the problem with africa's borders

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 28 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's army said Rwandan forces crossed its border on Thursday morning and attacked its frontier security forces, potentially escalating tensions between the central African neighbours. The inability to assess this sort of impact mainly stems from methodological and resource constraints, but also because the EU hasnt bothered tolook. Full-blown territorial wars have been rare in Africa when compared to the history of Europe. Asmall diploma and trophy from the training, both emblazoned with the EU flag, sat on his desk asproof. The reality on the ground is quite different Nov 17th 2016 By L.T. Even people who have been living in Ivory Coast for a long time are now being sent back because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rosso station was part of those policies, housing arecently opened branch of the National Division for the Fight Against Migrant Trafficking and Related Practices (DNLT), ajoint operational partnership between Senegal and the EU to train and equip Senegalese border police in hopes of stopping migration to Europe before migrants ever get close. Tandia admits that BAOS isnt meeting the demand. The two countries have been in a dispute since last year over the resurgence of the M23 rebel group, a militia active in eastern Congo which the Kinshasa government accuses Rwanda of backing. Copyright The Economist Newspaper Limited 2023. Zimbabwe's famed beef industry, which collapsed in the 2000s following outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, is now rebounding. Border Issues and Conflicts in Southern Africa - Jstor Young Congolese walked 300 metres beyond the customs post ostensibly to build a parking yard, in what they said was no mans land. What are the unintended consequences? The Problem with Africa's Borders: With Caelan Kelley. But also, Tandia acknowledges, with many regions outside the capital lacking access to clean water, electricity and medical facilities, micro-grants alone arent sufficient to keep people frommigrating. In my view closing borders in Africa in general, and in the Southern African Development Community region specifically, will not stop the spread of the coronavirus. This has since been extended by two weeks. In a2017 statement, IOMs project coordinator in Senegal loftily declared that IBM is more than asimple concept; it is aculture, by which he apparently meant acontinent-wide ideological shift toward embracing the EUs perspective onmigration. Yet whether continued protectionist policies will provide the needed development for its market and its people is another question. | KAMPALA ARGUMENTS over parking spaces rarely turn. About two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) say that the government is doing a very (33%) or somewhat (35%) bad job . The EU has also tried a carrot approach to dissuade migration, offering business grants or professional training to those who return or dont try to leave. Frontex ships and personnel were deployed to patrol the Senegalese coast in 2006 as part of Operation Hera, intercepting boats floating toward Europe. "We need to have some kind of support mechanism or mediation scheme,"he said, referring to a body or oversight authority that would mediate in the case of disputes. The M23 group is ethnic Tutsi-led, while the FDLR is composed of ethnic Hutus. Earlier this month, the GAVI vaccine alliance warned that vaccines are running out in some African countries due to border closures and restricted air traffic. How much of this is because of the arbitrary borders left over by European colonialism? Or systems that help them to trade with as little interaction as possible?" There was no need for ahuman rights assessment, one representative said, seeming to downplay amajor announcement, because Senegals government had signaled it wasnt open to Frontex movingin. Andrei Popoviciu is an independent investigative journalist covering stories at the intersection between human rights, conflict and foreignaffairs. The EU cant just solve things by raising walls and throwing money, the officer told me. "The continental free trade area symbolizes our progress toward the ideal of African unity,"Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said over a year ago as he welcomed African leaders to Kigali to a special African Union summit in March 2018. A Commission spokesperson claimed the EUTF had never funded abiometric civil registry and that the projects in Senegal and Ivory Coast were always limited to just digitizing documents and preventing fraud. Under the current political climate of security concerns, for instance between Kenya and Somalia, or in the Sahel region, fears of uncontrolled migration or the smuggling of substandard goods as is the case with South Africa and Nigeria respectively and border spats, as is the case with Rwanda and Uganda, a vibrant and yet controlled trading environment seems a long way off. The Senegalese officials, she recalled, had seemed very enthusiastic about the equipment they received and how it helps them track people, which left her concerned about how that technology might beused. BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union's official watchdog said Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into the role of the bloc's Frontex border agency in the tragedy off Greece last month that is feared to have killed hundreds of people in the Mediterranean Sea.. Migrant crossings in unseaworthy boats organized by human traffickers from North Africa have spiked this year, with . In December, at least 15 people died at the Beitbridge border post as authorities failed to process the huge number of people leaving. I just asked: Where is themoney?. Africa's free trade agreement: Curse or blessing? Why Africa's borders are a mess - The Economist South Africa has just passed a new law in response to growing concerns in the country about its porous borders. Representatives of 13 European states, the United States of America and the Ottoman Empire converged on Berlin at the invitation of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to divide up Africa among. Shortly afterwards, the regulations were also relaxed for cargo that reaches South Africa by sea but is destined for other SADC countries. Africa inherited its borders - they were not created by those who live within them, are divided by them or who cannot easily trade across them. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. [4] While the number of irregular crossings on specific migration routes decreased, the policy also made all routes more dangerous, increased prices for smugglers and criminalized local bus drivers and transport companies, with the result that many lost their jobsovernight. The EU is forcing Senegal to adopt policies that have nothing to do with us, Senegalese migration researcher Fatou Faye told Ernst andStrik. While there are concerns that major African players such as Nigeria might not play along, there also still seems to be a good deal of enthusiasm about the implementation of the deal. Now 30, Diaw spent at least five years trying to reach Europe, crossing the unforgiving deserts of Mali and Niger until he reached Algeria. "It has taken Africa almost 30 years since the signing of the Abuja Treaty in 1991 to reach this stage,"Kituyi wrote in the Kenyan media outlet The East African. So, Africas borders in the late 19th century were determined according to European colonial interests, they were limits separating colonies, not countries. North America (28 percent), Africa (26 percent), and Europe (21 percent) also have sizable percentages of borders defined by rivers. One response read: There is no regulatory requirement to doso.. In August 2019, Nigeria banned the import of over 40 items ranging from meat, to rice and cement. South Africa as a case study But for solutions you need to understand the nature of the problem! As members of the Parliaments Left and Green parties, Ernst and Strik were among atiny minority of MEPs concerned about how EU migration policies threaten to erode the EUs very foundation namely, its professed respect for fundamental human rights, both within and outside ofEurope. On one side sat the MEPs and their aides; on the other, the locals. In one case, an EUTF project to create elite border police units in six West African countries, meant to fight jihadist groups and trafficking, is now being investigated for fraud after allegedly misappropriating more than $13million. 24, 2023, 12:27 PM ET (AP) Russia wants allies, so it's hosting an Africa summit. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The Dividing of a Continent: Africa's Separatist Problem This is because, by and large, borders in the region are porous. The EUs professional training opportunities seem about as helpful, as Omar Diaws experience makes clear. Outsourcing border control to migration-origin countries isnt totally unique. These can include military skirmishes, cattle rustling, terrorism, secessionist movements, smuggling, ethnic violence, people trafficking, irredentism and agrarian revolts. Called the Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED), the machine is adata-extraction tool capable of retrieving call logs, photos, GPS locations and WhatsApp messages from any phone. Another trade dispute currently lies on the border between Nigeria and Benin. This shows that theres no uniform lockdown of all the regions 16 countries in response to the pandemic. "In Rwanda's case their model is to be the Singapore of Africa,"Satchu said. Hunter Biden's Day in Court - The New York Times Support me Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/atlasproFollow me on twitter @theatlasproSome links to check out