African regions face migration challenges

"The African Renaissance Monument"
Richard N Home

Mamadou Oury Baïlo Diallo

President of the Union of Local Elected Representatives Associations of Senegal (UAEL) 

Us, local and regional African Authorities, we live every day, closer than anyone else to our populations, the effects of migration. This is not for us a distant issue, but a daily reality. This is why I enthusiastically greet the Regions Forum on Migration Processes Organisation, an initiative that was born within ORU Fogar, managed by African regions and collectivities.  

This Forum brings us an opportunity to discuss an issue we know intimately. Migration represents, for many African families, a human tragedy. However it also constitutes a huge loss for our territories. When our youth departs, especially those highly  trained, we lose our vitality, our energy, our future. Young people who flee the territory to reach Europe are often obliged to accept precarious jobs for which they are overqualified. It is a double loss: for Africa, who loses talents, and for Europe, who does not know how to take advantage of its value. 

But we don’t want to see this reality from our African territories sitting on our hands. ORU Fogar offers us the opportunity of establishing a global dialogue between the North and South regions. We know that irregular immigration causes concern and rejection in Europe. We see with fear the growing racist and intolerant social trends. And, we know that, us too, we have a responsibility: preventing these situations.

We want a regulated, constructive and decent migration. We want that our compatriots, once in Europe, completely integrate into the cultural, social and political lifestyle in the countries and regions that accept them. However, beyond these objectives, our most important mission is to create the conditions for migration to stop being a necessity.  This is only achieved through job creation in Africa. This is the highest priority. 

I am glad to see that ORU Fogar shares this vision and it is actively committed to this path. The UAEL supports these initiatives that aim to offer local perspectives to young people, such as the program “Yakaar, pas Barsakh”, that brings a message of hope and responsibility. There are two other projects that follow the same approach, such as Italian cooperation, from national institutions or from regions such as the Canary Islands, with programs like Tierra Firme, that support job creation and territorial development. 

All of this shall be commented on Dakar, on the First Regions Forum on Migration Processes. But we must not talk in an abstract manner. We must do it from the regional governments and the world’s concrete reality. Local and regional governments are the ones who know best their populations, their necessities, their real economies. It is them who can transform migration into opportunities more than in an escape. 

At Dakar we will share inspiring experiences. But, most of all, we will publish news. We must build together territories capable of offering opportunities for the youth in their own countries. 

Because of this, I call all local and departmental authorities in Senegal: get involved in the debate, participate in the Forum and help build an African vision of responsible, united and developmental migration.