🎬Migrant Crisis

Good morning. Here’s the view of a restaurant in Johannesburg raising the bar on your birthday dinner experience by raising you and your dopamine-starved friends 50 meters into the air via crane.

To answer your first and most obvious question— yes, “Dinner in the Sky” recommends using the bathroom before going up in the air as the table will only be lowered for emergencies and won’t be raised again.

As for your safety concerns, guests are strapped into a chair with belts, which gives loosening your belt after a meal a whole new meaning.

— Chibuike Uzor, Edna Akanni.

MIGRATION

More people are leaving Africa illegally…and it’s chaotic.

More Africans are traveling across borders in 2024 than before…and no, it’s not for tourism.

Over the weekend, nearly 200 migrants, mostly of West and Central African origin were rescued in the central Mediterranean Sea by Doctors Without Borders. The rescue mission lasted over seven hours with one of the survivors reporting they had spent four days drifting at sea after the boat suffered an engine failure.

A big problem. Hundreds of thousands of Africans attempt to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea every year. These migrants primarily travel by land from their countries of origin, the shorelines of Mauritania, Libya, or Morocco. The onward journey to European enclaves is usually done by sea, on much less than qualified boats.

• Last year, 1400 migrants were recorded dead at sea. In the same period, over 57,000 migrants arrived illegally in Spain.

• As of June, over 23,000 migrants had arrived in Spain. However, the death toll in 2024 already stands at 4,038 in the first five months of this year.

• The UN estimates that twice as many migrants die crossing the Sahara than the Mediterranean Sea.

By air or water?

Elsewhere, these countries face similar challenges as skilled labor exits in droves to European shores. The movement is motivated by a web of political, economic, and climate-related factors.

More exits mean loss of human capital along with reduced revenue generation from affected countries. On the other hand, host countries are reeling with excitement and rolling out the red carpet for this set of migrants. Springer Open estimates that the UK government generated close to $2 billion from Nigerian students and their dependents in 2022 alone.

Analysts expect an uptick in the migration trend in 2025 due to worsening economic and political realities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Not so fast. Following the incident, Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, will embark on a tour of countries serving as transit hubs for illegal migrants to discuss and support the respective countries’ efforts to curb illegal movements through their borders. EA.

AFRICA

Headline Quickie

• Zimbabwe suffers drought. A severe drought linked to the El Niño (a phenomenon that occurs when unusually warm water piles up on the West Coast of South America) phenomenon has left approximately 68 million people facing near-famine conditions. This disaster has particularly affected Zimbabwe, which declared a state of emergency due to the escalating food insecurity and the need for international aid to support affected communities.

• Abducted students reported freed. Twenty medical students from the Universities of Jos and Maiduguri were kidnapped on August 15, 2024, in Benue State while traveling to Enugu for a convention. However, the students were rescued on August 23, 2024, following a coordinated operation by Nigerian security forces. No ransom was paid, and during the rescue mission, one kidnapper was killed, and two others were captured. The students were later moved to Abuja for medical evaluation and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• France chooses sides in the Western Sahara conflict. Meanwhile, in North Africa, France's decision to officially recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has sparked significant geopolitical discussions. This move has been met with support and criticism, reflecting the complex dynamics surrounding the Western Sahara conflict. The recognition is seen as a diplomatic victory for Morocco but raises concerns about its implications for regional stability and the broader Saharan region.