Africa needs to prepare for migration
Africa faces a severe crisis of in and out migration in the future and it is least prepared for it. According to Rev. Nicta Lubaale, the General Secretary of the Organization of African Instituted Churches, Africa is ill equipped to face for the triple challenge from the combination of economic opportunity and extreme poverty coupled with climate change and a hostile external political, economic and cultural environment in traditional destination countries in the west.
According to Rev. Lubaale, “Climate change alone will result into unprecedented mobility if the changing weather patterns we are beginning to experience continue to cause uncertainty.” Climate change alone will result in massive dislocation of people as huge parts of the continent become arid. At the same time much of Africa’s coastline will be disappearing from rising ocean levels. New weather seasons may result in massive flooding in some parts of the continent and no rain at all in others.
Economic prosperity in some countries in Africa will attract populations from others not doing so well. Many African countries and their citizens are not prepared for the consequences of this migration. “the attacks on people from other African countries in South Africa was a shock to many yet the xenophobia had been prevalent long before this”. “An African from a neighbouring country can spend days or even months in prison just because that person does not have legal documents required for his or her stay”.
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