to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Africa#/media/File:Map_of_African_languages.svghttp://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/06/GPI-2019-web003.pdfhttps://www.zaragoza.es/contenidos/medioambiente/onu/340-eng.pdfhttp://worldmap.harvard.edu/africamap/https://voxeu.org/article/long-run-effects-scramble-africahttps://www.quora.com/What-should-Africas-map-look-like-I%E2%80%99ve-read-that-a-lot-of-Africa%E2%80%99s-borders-are-a-result-of-arbitrary-divisions-by-Europeans-What-would-the-African-map-otherwise-look-like-in-a-way-that-made-it-less-arbitraryhttps://tools.lgm.cl/ColorHighlighter/?url=https://i.redd.it/7mkan2wpujf01.pnghttps://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-9-63https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-dividing-of-a-continent-africas-separatist-problem/262171/http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WO5XabD-shttps://med.virginia.edu/family-medicine/wp-content/uploads/sites/285/2018/12/Azobou_South-Sudan-Refugee-Crisis-112018.pdfhttps://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/africa/south-sudan/south-sudan-refugees Today, Sye conducts research and advocates for the rights of people on the move more broadly, with afocus on Africa andSenegal. South Africa's borders are completely exposed - BusinessTech Zimbabwe is also in lockdown. Global rice prices will soar, and poor countries will bear the brunt, Some economists think that tours by big acts drive up the consumer-price index, GLSDB and ATACMS have long strike ranges that Ukraine badly wants, Published since September 1843 to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.. The states are also to set up special stopping points so that drivers have as little contact with the population as possible. In June, Salls main opponent was sentenced to two years in jail on charges of corrupting the youth. The sentence set off nationwide protests that left 23 people dead in its first few days and saw the government restrict internet access. What's happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in 7 charts Now there's a new face of the crisis: Hundreds of African migrants have crossed the border in recent weeks, many to seek asylum. One consultant who works with an EU-funded monitoring and evaluation company explained it this way: What is the impact? After months of ultimately fruitless efforts to get government permission to access the border posts directly, Iwas hoping the stations chief would tell me how EU funding is shaping their operation. 2023 by the Institute for Public Affairs (EIN: 94-2889692). Jul. Initially, only essential goods such as food, hygiene products or personal protective equipment could be transported across borders, Menzies said. But the offers arent all they promise, as 40-year-old Binta Ly knows well. The stated aim is to create what eurocrats call an African IBM system: Integrated Border Management. If Frontex is stationed at African borders, he said, Itsover.. U.S. to admit nearly 40,000 migrants monthly via mobile app 06:11. How Europe Outsourced Border Enforcement to Africa The European Union is militarizing Africa's internal borders to curb migration, with little regard for human rights. HUNGER Africa has more than 60% of the world's uncultivated arable land, a conducive climate for agriculture, and an overwhelmingly young population (more than 60% of the African population is under 25 years old), but millions of people still go hungry every day. The engineering degree to defense industry pipeline. Rwandan forces crossed Congolese border, Congo's army says But all in all, Satchu said, it's about putting proper oversight mechanisms in place in order to make the deal beneficial to the continent as a whole. A year after Binta Ly was approved for a micro business grant from an EU-funded project, she received equipment she cant use. Breaking the Impasse looks at the longstanding debate of how the Left should engage with electoral politics, though the lens of recent electoral campaigns of Democratic Socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the growth of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America. Africa's border disputes are set to rise - The Conversation The study examines the challenges of South Africa's land borders in curbing illegal migration and cross border crime. People have always disregarded them, moving easily in between countries, in the conduct of their everyday lives in line with their social, economic, cultural and other needs. "Atlas Pro" The Problem with Africa's Borders (TV Episode 2020) - IMDb The Southern African country's global beef exports resumed in . It's for this reason that I left it out of the discussion. Now, as Chinese trawlers also compete in their waters, they regularly travel 60miles out tosea. U.S. has welcomed more than 500,000 migrants as part of historic 26, 2023, 5:01 PM ET (AP) African leaders arrive in Russia