EU couldn't handle a million refugees, how will it handle a billion?
Troops in Mali: The West's approach has not just failed, it has backfired (Photo: eutmmali.eu)
LISTEN TO ARTICLE
There could be 1.2 billion refugees in next 30 years. Many will be from my part of the world — Africa — where droughts, conflict, and food insecurity already threaten millions.
In fact, more evidence shows the 'next Afghanistan' is not in the Middle East but in Africa, specifically West Africa where religious violence, political corruption, weak states, and the devastating impacts of climate change have combined to create an unprecedented crisis. In the last 15 years, terrorism across the region has increased tenfold.
But not enough is being done to mitigate this bourgeoning issue — with decades of questionable and disappointing Western foreign policy instead targeting the Middle East — where, if we learned anything, it's that strong societies, not strong security states, are all that can prevent extremists from overturning West Africa's political order, sending a flood of refugees north to the Mediterranean and Europe beyond.
To put that into perspective: in 2015, the Syrian war spilled into Europe, sparking a crisis that the world's largest economic bloc has not yet recovered from.
From Europe to the US, tensions over migrants, culture, religion, and race remain at the forefront of political agendas and diplomatic tension—affecting the West's ability to cooperate in the face of climate change, an energy crisis, spiralling inflation, and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
But while Syria has under 20 million people, West Africa has over 420 million. That means that if the near collapse of Syria was worrisome, even the fraying of West Africa will be terrifying.
Yet, so far, Western policies have overlooked Africa on the world stage and subsequent counterterrorism military operations have only dispersed and spread terrorist activity. The West's approach has not just failed, it has backfired. France has withdrawn from Mali, leading Germany to decide on the same course.
Russia has instead rushed in with its Wagner Group, but Russia is even less likely to succeed—not only because Russia is poorer than the West, but because Russia is also busy fighting Ukraine.
EU Observer.
