The Sahel: Europe’s other border

https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/n1_230/the_sahel_europe_s_other_border

«The sea expels bodies to the shore, but the sand engulfs them, leaving no trace,» says Professor Bréma Dicko of Bamako University in Mali. The Sahara Desert has become the world’s largest open-air cemetery, ahead even of the Mediterranean Sea, according to the UN, although death figures remain unreliable. European retinas have been seared in recent years by the images of little Aylan Kurdi drowned on a Turkish beach, boatfuls of migrants attempting to reach Italian and Greek shores, and the people injured on the fences of Ceuta and Melilla. These are some of the consequences of armour-plating Europe’s borders, but what about beyond the Mediterranean? What are the EU’s policies for curbing mobility at other latitudes? And what are their effects and what lessons can be drawn from them