for summit as Kremlin seeks allies amid fighting in Ukraine Jul. Photo . The country has been moving steadily towards more securitised and militarised borders, further endangering those desperate to move to South Africa, but without addressing the real problems. Several consultants who have worked on unpublished impact assessment reports for EUTF projects, speaking anonymously because of nondisclosure agreements, warned that little attention is given to the unforeseen effects some EUTF projectshave. A migrant camp between the . I arrived at the dusty checkpoint in the village of Moussala, on Senegals border with Mali, at noon on asweltering early March day. But over athird of the population lives below the poverty line, and the lack of opportunities drives many to migrate, particularly to France and Spain. Countries such asSouth Africa or Kenya, to some extent,belong to the bigger competitors who stand to gain from the AfCFTA. Rwanda is ranked second in sub-Saharan Africa for the ease of doing business after Mauritius it is followed by Kenya and South Africa. While Frontex left Senegal in 2018, the Spanish Guardia Civil remains to this day, continuing to patrol the coast and even carrying out airport passport checks to stop irregularmigration. An example of this would be to establish a regional fund to deal with pandemics. EU watchdog investigates the role of the bloc's border agency in The US immigration story extends well beyond the border - CNN *Madagascar has an entirely separate geography, history, and overall identity from mainland Africa. Enabling trade across borders and food security in Africa Zimbabwe's beef industry stampedes back to life | Africa Renewal Along with trying to send Frontex, the EU border agency, to Senegal and Mauritania, the EU requested criminal immunity for its officers. Additionally air travel within the continent is often more expensive than traveling abroad. Africa: South Africa to Blame for Its Border Posts Problem Locals charge that the coast guard, which primarily used to conduct search and rescue missions for fishermen in distress, now focuses on guarding the foreignrig. In 2016, the EU designated Senegal, both amigration origin and transit country, as one of its five priority partner nations in addressing African migration. Ly runs apristine corner shop in Tambacounda, selling local juices and toiletries. The many straight lines on the map (or even the wiggly ones that follow rivers or other features) are one of the banes of the continent. Together, Algeria and Morocco need to de-incentivize smuggling and reduce corruption. When the official unlatched the hard plastic carrier, proudly unveiling dozens of cables meticulously arranged beside atouchscreen tablet, soft gasps filled theroom. The increased energization and politicization of ethnic identity evident in much of Black Africa during the On the wall behind the Senegalese contingent hung apainting of awhite colonizer in apith helmet sitting in aboat on aSenegalese river, lecturing the two African men who rowed it. In Zambia, only Kafue, a town in south-central Zambia and its surrounds, and about 40 km from the capital Lusaka, is in a total lockdown, leaving most of the country uncovered. A European Commission spokesperson claimed that All security projects funded by the EU have atraining and capacity building component on human rights and that the bloc conducts human rights impact assessments prior to and during the implementation of all such projects. And in that context, many worry the tools the country is receiving from the EU will only make things worse at home, while doing nothing to stopmigration. Then teams of GPS-wielding surveyors must traipse through rugged borderlands, erecting pillars, reassuring locals and in some places dodging landmines. Theres also anew BP gas platform offshore, which has enticed European leaders as ameans of reducing dependence on Russian energy, but which also represents another area Senegalese fishermen cant go. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Such confusion is not unusual in Africa. After brief stints in France and Italy, he arrived in Spain, where he ultimately obtained citizenship and started afamily with his Spanish wife. Perhaps Uganda and the DRC, which launched a $200,000 joint demarcation exercise in Vurra last April, should consider sharing a car park. Send us a note with the Letter to the Editor form. Centuries ago, the very borders now being fortified by EU demand were drawn by European empires negotiating among themselves in the rush to plunder African resources. Failure by member states to establish a fully operational regional architecture will mean that it will be impossible to bring the epidemic under control in the region. Afghanistan: No more taxis for women without burqas? According to the World Bank, up to 80%of Benin's imports are said to be destined for the Nigerian market. The contest