Rare view of Libyan role in ending migration
Panorama has returned to West Africa to once again pick up the trail of migrants who are willing to risk everything for the chance of a new life in Europe.
Following on from my work in Destination Europe in September 2007 and Destination UK in January 2008, I have kept a travel log of the team's experiences.
Over the weeks leading up to our programme,
- which was broadcast on Monday, 14 September on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One - I blogged about everything from the palpable emotion of a cave that was once used to process slaves being shipped to America, to the delicate negotiations of dangerous border crossings, to a treacherous trip through the barren Sahara that claims the lives of desperate migrants on a near-daily basis.
My work on this topic continues, with Panorama's next installment of the story, Migrants, Go Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ! due for broadcast on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One on Monday, 5 October. In this programme, we examine the Libyan role in halting the flow of migrants to Europe.
The Libyan border and the armed people's region.
There are footsteps on the sand near a common crossing point. The Libyans employ desert nomads who can read tracks like this. "Six o'clock this morning," they say, "three men".
We drive further, and the dunes are like none I've seen before. We ask four of the pickups to drive towards them, thinking the foot of the dunes is about 400 metres away and it'll make a good shot. They head off, and keep going and going until they're almost gone. They are tiny ants on the dune.
It's difficult to film. If you shoot a close up, there is just a wall of sand behind them and you can't tell how vast the dunes are. If you shoot a wide, the vehicles are so small you can't see them at all.
Such is the scale of the Sahara.
In the afternoon there is a radio message. Another unit has made a discovery. We race off again and there on a plain is a group of Africans.
They were caught crossing the border. There limbs are pipe-cleaner thin and they are being given water by the Libyan border patrols. They say they are farmer from Niger.
One of the men looks like a grandfather, with folds of skin around his throat and over his eyes. I ask him how old he is, and he shows me an identity card. He is 41.
It's unclear whether any of them were heading for Europe. They are so exhausted all they can do is sit and wait for the trucks which will take them to a Libyan detention centre.
We have been given rare permission to visit one of these detention centres before we return to Tripoli.
Comment number 1.
At 5th Oct 2009, LinkingAfrica wrote:Mr. Kenyon, I have watched your documentary of the plight of the 'economic' migrants with very keen interest. As an African in the Diaspora, I am particularly outraged, not by the poor men and women seeking the golden fleece, but by the prevailing economic situation that has led many of them to their death.
Many years ago, precisely in 1984, I left my country, Nigeria, for a better life in America, and, I must say that God has blessed me immensely. For the first time in nearly 18 years, I visited my homeland again, and was shocked by the corruption and the total lack of respect for public service. To chronicle my trip, I wrote an article that I actually sent via the general panorama email to your attention...I should have known that my email would never make it to you. Anyway, I am here in your blog reaching out to you. Once we get comfortable with one another, I have an idea for a documentary that I will like to share with you.
I hope we can stay connected through this forum and hopefully chat via email and/or telephone. Until then, keep up the good work. I applaud you for your bold step in exposing the plight of the down trodden people of sub Sahara Africa who are fleeing political and economic oppression to search for better lives!
austin(LinkingAfrica)
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Comment number 2.
At 5th Oct 2009, spaniel-lover wrote:Paul Kenyon - do you expect us to feel sorry for these INVADERS? Get real. Understand this - they are not wanted here. I don't give two hoots what happens to them - just keep them out of my country!
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Comment number 3.
At 5th Oct 2009, chevronb8 wrote:Having watched the programme, while sorry for the plight of the people who foolishly think the grass is greener here, I was extremely annoyed at the apologist attitude and reporting of Mr Kenyon. It was a poor attempt at unbiased reporting, his agenda and own opinions were clearly transmitted right from the start.
I was most relieved and rather amused to see him slapped down hard by the Italian minister before he could pursue his personal, and frankly insulting line of questioning.
This appeared to be another example of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ pursuing its own socialist agenda. You only have to conduct a quick straw-poll to see that the majority of people here, simply do not want, or think we can afford to accommodate a free-flow of immigrants with no language skills, no education and no prospects other than crime or sweat-shop work, ergo, no contribution to the economic prosperity of this country.
France has seen the light, so has Italy. We run the risk of becoming a crippled economy, the 'village idiot' as it were, with poor crime, increasing illiteracy, high social spending and a diminishing means of recuperating enough money to pay all of the benefits being claimed by these newcomers...
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Comment number 4.
At 6th Oct 2009, spaniel-lover wrote:Furthermore, Kenyon expects us to feel sorry for a bunch of illegal immigrants squatting in a house in Calais, 'because there's cigarrette butts all over the floor'. Well excuse me but a) they could give up smoking [I suppose they expect our NHS once they invade Britain, to treat their tobacco related illnesses] and b) are they incapable of putting these cigarrette butts in a BIN? I had a couple of Afghan 'refugees' living in the flat upstairs from me for a while, I had to call out the council's environmental health people to address the state of their garden - which my bathroom window over-looks.
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Comment number 5.
At 10th Oct 2009, LinkingAfrica wrote:Spaniel-lover and Chevronb8, you both forget that to a certain degree, the west has to take some responsibility for the plight of these economic migrants....the sins of our forefathers is coming back to haunt us. Some of the economic problems in sub Sahara Africa are the vestiges of colonialism, the economic practices that the British Raj put in place to rule the people they considered 'savages'.
In this 21st century, the international organizations, like the IMF and the World bank have, intentionally or unintentionally, continued some of these practices, give high interest loans to African countries as a means of stiffling their economies. Also, some of the countries in the west, especially Switzerland give safe havens to the corrupt rulers of these African countries to hide their ill-gotten wealth. Lets call a spade a spade, for once. The chickens are coming home to roost!
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