afrol News, 31 July - Determined and courageous women in Senegal and West Africa have united to combat irregular migratio in the region. One of their campaign strategies is to warn young people from surrendering their lives into the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.

The Deputy Director General of International Organisation of Migration (IOM), Ndioro Ndiaye, believed the initiatives deserves the greatest encouragement.

“Such worthwhile initiatives must be encouraged as should approaches aimed at creating appropriate social-economic environments that will reduce incentives for young people to emigrate clandestinely,” Ms Ndiaye told a regional conference on irregular migration in Dakar, capital of Senegal.

About 250 women leaders and representatives from the ECOWAS region have been holding a two-day meeting to find new ways to curb irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe.

Organised by Renaissance of West African Women, the meeting was officially declared open by the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. Its participants are committed to increasing awareness among the general public on the dangers of irregular migration.

One of the women participants of the forum is Yayi Bayam Diouf who heads the Association des femmes pour la lutte contre l’émigration clandestine said her association holds regular meetings in the suburbs of Dakar to persuade young men to desist from embarking on the dangerous journey to Europe.

“I tell them that out of a hundred men who have left, maybe 50 have died at sea, 25 haven’t given news of their whereabouts and 10 have been sent back. The remainder are probably in camps or have made it to Spain where they are without a proper job,” she said.

“So in the end I tell them it’s better to stay here.”

Participants also dealt on ways and strategies to encourage would-be migrants to play active role in the development of Africa, access temporary labour migration programmes within Africa and between West Africa and Europe. How to undercut migration smuggling networks was also adequately discussed.

Over the years, governments of West African countries of Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and The Gambia been teaming up with Spanish authorities to stop youths from embarking on risky and perilous sea journey to Europe in search of greener pastures. It has become a journey of no return for most West African youths, especially those from Senegal.

President Abdoulaye Wade was furious about the rampant illegal migration to Europe, asking African youths to stay home and develop their continent. "If all the European youths migrated, the region would not have attained such a high development and growth," he said, addin, "opportunities are here, it is a matter of exploring them to the best of our abilities."

By Musa Saidykhan

© afrol News

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