over Abyei, on the relatively new international border between Sudan and South Sudan, is illustrative: its knotty history goes back to the drawing of provincial boundaries in 1905, and takes in ethnic conflicts sharpened by civil war, growing competition for grazing lands and oil fields that until recently produced a quarter of Sudanese output. Premium Powerups Explore Gaming. While Frontex has long had an informal presence in Senegal, Mauritania and six other West African countriesby helping transfer migration data from host countries to the EUFrontex guards have never been permanently stationed outside of Europe before. July 26, 2023. For instance, at Mwami (Malawi-Zambia border), people simply walk or cycle freely between the two countries. Rwanda's army denied the accusation and said it could be a pretext for a planned attack on Rwandan territory. Copyright 2023 by the Institute for Public Affairs (EIN: 94-2889692), decimated the areas once plentiful bounty. "Mobility is part of everyday life for most Africans," Kappel told DW. Climate change and population growth are putting pressure on resources, making conflicts harder to resolve. But a2014 agreement between the EU and Senegals government, allowing European vessels to fish off the West African coast, has decimated the areas once plentiful bounty and threatens to collapse itseconomy. Although she finished high school and studied ayear of law in college, the high cost of living in Dakar ultimately forced her to drop out and move to Morocco to find work. Nigeria and Cameroon almost did the same over a peninsula (the International Court of Justice ruled in Cameroons favour in 2002). When Rivers are Borders - NASA Earth Observatory Many African states have closed their borders due to COVID-19. Why South Africa's new plan to fortify its borders won't stop irregular But right now, that workforce is stuck in place. Africa most affected by refugee crisis | Africa Renewal Most Americans Are Critical of Government's Handling of Situation at U But things were beginning toimprove. The African Union warns that border closures for people and goods could have a "devastating effect on the health, economy and social stability of many African states" that rely on trade with neighbors. EU migration funding is notoriously opaque and difficult to track. All rights reserved. The fishermen, the women processing the catch for sale, the boat builders, the painters and the local distributors all rely on fishing as its been practiced in Senegal for hundreds of years. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. As amain transit point, dozens of trucks and motorcycles were lined up, waiting to cross. Several protocols have been signed to make this a reality. How a pro-Putin coup threatens Europe's nuclear supplies The creation and equipping of border posts like Moussala has also been an important element in the EUs partnership with the UNs International Organization for Migration (IOM). Sella Oneko 12/18/2019 Africa's new free trade deal is a building block in its plan to achieve prosperity and. For goods transported by truck, meanwhile, the restrictions on the continent appear to be slowly easing. They also said that members of Congo's army have fought alongside the FDLR. The DNLT and border police, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Living Abroadall of which have received EU migration fundsdid not respond to repeated interview requests for this story made in writing, by phone and inperson. The month after Ernst and Strik returned from Senegal, the European Parliaments human rights committee held ahearing about the impact EU migration policy is having on human rights in West Africa. What country is represented by the man with the knife? From then on, he said, traffic at the border posts has been fairly smooth. Frontex is militarizing the Mediterranean, agreed Saliou Diouf, founder of Boza Fii, amigrant advocacy group. Botswana has imposed a state of emergency and lockdown. The economist is certain that the longer mobility is restricted, the more African states will suffer from reduced economic growth. ", Read more: Rwanda and Uganda - neighbors at loggerheads. What is important, Satchu argued, is that countries don't only pay lip service to the idea of a "borderless"Africa. Unfair competition, like selling imports ordumping prices, such as the US chicken thatflooded South African and Ghanaian markets, or selling sub-standard goods is of course a different matter, he added. Produced by Rikki Novetsky and Stella Tan. The closure of the border in August 2019 has not only had a major effect on Benin, which relies heavily on transit trade with Nigeria, but also Ghana, where trade unions have complained about trucks being stuck at the Nigerian border. Uta Steinwehr. While Frontexs deployment has been (at least temporarily) blocked in Senegal, it appears on track for Mauritania, and likely other countries soon.