Before the Europeans came to Africa, Africans were content with staying in the African continent. However, Europe discovered Africa with its abundant human and natural resources which they decided they needed to develop their continent. And so, in the guise of spreading Christianity and civilization, these Europeans took millions of Africans to their shores to be used as workers to till their ground and build wealth. After which they decided that this wasn’t enough and so went on to colonize the African continent to ensure that they had a steady and abundant supply of resources both human and natural to develop their land. And so began the period of colonization, control, and establishing systems that ensured that the continent would always remain in their hands. So, while the rest of the world went on to experience massive growth and development, the African continent remained behind, filled with countries regarded as the poorest in the world and whose leaders were and are still European puppets. Now, the underdeveloped state and the bad economic and political situation in most African countries made some Africans decide to migrate to Europe in search of better opportunities.

At first, Europe accepted these African migrants but then it came to a point where Europe decided that it had had enough of these Africans and formulated a strategy that according to statistics drastically reduced the number of African migrants coming to the continent. However, this strategy used by Europe is controversial and has been the subject of debate over the years. What is this strategy, How effective is it, and the big question is what is the effect on African migrants? Stay with us as we show you in this video.

Before 2015, Europe was faced with a migration crisis with more than 2 million people illegally crossing into the continent. And get this, these people were not just from Africa. They included people from the Middle East and Eastern Europe who were fleeing from complex emergencies, natural disasters, and wars. The influx of these migrants into Europe caused the European political elites to be divided into two groups. One group was of the opinion that these migrants, including Africans, were invaluable resources that could revive a dying continent suffering from a chronic lack of a fresh young unspecialised workforce. The other on the other hand thought that the migrants were parasites who can undermine the very roots of the Christian-based European culture, endangering the entire social fabric of a society that has based its wealth upon slavery, colonialism, and the exploitation of people for centuries. These two groups couldn’t find a common ground meanwhile the migration situation needed to be dealt with. So, the European Union decided to find a solution to the problem.

Now, in the search for a solution, the European Union which prides itself as a defender of human rights, justice, and equality didn’t bother to figure out why these people were so desperate to leave their countries and enter into Europe using illegal routes. Aren’t they supposed to care when they are part of the reasons why the migrants are leaving their countries, especially in Africa? Not surprisingly, they didn’t and they still don’t. The European Union used the excuse that the migrants who came into Europe could spread diseases and increase crime rates and even terrorism. So, they came up with a solution. The European Union decided to stop the migrants in their tracks before they could cross the borders and guess what? The plan worked. It was incredibly effective, and in less than five years, the number of migrant arrivals to Europe dropped by 90 per cent, from over 2 million to just 150,000. But at what price?

The European Union’s plan to deal with the migration crisis was simple. They asked the leaders of the migrant countries to keep their migrants from entering Europe by whatever means possible. Now they didn’t just ask, they paid money, millions of Euros to African and Middle Eastern countries to keep their citizens from leaving their countries. In theory, the money paid by the EU was used to counter human trafficking and smuggling” by breaking their “business model” to “offer migrants an alternative to putting their lives at risk”. However, in practice, these funds ended up in the hands of unscrupulous militia forces and shady organizations that prevented the most vulnerable people from reaching the borders of the EU member states with any means necessary – including the most inhumane ones.

Now, one of the most important steps of the EU’s plan to contain these migrants was making arrangements with Turkey and Libya to prevent refugees from reaching the Old Continent’s borders by blocking all their land or sea routes. On top of that, whenever a migrant was caught crossing the Mediterranean to the nearby Greek islands, Spain, or Italy, he or she would be sent back to Turkey or Libya to be “temporarily” locked in some prison. The result of this whole continent process has been the creation of a huge kidnap and detention industry from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and from the Mediterranean to the Sahel. Prisons, warehouses, even zoos, have been repurposed for the caging of migrants. A leaked EU internal memorandum in 2020 revealed that capturing migrants was now “a profitable business model”. In Libya, militias and people smugglers have rebadged themselves as “coastguards” trained and funded by the EU to capture migrants at sea and force them into Libyan detention. Men and women are raped, abused, and beaten on a daily basis; some have spent months or years locked up. People are exposed to contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis, and often die from sickness, malnourishment, or neglect while in detention.

