"To be lost there where the water is black... it's worse than the desert," says Mohamed Munadi, a Tunisian migrant who has made it to Oria, a town in southern Italy. "You get scared, and you start to imagine how you will die."
X
Next
African refugees left to die at sea
"To be lost there where the water is black... it's worse than the desert," says Mohamed Munadi, a Tunisian migrant who has made it to Oria, a town in southern Italy. "You get scared, and you start to imagine how you will die."
X
PreviousNext
Q & A
Mohamed is one of thousands of migrants from North Africa seeking a new life in Europe. But it is a journey fraught with danger as a tragedy in March reveals.
According the Guardian, a boat carrying 72 passengers, including several women, young children and political refugeesAnyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from., ran into trouble after leaving TripoliThe capital city of Libya. for the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Despite alarms being raised with the Italian coastguard and the boat making contact with a military helicopter and a warship, no rescue effort was attempted. Sixty-one of the passengers died horribly from thirst and hunger after their vessel was left to drift in open waters for 16 days.
NatoThe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in 1949 to unite Western democracies in Europe and North America against the perceived growing threat of the USSR. It now has 31 members. deny accusations of neglect. "Any claims that a Nato aircraft carrier spotted and then ignored the vessel in distress are wrong," the military alliance says.
But no one denies the reality of death on the seas. Aid officials say it is impossible to know how many people have drowned this year while trying to reach Europe.
"There's been no way of charting for sure how many boats have left, how many people never made it. Some of them we will never know about," said International Organisation for Migration spokeswoman Jemini Pandya.
Lampedusa is an Italian island where over 30,000 refugees have already arrived this year. And European governments are starting to show concern.
In April, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi spoke up for the partial reinstatement of national border controls in Europe in the event of "exceptional circumstances".
And in the face of this unprecedented migration, some European politicians are demanding a fortification of the continent's external frontiers as well as curbs on freedom of travel within the EUEuropean Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries. .
Move free
But Mohamed Munadi takes a different view. "Sometimes when I see the news, all the catastrophes and wars in this world," he says, "the revolutions and natural disasters, and I see people coming from Libya to Tunisia, Haiti to Canada, Serbia to Italy, all that makes me think that soon there will be no borders in this world."
Every migrant has a dream and this is Mohamed's. "It will be a miracle," he says, "but it will happen. We will go back to the first moments of humans on this earth and move free."
It must be terrifying on the boats. One of few survivors from the tragic Tripoli voyage said "By the final days, we didn't know ourselves... everyone was either praying or dying." And it was at times like these that Munadi kept asking himself: "Mohamed, you did all this for Europe? All this for a job?"
Why the sudden rush to Europe from Africa? Some call recent events in North Africa the "Arab SpringA series of mass protests across the Arab World against dictatorships that had stood for decades. In Tunisia, the protesters succeeded in creating a democratic government, but many other countries collapsed into civil war or experienced new dictatorships.". But behind those words are dramatic political upheavals that have created both social and economic insecurity whilst at the same time, relaxing border controls.
And refugees think the risks are worth it? Mohamed left his village in Tunisia because it was on the lawless border with Libya and he's glad he did. "When I put my foot in the port I was born again. The sea was like death and Lampedusa was like life."
X
Previous
Keywords
Refugees - Anyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from.
Tripoli - The capital city of Libya.
Nato - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in 1949 to unite Western democracies in Europe and North America against the perceived growing threat of the USSR. It now has 31 members.
EU - European Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries.
Arab Spring - A series of mass protests across the Arab World against dictatorships that had stood for decades. In Tunisia, the protesters succeeded in creating a democratic government, but many other countries collapsed into civil war or experienced new dictatorships.
African refugees left to die at sea
Glossary
Refugees - Anyone fleeing conflict or persecution is defined as a refugee by the UN as a refugee, regardless of where they are from.
Tripoli - The capital city of Libya.
Nato - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in 1949 to unite Western democracies in Europe and North America against the perceived growing threat of the USSR. It now has 31 members.
EU - European Union. An economic and political union of 27 countries.
Arab Spring - A series of mass protests across the Arab World against dictatorships that had stood for decades. In Tunisia, the protesters succeeded in creating a democratic government, but many other countries collapsed into civil war or experienced new dictatorships.