Durable Solutions

For several decades now, the issue of illegal migration through the Mediterranean Sea has become a thorn on the flesh. Never has a day or week come and gone without one hearing that dozens of African youths have drowned. The issue has become so pre-occupying that when the government of Italy invited leaders of countries from Africa, Europe as well financial institutions to Rome to seek ways of stamping out the phenomenon of illegal migration, many were hopeful that at last something positive is in the pipe. Their joy is not because of the caliber of participants, but the determination and aspiration of the leaders to put in place a new alliance to govern the migratory phenomenon.
From the look of things, though it is championed by Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni after making several visits to Africa (accompanied at times by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte), Sunday’s conference seems to many, “a last opportunity to strategize and put in place durable solutions to the persistent problem”. For now, it is clear to most stakeholders that the problem is not money. In the past, several European institutions and governments have signed agreements and provided funds to some African count...