Valletta Summit on Migration: Is it right for the EC to set up a 'Trust Fund' for Africa?

African and European political leaders met at the Maltese capital Valletta from 11 to 12 November, 2015 to discuss the growing issues of migration between the two continents. As a result, the European Commission has set up an 'Emergency Trust Fund' of €1.8 billion for Africa and has urged member countries to follow suit. So will the so-called trust fund be the answer to the migration crisis or will it be a state of 'too little, too late'?

According to the UNHCR, about 820,000 refugees/migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2015, while about 3,500 have died trying to make the perilous journey. 85% of arrivals come from the world's top 10 refugee-producing countries with Syria producing a staggering 52%, followed by Afghanistan at 19%, Iraq 6% and Eritrea 5%. Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia follows with 2% each while Sudan, Gambia and Mali complete the top 10 with 1% each. 

Given that 6 out the top 10 refugee-producing countries are in Africa, it make some sense for the EC to set up the 'Trust Fund'. But with these 6 countries producing a combined total of only 12%, far less than what Afghanistan alone produces, setting up such a fund becomes rather questionable. And how the fund is going to work in the long term also raises some eye-brows.

Family Photo, Source: European Commission

So to fully understand what the fund entails and how is it going to be operational, we reproduce the following report from the European Commission:

The European Commission has launched an “Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa”, made up of €1.8 billion from the EU budget and European Development Fund, combined with contributions from EU Member States and other donors

WHAT IS A TRUST FUND? A Trust Fund is an innovative mechanism under the EU’s Financial Regulation used in the field of development cooperation to pool large resources from different donors to enable a swift, common, complementary and flexible response to the different dimensions of an emergency situation.

WHO BENEFITS FROM THE TRUST FUND? The Trust Fund will benefit a wide range of countries across Africa that encompass the major African migration routes to Europe. These countries are among the most fragile and those most affected by migration. They will draw the greatest benefit from EU financial assistance. The countries and regions are:

•  The Sahel region and Lake Chad area: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. 
• The Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
• The North of Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
• Neighbouring countries of the eligible countries may benefit, on a case by case basis, from Trust Fund projects with a regional dimension in order to address regional migration flows and related cross- border challenges. 

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE TRUST FUND? The Trust Fund aims to help foster stability in the regions and to contribute to better migration management. More specifically, it aims to address the root causes of destabilisation, forced displacement and irregular migration, by promoting economic and equal opportunities, security and development. 

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS CAN BE FINANCED BY THE TRUST FUND? 

• Establishing economic programmes that create employment opportunities, especially for young people and women, with a focus on vocational training and the creation of micro and small enterprises. Actions could contribute in particular to supporting the reintegration of returnees into their communities. 
• Projects supporting basic services for local populations such as food and nutrition security, health, education and social protection, as well as environmental sustainability. 
• Projects improving migration management, including containing and preventing irregular migration, effective return and readmission, international protection and asylum, legal migration and mobility, and enhancing synergies between migration and development. 
• Supporting improvements in overall governance, in particular by promoting conflict prevention and enforcing the rule of law through capacity building in support of security and development as well as law enforcement, including border management and migration-related aspects. Actions could also contribute to preventing and countering radicalisation and extremism. 

Preliminary remarks by Macky SALL, President of Senegal and President of ECOWAS, Source: EU tvnewsroom

The sitting president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Macky Sall of Senegal in his preliminary remarks expressed his pleasure with the outcome of the summit and the setting up of the Trust Fund. He however believe that the compromised reached can be improve but above all must be implemented, and would of course like to see the fund more generously financed.

This summit in the spirit of responsibility, balance and pulling of our efforts has adopted a political declaration that is strong and will be followed by an action plan expressing our vision, he remarked. He went on to lament that Africa and Europe are two neighbouring countries linked by history, geography, human factors and by corporation. Against this back drop, we must consider the question of migration and what is important in this exercise is dialogue and direct exchange on a very controversial and complex subject

When answering question from journalist during the Q&A session, Mr. Sall was eloquent in stressing that, unfair pay to African natural resources, exploitation and tax avoidance by Multi National Corporations renders Africa to be continuously dependent on aid. He also cited that poverty, war, instability and insecurity are the root causes of migration. He said where there is war, people will flee to where there is safety, and where there there is under-development, people will move to where there is development, that's simply human nature as he puts it. I must admit I totally agree with Mr. Sallah on that one.

He also acknowledge the fact that corruption and bad governance are the major hindrance to African development but disappointingly, there was no mentioning of how to tackle this troublesome African menace by the ECOWAS president. Africa has enough resources to sustain itself, no question about that but with the 'genetic' greed of our leaders, we will continue to depend on aid. My conclusion is that; this 'Emergency Trust Fund' will also be another flop and won't make any difference in tackling issues of migration. Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic.