We have grown callous to the news of death. We read reports about the demise of thousands of irregular migrants who perished in the Mediterranean over the last few years, the most recent of which was the one about the boat that capsized off the coast of Greece last June, sending hundreds to their death.

In the comfort of our air-conditioned homes or offices we read or hear the news about the ongoing tragic saga of hundreds of poor migrants, including women and children, stranded in the merciless desert on the borders between Libya and Tunisia, with hardly any water or food, under the scorching heat reaching 50 degrees.

The situation of irregular migrants is indeed a human tragedy of unprecedented dimensions. The one-day conference held recently in Rome on irregular migration, at the invitation of the Italian prime minister, was a welcome step in the right direction to tackle this issue.

At least the multidimensional nature of the migration issue was recognised, involving source countries (countries of origin), transit countries and target countries (countries of destination) together with other factors such as the effects of conflicts, climate change and widespread corruption and criminality, which all exacerbate the suffering of migration.

From the perspective of Europe, however, the main concern is how to keep, if not to prevent, these thousands of poor souls from reaching its southern shores, finding home for them somewhere else, a process referred to by some experts by the term ‘externalisation’.

Memoranda of strategic partnerships, such as the one signed recently between Italy and Tunisia, are meant, in my opinion, to be a tool for the absorption, integration and regulation of the movement of irregular migrants before they ride the sea in search of uncertain harbours in Europe, if they make the crossing alive. Unfortunately, such arrangements are hardly sustainable.

As mentioned by Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbaiba, the number of irregular migrants currently living in Libya, a country of transit for many decades, reached approximately two million, in a country whose entire population is under eight million. Some of these migrants find sporadic, unskilled work in the Libyan market but many live in abject poverty, dreaming of crossing the Mediterranean either to reach Europe or perish in its depths. Frankly speaking, conditions in transit countries are simply not conducive for irregular migrants to make even a temporary home. There is a host of demographic, economic, cultural and political factors that adversely affect such a possibility.

The fragile economies of countries such as Tunisia and the political divisions in countries such as Libya, in addition to fears by these transit countries of being swamped by floods of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan countries and being forced to host them, make these countries ill-equipped to constitute a buffer zone protecting Europe from the unstoppable exodus of migrants to the North.

In the face of this human tragedy, we should all stop to do some serious soul searching and attempt to answer the fundamental question: What makes people leave their countries of origin in the first place, cross the merciless Sahara Desert and the treacherous Mediterranean Sea in search of a mirage home, with a statistically high probability of never returning alive?

In an attempt to answer this question, I spoke to some African migrants doing sporadic work in Tripoli. They were predominantly from Chad, Niger, Mali and other sub-Saharan African countries. The common reply was they were driven by hunger, poverty and despair. Corruption of politicians, businesses, the military and the ruling class was also frequently mentioned.

We need a multi-billion Marshall plan to save life in sub-Saharan Africa, sponsored by the US, Europe, China, Japan, Russia and other rich countries- Saadun Suayeh

There were hardly any reliable schools, hospitals, sanitary services, clean water resources, electricity; virtually no infrastructure at all. Families of 10 members in Mali, I was told, lived on portions of rice boiled in water hardly enough to feed two children. One worker bitterly summed it up for me: “In our countries, sir, we are virtually ‘dead’ except for breathing.”

From the depths of despair, people would do anything. What is, therefore, needed is a Marshall plan, with a multi-billion budget, to save life in sub-Saharan Africa, sponsored by the US, Europe, China, Japan, Russia and all other relatively rich countries, under the strict supervision of the United Nations to prevent misappropriation of funds.

With such a huge multinational budget, schools, roads, hospitals and all essential infrastructure could be built, changing the face of life in sub-Saharan Africa, whose wealth was plundered over decades by colonial powers.

Such a project is doable and feasible if we truly want to deal seriously with the issues at hand. A fraction of the expenses on wars currently fought on European soil, namely Ukraine, could drastically change the fate of several sub-Saharan countries. The US alone is spending billions on this war for which a swift conclusion should be negotiated. This war is not only costly to the US but it is also bleeding European economies. The cost to Russia is, of course, staggering but the entire world is suffering the consequences.

Just to give one example; according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank, NATO members committed at least €75.2 billion in humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine during the period between January 24 and November 20, in 2022. The amount must have tripled by now.

There are other conflicts which should be stopped such as the one currently ravaging Sudan. Western policies which led to the destabilisation of several countries such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan, causing the displacement of millions, should also be acknowledged and readdressed, as should the diaspora of the Palestinian people.

Without realising that the issue of irregular migration is a multidimensional human tragedy which is very much the product of a deeply troubled world and that it needs radical solutions, the hungry will continue to attempt to cross the desert and the sea and no force can stop them. This is the inevitable dialectic of history.

Saadun Suayeh

It is, therefore, imperative, not only for the sake of our fellow human beings in despair but for our own good as one humanity, that the affluent countries should move fast and radically to solve the issue of irregular migration before it is too late for all of us.

Saadun Suayeh is the former ambassador of Libya to Malta.