Realizing it cannot rely on the governments of Africa to control the hundreds of thousands of immigrants, the European Union has brought in its own forces in the name of Frontex, the EU’s border security agency. Though based in Poland and often used to patrol the EU’s land borders in Europe, much of the agency is currently deployed off the western coast of Africa. In September, Frontex had eleven boats, two planes, and two helicopters patrolling the coasts of Mauritania. Senegal, and Cape Verde, effectively assuming Africa’s border security.

Policy in Action

Politicians in Africa are torn between stopping and condoning immigration. Many of the immigrant-exporting countries are still highly dependent on Western aid and hence reluctant to anger European sentiments. For example, Mauritania received $305.7 million of aid, an amount equal to nearly three-quarters of the government’s annual budget.

Yet at the same time, many economies are built on the diaspora. Mahmou, one of the only adults living in the Dakar compound, explained, “When someone goes, he is going for us—for us, the Senegalese. He is going to ameliorate our situation.” One example of the clear connection between emigrants and locals is the realty boom in Dakar, Senegal, which is keeping thousands employed in construction projects. Expensive new homes are popping up along the shoreline and await their new owners, returning immigrants having made their fortunes.

Youthful constituencies are in favor of immigration, and have loudly opposed repatriation agreements with European countries. Beginning in June 2006 and continuing into October, repatriated immigrants in Senegal have held protests in the Senegalese cities of Dakar and Mbour. A particularly vocal demonstration took place on October 6 after 2,000 hopeful immigrants were repatriated in the span of three weeks. Protesters told the Senegalese newspaper Le Matin that the repatriated received nothing but a sandwich and bus fare from the government when they returned.

Immigration has sparked violent political debate in the runup to the 2007 Senegalese presidential election that will test the country’s allegedly stable democracy. Opposition parties are taking sharp stabs at the ruling power, under President Abdoulaye Wade. On October 9, 2006, a local paper, L’Observateur, printed that Abdoulaye Bathily, an influential professor at the University Anta Chiekh Diop in Dakar, said that emigration was proof that the government in power had failed to live up to its promises. In short, political stability could easily prove an illusion.

Complicating policy in Africa, European governments, lacking a unified front, often push African countries in opposite directions. African immigration policies are at least partially dictated by this external pressure. For the last few years, Morocco has come under pressure to patrol its coastline in an attempt to stop illegal immigration to the Canary Islands. But most upsetting for many Moroccans is the country’s defense of two Spanish enclaves on the North African coast. The Moroccan government, as well as the Spanish government, guards these small borders, going so far as to shoot at immigrants attempting to cross.

The Moroccan government has been met with strong criticism from its people because of these hardline policies. Protesters outside the Parliament building in Rabat, the nation’s capital, have complained that Morocco helps police for Europe at the cost of Moroccans and even Africans from other countries, thousands of whom travel overland through the northern coastal countries on their way to Europe.

While Europe has high demands of African governments, pressure from citizens to allow, and even assist, immigration has prevented African governments from cooperating with Europe unwaveringly. Hoping to avoid domestic unrest, these governments must balance desires to attain goodwill in Europe and at home. More practically, many African governments rarely have the resources to implement immigration policies on their own. In countries like Senegal—where unemployment is 48%, and 54% of the population lives below the poverty line—governments lack the resources to play a very active role in stemming the flow of African emigrants.

Yet immigration policy in Africa is not entirely a result of disagreement. In July, delegates from 58 countries in Europe and Africa convened in Morocco to develop strategies for combating illegal immigration. Though the discussions were largely uncreative, focusing on increased border patrolling in the short-term and economic development in Africa as a long-term method of slowing migration, collaboration between countries, both African and European, was a new and positive development.

The Tales They Tell

Towering above his three-seated fishing boat, it would have been difficult to imagine Lamil Diaw as a passenger squeezed inside, riding the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Just a few weeks ago, however, Diaw was in just this position, eyes cast on the Canary Islands. After his 600-mile journey from Senegal, water leaked in through cracks of the vessel and the passengers ached with hunger. Lamil and his fellow immigrants never reached the Canaries. Instead, they returned to Dakar disappointed. One of Lamil’s friends stood beside him as he recounted the tale, nervously prodding him in Wolof. “Lower your voice,” the friend pleaded.

The story of migration from Africa to Europe is far from a single narrative. It is the story of the people, most young and male, who risk their savings and their lives in hope of reaching Europe, where they rightly imagine economic opportunity to be far greater. And, naturally, it is about the countries they move to, and the communities they form while in Europe. But it is equally the story of the countries, towns, and families left behind. Often desperately poor, the futures of these communities are integrally tied to the fate of immigration.

“Lower your voice,” the friend repeated. Lamil’s friend did not want to hear about the journey’s failure. He hoped to depart for Europe in a few days. He will not be alone. All too aware of the harsh policies and perilous voyage that await them, thousands of young West Africans are still looking north and embarking on the same journey.

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