Why we did 72-hr push back Frontex in Senegal- Activist Ibrahima Konate

Ibrahima Konate, a Senegalese migration expert in this interview with Voice for African Migrants, spoke on why they engaged in 72-hr- push back Frontex and how climate change fuels emigration of people in the country. Excerpts:

1. Senegal was traditionally an important country of destination in the West Africa region, but it has now also become a country of emigration and transit. What is responsible for this?

Traditionally Senegal is still an important country of transit, departure, and origin in West Africa since the year 2004 to 2006. The causes are different: We can say the geographical placement of Senegal which is too advanced in the Atlantic Ocean and which is a major crossroads in West Africa through its beach. The lack of employment, the violation of human rights through the embassies which are housed in Senegal, the plundering of our fishing resources which push many artisanal fishermen to take canoes and migrate for a better future because they can no more to find enough to feed their families. The looting of our raw materials such as gold, zircon, phosphate, oil and many others that young people no longer find their advantages on its resources and that the only beneficiaries are the powerful, politicians and others. Lack of health, education, information, work and others. And recently also arbitrary arrests by our security forces sponsored by our government, push young people more and more to migrate.

2. Does climate change in any way encourage emigration in Senegal?

On the one hand, climate change is encouraging emigration from Senegal. These days, some fishermen are struggling to find fish. This is often caused by sea pollution. Factories dumping toxic waste in the sea are making fish scarce and forcing fishermen to take to the sea. Senegal is a country of tourism, which can generate 10 to 12% of the country’s GDP, but in recent years the growth in tourism has fallen to 6 to 7%. Climate change is forcing many resources to move further away, and these have become very scarce, as in the case of fish stocks. And many traditional pirogues travel miles just to get a few kilograms of fish, whereas before they were content to fish just a few miles from our beaches to fill their pirogues and feed their families.

3. You recently shared a post where you condemned the deployment of Frontex to Senegal. Can you explain this and why you are against it?
It is the source of all risks. If we come forward it is because we don’t want what happened in Melilla in 2022 to be repeated here in Senegal and that of Greece off its islands like Evros, where there are many Push Backs there and Libya also through Frontex.

4. We learnt you planned to hold a 72-hour push back Frontex protest. Did it hold?

Yes, our 72h Push Back Frontex event took place and it went well from August 10 to 12 in Dakar.

5. What was the response of the people to the protest?
Disappointing, controlled and trampled on. Because there is no government platform that publishes or talks about Frontex because it is an agency that the Senegalese population does not even know. For some people who live on the coast and are lucky enough to see white foreigners in uniforms with the company of the national gendarmerie, they make them believe that they are there to help them for a better future. But with our videos, the population has understood the true role of Frontex in Senegal and that they have also understood that their children have not been sacrificed in the sea or on the borders but that it is our government that is sacrificing them in complicity with the EU with its armed wing which is Frontex.

6. Did the government of Senegal support or kick against the plan?
First of all, to clarify, Boza Fii is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation. During the trust fund, the government drew up forms for all associations working in the field of immigration so that they could receive funding of up to 10 million CFA francs, but Boza Fii is the one and only association that has not taken up this funding. First of all, we’re against Senegal’s migration policy and that of the EU towards Africa. The government has never supported any of our activities or projects, but it is always against them. In October 2022, some members of Boza Fii were due to go to Germany to sign a partnership agreement with Medico International, but we were refused a visa just one week after our first Push Back Frontex event in Dakar, which caused quite a stir. With all the necessary documents filed and by all means, the state of Senegal and EU decided not to deliver us visas. The president of Boza Fii has traveled several times to their universities to give lectures on migration.

7. What is your opinion about externalistion of borders by the EU?
The outsourcing of borders is just the dark side of the wickedness of fortress EU with all its powers.
In June 2024 while trying to cross the barriers between Morocco and Spain in the Spanish enclave Melilla, more than 30 young sub-Saharans were killed, more than a hundred injured and more than 300 pushed back as a result of deliberate violence by border police on both sides. This is a form of externalising borders.
While on the African continent, protests and indignation are multiplying, the European press is barely talking about this tragedy. The violent treatment of black bodies during the Melilla massacre compared to empathy.
The way I can tell the externalisation of borders is a long-term solution for the EU but not for humanity. For it is essential to rethink the externalisation of borders without reference to the violation of the free movement of people and their goods, the criminalisation, internalisation, victimisation and silencing of the mobility of women, men, migrants or refugees in their own countries and in transit and host countries too.

8. What does Senegal’s migration policy look like?
Very, very badly. Because I can’t understand how a country that embodies democracy doesn’t have a national migration policy document in Senegal.
In Senegal, the government has set up a committee called CILEC, made up of ministers, generals, colonels, commissioners and police officers, to criminalise irregular migration, when there is no decree in the Senegalese constitution or in the ECOWAS charter that can criminalise irregular migration. And we can’t talk about migration policy in Senegal because there is no ministry responsible for it. Neither the Ministry of Youth, nor the Ministry of the Interior, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

9. There have been frequent deportations of Africans from Europe. How are these deportees received in Senegal?
His expulsions are not well received in Senegal and with all the structures that are there for the reintegration of migrants. Critics still won’t let them go. First of all, the expulsions are resented by the families of the expelled migrants, and secondly, the government has no solution for them.
Because I can’t understand why, with all the money paid by the EU for expulsions, the Senegalese state can’t even take care of its expellees, so why sign expulsion agreements if you’ve been given money and can’t put it back into the hands of the expellees?

10. What can African governments do to save the citizens from needless deaths in the Mediterranean Sea and deserts of North African countries?
The solution is not really easy. First of all, visa facilitation and reciprocity, facilitating the free movement of people and their goods by putting in place structures that secure them until they arrive. Put in place jobs and sufficient wages so that they can live their lives. Facilitate their education and health. Review the bilateral agreements. And charge the EU the price of its raw materials. Eradicate EU militia forces on African soil and be free to choose its partners and others.