels in 2014 only. In continental Europe, in France for example, the authorities do not know the exact number of unfortunate and dehumanized people they have in Dover and Calais areas. Italy is suffering from its geographical situation compared to the rest of the West. It takes less than six hours to a boat from Libya to get to the Italian shores. It would be a big lie to say that the Italian government knows the current number of immigrants their country has swallowed. In April 2015, Raziye Akkoc, Jessica Winch and Nick Squires in Catania, citing the International Organisation for Migrant (I.O.M) stated that: “More than 1,750 migrants perished in the Mediterranean since the start of the year-more than 30 times higher than during the same period of 2014”. The dramatic and perilous crossing on zodiac boats and other risky means do not deter others from taking their chances to reach the “promised land”. The numbers given here do not show the real drama as no one knows exactly how many people start the “dream” journey from Libya. The UNCHR does not know the struggles that take place during the voyages and how many people get thrown into the sea during each voyage. But, let just accept the figures given above as working tools to get to the point that we are willing to make.
The West must accept that it has put itself in a “Frankenstein” position. With Mr. Sarkozy in front, the West ran to Libya “to save the populations from President Gadhafi’s iron fist”. Libya went through one of the hellish moments the modern history of human kind has ever witnessed. Bombs were dropped on a scale that where children were not protected. The West used “moderate jihadists” to finish off its dirty job. Gadhafi, who was befriended with Mr. Tony Blair earlier and Mr. Sarkozy after, suddenly became a wanted in 2011. The western media, as usual, conducted the chorus condemning “Gadhafi the dictator”. Everything was like in a movie where by the demon came back to haunt the peace loving villagers. It was a period of “Gadhafi must die for world peace and development”. We do remember the Lockerbie accident and we totally condemned it. We do not think that any matter can be resolved by a gun or any other violent means. We also remember that Gadhafi paid the price (kind of) of the Lockerbie bomb that caused the death of hundreds of innocent people. But, what we do not accept from the West is the “ash-ash” approach to the Libyan case. Killing Gadhafi was seen as the end of the Libyans. What a political blindness! The West has problem to control entirely the Libyan oil. So, at this point too, it has failed. The weapons distributed to “the moderate rebels or jihadists” have ended in the hands of “extremists jihadists”. We do not want to discuss this matter as our goal is elsewhere.
Libya was a tampon between sub-Saharan Africa and the West. Hundreds of thousands Africans or Syrians who were tempted by the West, used to stop their journeys in Gadhafi’s Libya where they used to find jobs that give them better lives. We met many Africans who fled Libya following the war of west against Gadhafi. They live in bushes in Morocco where some of them are refused houses despite the fact that they have money to pay their rent. The problem is that some Moroccans do not accept black people in their houses. Now that the West has destroyed the gate that used to stop the migrants entering the soil, it is crying fools and for help. Also, the West is supporting dictators in Africa for the sake of its interests. In the Ivory Coast, in DRC and elsewhere, dictators with the backing of the West are killing their own populations. Famine is ravaging the African continent as the populations are in constant move and the continent is torn by wars of all kinds.
The solutions are simple and achievable with a little political will. The West must accept that the countries in Africa are free and deserve to manage their own affairs. These countries can choose who they trade with; the West should not continue to treat them as their protectorates. We are in a planetary village where globalization must be the same for everyone, small, big, developed and underdeveloped countries alike. A man without food or forced to leave his country, will always find a way for his survival. This survival road, for many Africans and others is Europe where there sorrow comes from. Africans want to create jobs in their countries; they do not want to be patronized forever. The African diaspora and other people who think that the West should respect the will of the Africans are ready to invest in Africa. But, with all the political crisises that are weakening the continent, it will only take fools to invest in Africa. The West ought to stop disintegrating Africa. The African continent needs stability above other things such as good governance, fight against corruption, etc. Quick elections must not be seen by the World Bank, the IMF, the European Union and the US as a magical panacea. For Africa to get “strong Institutions”, it needs not pushing and patronizing from the West. The West’s attitude toward Africa is very insulting and infantilizing. Above are few but not least important solutions that could lead to the salvation of Africa, a continent that is very rich but whose populations are among the poorest of the world.

By Sylvain De Bogou