Africans do not yearn for Europe

“The recent events in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta may have suggested otherwise, but (most of) Africa does not yearn to come to Europe. Many more people migrate within Africa than seek to reach the EU. Continually presenting the other side of the wall as a place of hunger, poverty and violence lacks rigour and feeds the narrative of the European El Dorado – a no more accurate image. Morocco, Turkey and Niger are three different sides of Europe’s border externalisation. They merit more attention” Oriol Puig, researcher at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs).