Tearing The Mask Off The Face Of Africa

In one of my worst nightmares, a grandchild of mine calls me just after having watched the news on TV and says:

'Grandpa, they say 800 people were drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, trying to get by boat to Italy from Libya. The boat capsized and they were thrown into the water. They say some of the people, including women and children, were locked inside parts of the boat and could not even get a chance to get into the water to be saved by passing ships or people who could swim…!'

'Yes — I saw the item too. Very very sad. Heart-breaking.'

'Grandpa, why do people take such dangerous risks, only to come and die?'

'My dear, many of the dead people went to Libya from an area where there is war, especially Syria. But others, especially the Black Africans, voluntarily sought and found work in Libya. But when the government changed there, everything fell apart. They were no longer safe in the country. Right now, there are two governments in Libya, each fighting the other. The police and the army have split into factions. Each faction does what it likes. The European countries which helped to overthrow the Libyan Government of Colonel Muammar Gaddhafi are just watching and doing nothing. Yet they contributed to the chaos that now exists in Libya.

Sadly, the Black workers of Libya are often picked upon by the Arab population, roughed up and robbed of their few possessions. There is no-one for them to turn to for help. Some are jailed without having done anything wrong. Some have even been killed.

'In this unsafe atmosphere, it is easy for profiteers - known as people-traffickers - to be believed when they circulate 'secret' information amongst the persecuted communities that the traffickers can ferry them by boat to Europe, if they are paid well enough to do so. These wicked people collect as many people as possible, cram them into old and useless boats which they wouldn’t mind to see sinking in the ocean, and then set off 'for Europe.'

'In the middle of the sea, the overcrowded rickety vessels almost always run into difficulties. As soon as that happens, the crews of the vessels enter a smaller boat, known as a 'dingy', which they have brought on board for the purpose, sail away, and leave the passengers to their fate. That’s what happened with the 800 people they were talking about in the news. Many thousands more have suffered the same fate.'

'Yes, they said on the news that nearly 2,000 people have drowned in the Ocean in the past four months alone! Grandpa, that is 500 people per month! That is even worse than those that were dying each month from Ebola not too long ago!?'

'My dear, it is beyond comprehension. You would have thought that by now, information would have reached the foreigners in Libya that to set foot in one of those rickety ships is to deliberately check into a watery grave! But mankind is full of delusional optimism, and people keep telling themselves, 'It will happen to others, but not to me' So they pay good money to - get drowned in those ships. But other, similar ships continually set out - overcrowded with people. Some of the people are quite simply stupid in trusting the people-traffickers when there is so much evidence that the traffickers are murderers only out to make money. But others are genuinely so desperate that they resign themselves to whatever fate awaits them - so long as it is not what they are experiencing in Libya at the moment.'

'Okay, Grandpa, I understand what is going on inside the people who have escaped from the war in Syria, or Somalia. But what about the Black Africans? I know there is Boko Haram in Nigeria and other terrorist movements in places like Mali. But I hear some of those who have drowned came from - even Ghana! When Dad took us to Ghana, I thought it was a very peaceful and lovely country. Why would anyone want to leave such a country, suffer great hardship across the Sahara Desert - where they might die of thirst or hunger or illness - and go to Libya?'

'Well, my dear, during the years that Libya’s dead leader, Colonel Gadhafi, was in power, Libya was very rich. It was an oil-producing country and could afford to pay high wages to workers of all types - carpenters, electricians, plumbers and so on. Libya also paid well to lure people willing to undertake jobs that Libyans themselves thought too demeaning for the citizens of an oil-rich country, such as household helps, street-cleaners, night-watch guards, hospital orderlies and the like.

'These people worked hard, lived very frugal lives and saved their money. So they were able to buy cars and things like that. Sometimes, this aroused the envy of the poorer Libyans, who did not take such good care of their money. So when the iron grip of Gadhafi on the Libyans vanished overnight, the Libyan people gave vent to their resentment of the foreigners. They put many in jail and robbed them of all their money and possessions. That’s why they want to leave Libya, but Libya’s borders are now the playground of armed and murderous bandits, so it is not easy to get out of the country. This is what has given the people-traffickers their opportunity to make a 'killing' (almost literally!). They say, 'We can get you out — not only to leave Libya, but to go to prosperous Europe!' And unfortunately, people do listen.

'And Grandpa, when the would-be migrants try to get to Europe, and their boats begin to sink, the European governments don’t want European lifeguards in patrol boats to pick them up?'

'Yes. The European governments say that too many people have been rescued already and that they cannot accommodate any more! If they keep drowning, say the European governments, they will stop trying to cross!'

'But Grandpa, that sounds so heartless! What should the African governments do to save their people from the inhumanity of the European governments?'

'My dear, that’s the saddest part of it all! The African governments simply do not care. If they cared, they would have sent military forces to Libya by now to help evacuate all Africans who seek to leave that country. They would also have brought pressure on South Africa to stop giving unwitting justification to the European governments that are trying to stop African migrants from going to Europe. Now, the Europeans can say, 'Look, even some South Africans are trying to scare African 'foreigners' away, by killing or injuring them. So why not we in Europe? The truth is that most African governments are totally useless. They are in the business of government only to improve the living standards of the members of those governments, and think nothing of the rest of their citizens. That is why Africa goes from crisis to crisis. During each crisis, the mask is torn from the faces of Africa’s ugly governments, and they are shown for the noxious entities that they are. But they are too uncaring to change.

'So Grandpa, what am I to do? I am half-Ghanaian!?'

'Yes - you are a Ghanaian by birthright. So do not think only of today. Acquire as much skill and knowledge as you can over here, and then go back to Africa with it to help make the important changes to the place that are so badly needed. Only people can change places for the better - people with education, skill, intelligence and above all -concern for the welfare of others.'

'I shall always remember that, Grandpa. Thanks, Granpa!'

By Cameron Duodu
www.cameronduodu.com