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The number of people from West Africa heading to Europe has increased significantly. Not only do they want to escape poverty, they also want to feel a lack of prospects.

Sheikh Ndaw, 24, just wants to leave. Although the young mechanic has a job, nothing can stop him in Senegal: “I have my job, I work every day, but nothing works.” “Nothing works in this country.” His declared goal is Europe. And he already knows how to get there: by boat. From the point of view of the young Senegalese man, there is no other way out: “The only option is to go there illegally. Because I cannot afford the legal way, the plane.”

This makes the young man a very typical case for his generation. At least this is what migration researcher Professor Ali Tandian of Gaston Berger University in Saint Louis in northern Senegal sees. It is naive to think that most people leave their country in search of work, says Tandiyan.

Poverty is by no means the only reason

It’s more complicated, and the reasons are more complex: „Research shows us that those who migrate are not as poor as you think,” Tandiyan explains. “They are people who work. But they work for others so that the profits do not come back to them. Or they are people who are forced to do multiple jobs.”

Tandiyan talks about the so-called “working poor.” Indeed, statistics indicate that the poorest of the poor in Africa do not have the strength or means to undertake the long, often life-threatening journey – let alone pay the smugglers.

So it’s the people with the least limited resources who get going. The data also shows that the number of migrants leaving their homes within Africa is several times higher than the number heading to Europe in often small wooden fishing boats.

The number of immigrants is increasing rapidly

However, 13,000 people arrived in the Canary Islands via the so-called North Atlantic Route in the first three months of this year, five times the number of people the previous year. Many of them are from Senegal.

Most are driven by desperation — or by dreaming of a better future in their heads, says migration expert Tandiyan. “With all the illusions, the heroism of immigration and the glorification of travel for immigrants, people think it’s possible to find their way around once you’re gone.”

When Tandean talks about “delusions” and “glorification,” he is referring to a social media phenomenon that has been giving Europeans headaches for years: young immigrants and influencers in North Africa have repeatedly filmed themselves in TikTok photos and videos, smiling and smiling completely. On their perilous journeys in small boats across the Mediterranean.

They stood relaxed in front of their smartphone cameras and acted as if it was a harmless fun ride with a glorious future waiting beyond the horizon. And not about a flight that kills thousands every year.

Many films that appeared years ago have now been deleted. But this does not solve the problem. In West Africa too, these posts, often shared hundreds of thousands of times, may still haunt the minds of many young people.

Will the new government change anything?

Regarding Senegal’s youth, aspirants took power at the beginning of April: “I often tell young people: the solution is not to ride boats.” Politician Ousmane Sonko addressed his young countrymen with these words in 2019. Sonko is well respected, especially among young Senegalese, and served as prime minister for a few weeks after his party colleague Diomai Fay won the presidential election in a landslide.

You now have the opportunity to make a difference. The main tasks they set for themselves are: job creation; Improving the conditions of rural residents and fishermen; Curb inflation.

„Immigration is not yet on our politicians’ agenda,” criticizes Tandiyan. Senegal’s newly elected government, celebrated by many young people, now has the opportunity to change that. The big question is whether she will.

Sheikh Ndaw, 24, doesn’t want to wait for an answer. He is ready to risk his life and leave Senegal by boat to Europe.