Africa is facing a dire humanitarian crisis arising from political violence, severe economic pressures, conflict, food insecurity and harsh climatic conditions. However, the war in Ukraine has been a distraction to the current dire situation in Africa, where hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and others displaced from their homes. At least 44 million people have been forcibly displaced including internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees, according to a report by the United Nations (UNHCR, 2023). Armed conflict and bad governance are the key drivers contributing to displacement of Africans, further exacerbating the human trafficking and migration crisis.
Silence the Guns Initiative
The African Union (AU) has epically failed to end all armed conflicts by 2020, as it committed to in its ‘Silence the Guns’ Initiative a decade ago. The AU has not upheld peace, security and stability in Africa and has been unsuccessful in promoting good governance and democracy in the continent. There has been increased armed conflicts and violence from the proliferation of armed militia groups in Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan among others. What has the AU’s response been? Well, The AU discriminately chose to suspend membership for Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Sudan, yet turned a blind eye to the conflict in Congo and Ethiopia that has continued to claim many innocent lives.
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia’s Tigray conflicts are some of the world’s toughest yet most neglected humanitarian catastrophes. Ethiopia has reported at least 5.1 million internally displaced people, and millions of others have fled to neighboring countries. Congo has been facing armed conflict that has displaced 521,000 people from their homes in recent months, a country that already has at least 6.65 million people displaced. The AU managed to hold interventions in Darfur Sudan and in Somalia, but failed to intervene in Ethiopia’s deadliest war or attempt to stop the bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Why has the African Union not protected the lives of Africans by preventing such conflicts from erupting or escalating?
The AU’s continued inaction and ineffectiveness in the prompt resolution of conflicts will see the prolongation of the displacement of Africans. The large influx of migrants and refugees flee to North African countries, Tunisia and Libya being transit points to Europe through crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of African migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to cross to Europe. The joint taskforce between AU-EU-UN that was established in 2017, has not solved the African migrant crisis. Migrant smugglers are still operating out of the continent, and some of these smugglers are rogue politicians in some of these countries.
AU member states have been violating the fundamental rights of Africans, failed to uphold the rule of law and continuously undermined democracy in Africa. Moreover, the AU has declined to address human rights violations and abuses occurring repeatedly in member countries. Tunisia’s president Kais Saied complained about the migrants issue in his country as an attempt to alter the country’s demographic structure and composition by trying to make it ‘purely African’. He called for an urgent halt of African migrants flowing into the country, claiming that unnamed parties had commercialized the moving of African migrants to Tunisia. The African Union verbally ‘condemned’ his remarks stating that this ‘racial hate speech could cause a lot of harm’. The African Union has not come to the rescue of migrants and refugees, because some of these perpetrators are representatives of this regional body. Thus, the AU has been complicit in the crimes committed against innocent victims.
Human Smuggling and Trafficking
Political leaders have taken advantage of this appalling situation and have lured vulnerable Africans into moving to the Middle East in promise of employment. These politicians have been linked to shoddy employment agencies that get these Africans abroad, where they face sexual slavery, torture and some have been killed. Human smuggling has been a lucrative business in Africa as migrants are enslaved and tortured. A Nigerian politician was charged by British authorities with human trafficking with intent to harvest organs. In Kenya, the current president revealed that a ‘container of death’ was found with dead bodies, where ‘investigations’ are underway to identify the victims. This comes amid a huge increase in unclaimed dead bodies in Kenyan morgues that have resulted in mass disposal by the government. The horrifying tales reported by Africans that have narrowly escaped death while in transit or working in the Middle East should have garnered international support, but that has not been the case. Many Africans are suffering in the hands of their politicians, and the cartels that sell them off abroad, in the worst form of modern day slavery. In 2017, CNN’s expose’ on migrant auctions showed migrants being sold at a slave auction for as low as $400. Libya was holding migrants arbitrarily in detention centers that were operated by the government. These migrants suffered various human rights abuses perpetrated against them while in detention.
The African Union chose to successfully form the African Continental Free Trade Area that took after the EU model, but failed to emulate processes that would uphold democracy, governance or ensure sustainability of peace in the continent. AU has failed to stabilize Ethiopia’s civil war or the recurring insurgents in Mozambique’s natural resources-rich province of Cabo Delgado. Additionally, the AU opts to verbally ‘condemn’ the militia and military coups as if that would be enough to deter the renegade rebel groups.
The AU promotes Africa’s blueprint ‘Agenda 2063’ that envisions an Africa of good governance, democracy, and respect for human rights, justice and rule of law. However, the AU has consistently failed at achieving its goals and targets. Therefore, it focuses on shifting goalposts with different initiatives and targets that will not be met given the AU’s unimpressive track record. African Union’s policies and practices are outdated and backward judging by the African migration Report by the AU. Having strong policies and institutional frameworks looks good on paper, but the AU does not hold African leaders accountable for their contribution to human trafficking or in worsening the migration crisis.
The AU’s migration policy is weak at best, one that is simply meant to appeal to the masses, without any tangible significant results produced from it. The African Union needs to address and meet the needs of Africans by pursuing the interests and welfare of the continent first and not those of its financiers or donors