JOHANNESBURG: Despite growing pressure to address the tragedy of African migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, the African Union is unlikely to offer any home-grown solutions to the crisis, say analysts.
Refugees will be discussed in a closed session at the first day of the African Union summit on Sunday, in anticipation of a meeting with the European Union in the latter half of this year.
But African leaders, many of whom routinely flout human rights, are accused of lacking the will to criticise each other on refugee and immigration policies for fear of attracting criticism themselves.
The stalemate thwarts efforts to combat the continent's refugee crises.
"I am not sure to what extent the leaders can tell each other this type of uncomfortable truth," said Tjiurimo Hengari, a research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
"The solutions are mostly domestic, it's about better governance. They need to tell each other: we need to promote inclusive growth, we need to promote good governance."
Last weekend alone, 6,000 people, most of them sub-Saharan Africans, were pulled to safety from fishing boats and rubber dinghies off Libya.
Nearly 1,800, mainly African and Middle Eastern refugees, have drowned in the Mediterranean this year.
The summit's host, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, is unlikely to take the lead on any pan-continental effort to tackle the refugee crisis, as he faces criticism over deadly xenophobic violence in his country earlier this year.
Nigeria and Zimbabwe were among those who lashed out at South Africa for not protecting their citizens after a series of anti-migrant attacks in January and April.
In the aftermath of the unrest, a defiant Zuma refused to accept blame.
"As much as we can have a problem alleged to be xenophobic, our brother countries contributed to this," he said. "Why are the citizens not in their countries?"
Comments
Comments are closed.