Now, despite being fully aware of the inhuman conditions faced by these migrants, the European Union turns a blind eye to the reality of their policies, pretending to believe that they are doing a good job dealing with the issue of smuggling and keep on contributing to this massive process of human exploitation in many ways. The EU provides the Libyan authorities with the necessary funds and resources to intercept men, women, and children at sea. Italy donated several patrol boats to the Libyan coastguard and the training required to operate them as efficiently as possible during Operation Sophia. Even the Visegrad Group countries which include Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia provided an additional 35 million euros on top of the 10 million handed over by the EU. In essence, interception has become the answer to the whole migrant crisis rather than reception.

Another action taken by the EU to stem the number of people reaching their coasts and borders was establishing the so-called “Khartoum Process. During the 2015 migration crisis, African leaders met with European leaders in Malta to discuss a common plan to address the migration problem. The meeting ended with Europe agreeing to establish an Emergency Trust Fund worth billions of euros which would be used to foster stability and to contribute to better migration management, including by addressing the root causes of destabilisation, forced displacement and irregular migration.” Many projects eventually fell under the banner of the Emergency Trust Fund, such as Operation Sophia, as well as the less-known but no less opaque Khartoum Process. The Khartoum process was an initiative which consisted of a series of financial incentives provided by the EU member states to African countries who can help in the fight against human trafficking and people smuggling. The only difference is that these funds are provided to prevent exploitation along the migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe. The countries involved include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. However, in March 2020, these projects which supposedly were supposed to deal with the root causes of migration to Europe were suspended. The question is why?

Well, it was revealed that instead of actually dealing with the root causes of migration, the funds were used to prevent migrants from crossing into Europe. And they did this by working with “regimes and militia forces that are entirely unaccountable” and are “known for systematic abuses”. According to reports the funds were used to deploy the infamous Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – the heirs of the brutal Janjaweed led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagolo. So, in a nutshell, the European Union, who are supposed to be defenders of human rights, paid smugglers to stop human smuggling and traffic – and they were fully aware of that. Imagine that.

The annoying thing is that the European Media would say that they are taking all these measures because they are trying to stop the influx of migrants from Africa into their continent as if it’s all Africans that want to travel to Europe. But the reality is that most African migrants prefer to move to neighboring African countries rather than Europe but because of the European border control measures on the African continent, these African migrants are forced to use dangerous routes to reach their destination in Africa. This means that the European policy of dealing with migration is affecting the free movement of people and goods in Affixa which is needed for African integration.

The European Union policy has also been disastrous for African locals because it has led to the dismantling of economies, the breakup of communities, the creation of new opportunities for human smugglers and Islamist militias and the undermining of trust in elected authorities. Niger is a good example. Niger is among the top 10 poorest countries in the world, yet its position in the Sahel has turned it into Europe’s migration laboratory. It is, in per capita terms, the largest recipient of EU aid, in return for which the Niger authorities are forced to distort domestic policies to fit with the EU’s migration needs, including the adoption in 2015 of a law against smuggling migrants. This law has destroyed the livelihoods of many who used to service migrant routes without creating new means of making a living. It has also, ironically, helped establish a new industry of human smuggling. Fortunately, the law has recently been revoked by the military junta of Niger.

Isn’t it ironic that European politicians and policymakers who normally place such a great store on “defending sovereignty” and “protecting borders” are more than happy to trample over the sovereignty of poorer nations and to disregard their borders so long as it allows them to “stop the boats”? it sure is. The fact that most of these African migrants do not even want to go to Europe doesn’t concern them. It is highly hypocritical for Western countries to claim that they want to address the “root causes” of the tremendous strife that brings so many people to leave their homelands when the real fact is that most of these “root causes” originate from the endless exploitation of lands and resources of the Global South that seemingly sustains the whole capitalist system.

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