Today's Edition
Dina Mahmoud (London)
“Europe or death” has become the slogan of many who wish to migrate from poor southern countries to the countries in the northern hemisphere, in light of the shrinking means that allow them to do so legally and amid the rise of anti-immigrant and asylum-seeker sentiments in some parts of Europe and the West.
Many of these people are concentrated in sub-Saharan African countries and the turbulent Sahel region located in the west of the continent, which has become a stronghold for bloody extremist groups affiliated with Dae’sh and Al-Qaeda terrorist organisations, alongside human trafficking rings.
Experts in migration affairs warn that the closure of legal routes that allow legitimate entry into European countries may push those migrants to seek assistance from terrorists or human traffickers, thus generating huge profits for criminal and terrorist networks.
According to independent estimates based on events observed a few years ago in the Sahel region, a person wishing to migrate to Europe would pay more than 100 euros (approximately $106) to the militants and terrorists in the region, in exchange for facilitating their arrival to their desired destinations in the Western countries. This would generate an annual income of up to one million euros or even more for the criminal organisations active in that part of the world.
Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat (AFP)
Terrorists often resort to recruiting migrants, especially those with strong physical builds, in light of the prevailing power vacuum in many parts of the African Sahel region.
Experts criticised the current European policies for dealing with the migrants’ desire to move to the high-standard-of-living northern hemisphere countries, saying that these approaches have not reduced the desire to migrate, but rather made it more difficult to proceed.
They pointed out, in statements published by the “EU Observer” electronic newspaper, that encouraging the European Union to “organised and safe migration” would help reduce the influence of terrorist organisations and enhance efforts to establish regional stability in West Africa.
However, experts also ruled out the possibility of any radical changes in those policies, given the concerns of the European Union countries about the potential influx of more migrants to their territories, as well as the internal pressures their governments face from far-right forces that have gained significant popularity following the migration wave that swept the European continent in the mid-last decade.
