While in Italy, irregular arrivals of migrants from North Africa almost doubled between January and August compared to the same period in 2022, Ivory Coast refutes the presence of large numbers of its nationals in their ranks . According to the census by the European agency Frontex, 14,000 Ivorians – 12,500 according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – are among the exiles who landed in Europe in September. According to these statistics, Ivory Coast is the second country supplying illegal migrants to Europe after Guinea.
During a press briefing devoted to the subject, Monday October 2 in Abidjan, the Ivorian Minister of the Interior, Vagondo Diomandé, took offense at “a situation which tends to tarnish the image of our country” and contradicts the figures given by Frontex and the IOM. These “accusations against our country” are based, according to the minister, only on the statements of people recorded by the Italian immigration services. “No verification has been carried out with the assistance of the competent services of Côte d’Ivoire to ensure the reality of the Ivorian nationality of these migrants, as provided for in the multilateral agreement concluded by our country with the European Union,” he pointed out. In short, according to him, many migrants say they are Ivorian but are in reality of another nationality.
To support his remarks, Mr. Diomandé then listed the actions of the Ivorian government to fight against illegal immigration: “improvement of the living and working conditions of the populations”, agreements signed with Europe, strengthening of control measures and surveillance at border crossings, dismantling of certain networks… as well as the sending of identification missions to European countries “whenever this proves necessary”, and soon to Lampedusa.
According to the minister, during these previous identification missions, Ivorian nationality was confirmed for less than 15% of “presumed Ivorian” asylum seekers between 2009 and 2018.
Discussions with Tunisia and Morocco
Pretending to be Ivorian? Such a strategy may seem surprising on the part of the exiles. In West Africa, nationals of countries in the Sahel, a region plagued by terrorist attacks and armed conflicts, are likely to be more likely to receive asylum in Europe than Ivorians, who are no longer entitled to asylum status. refugee since June 2022. Information clearly ignored by the majority of asylum seekers.
“Until the January 2022 coup in Burkina Faso, networks used stolen Ivorian identity cards,” explains ethnologist Léo Montaz. The migrants who showed them said that they were victims of the Ivorian crisis which took place between 2002 and 2011. Many non-Ivorians presented themselves as such, it could have happened in the first half of the 2010s… But that makes less sense Today. Especially since the famous “Daloa network” [Ivorian city considered at the time as a hub for illegal immigration to Europe] was dismantled in 2018.”
Another possible explanation: the hope, in the absence of Europe, of being repatriated to Côte d’Ivoire, the economic powerhouse of the sub-region, rather than to his country of origin. Questioned on the subject on September 28, government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly recalled that Côte d’Ivoire was “a transit country”, a quarter of whose population is of foreign origin. Many immigrants from countries in the region work there while waiting to raise enough money to finance the crossing. “That doesn’t make them Ivorians,” Mr. Coulibaly said. A nationality cannot be simply declared; documents are required to prove it. »
It is through the Maghreb that most migrants from West Africa pass, according to the Frontex agency and the Ivorian government. “Increased migratory pressure on this route could persist in the coming months, with smugglers lowering prices for migrants leaving from Libya and Tunisia, in a context of fierce competition between criminal groups,” the European agency indicated in a press release issued on September 14. More than 2,000 people have died or gone missing since the start of the year trying to make the crossing to Europe, according to the IOM.
To try to remedy this, the Ivorian government has initiated discussions with Tunisia and Morocco, where Ivorian nationals can currently travel freely by air. Diplomatic procedures are underway, said Vagondo Diomandé, to establish a visa between Ivory Coast and these two countries. A measure announced as temporary, to respond to the migration crisis.
