Sahel: the management of its migrants
Paul Amara, consultant, Centre for Strategies and Security for the Sahel Sahara (Centre4s.org)
Despite the deadly dangers associated with illegal migration between the two continents, many Sahelians attraction to Europe continues unabated. Figures for 2024 speak for themselves. Morocco thwarted 78,685 irregular migration attempts, and more than 30,000 Saharan migrants were expelled from Algeria to Niger. Senegalese police arrested 4,630 people for offenses directly related to migrants smuggling, whether by land, air, or sea. Approximately 16,500 Malians have managed to reach Europe irregularly, making Mali the main country of origin for migrants in 2024. Africans wishing to travel regularly to Europe face a Schengen visa application rejection rate of 43.1%, with 704,000 refusals recorded in 2023. Driven by the European Union, keen to keep migrants well away from its borders, Sahel countries appear, each, to be handling this issue at their national level. In most European countries, sub-Saharan immigrants represent an average of 0.4% of the population, compared to a 1.4% peak in France.