标签： Africa

LAGOS, Nigeria — For 52-year-old Iniebong James, the rush of relief after his repatriation flight touched down in Lagos last week quickly gave way to quiet anxiety. Nearly two weeks back on Nigerian soil, he is still struggling to rebuild a life he walked away from a decade earlier, when he first left for South Africa on a six-month visitor visa that he would ultimately overstay.

After overstaying his visa, James carved out a living as a car mechanic in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, a quiet existence that unraveled in May when he was assaulted by anti-immigrant demonstrators, leaving him with a severe head injury, he told the Associated Press. His attack is far from an isolated incident: in recent months, South Africa has seen a sharp escalation of anti-migrant sentiment, with public marches demanding the expulsion of undocumented migrants and widespread reports of targeted violence against foreign nationals.

In response to the rising threats and growing tension, several African governments have organized large-scale repatriation efforts to bring their citizens home from South Africa, with hundreds of Nigerians among the first groups evacuated. For decades, South Africa has drawn millions of migrants from across the continent, pulled by its relatively robust economy and greater access to economic opportunity compared to many neighboring nations. But this steady influx of migrants has been repeatedly punctuated by sporadic outbreaks of xenophobic violence, as many South Africans blame undocumented foreigners for the country’s persistently high unemployment rates, widespread poverty, strained public services and rising crime.

For James, the decision to leave Nigeria back in 2014 was driven by economic collapse. Before his move, he worked as a truck driver for a Lagos-based haulage company, which shut down in 2016 when Nigeria entered its first economic recession in 20 years. Persistent job insecurity paired with crippling, days-long national power outages pushed him to seek opportunity abroad. During his years living in South Africa with an expired visa, James says he paid regular bribes to local police and immigration officials to keep operating his small mechanic shop, claims the AP has not been able to independently verify.

James is among the first group of Nigerians repatriated on the government-organized flight that departed South Africa on June 11. While he says he values the freedom of being back in his home country, he faces a far grimmer economic reality than the one he left. Over the past decade, Nigeria’s economy has contracted significantly, prompting sweeping economic reforms from new President Bola Tinubu in 2023. Those reforms included eliminating long-standing national fuel subsidies that had kept fuel prices artificially low for decades, as well as allowing the Nigerian naira to float on the open market. These policy changes, compounded by global market volatility stemming from U.S.-Iran tensions, have sent inflation soaring across the country. When James left Nigeria in 2016, fuel cost roughly $0.10 per liter; on the day he returned, that same liter cost $1.03. “Everything is too expensive,” James noted. He says he is willing to take any available work, but is pinning his hopes on government support to secure stable employment.

Nigerian authorities have stated that repatriated citizens will receive appropriate support before reuniting with their families, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not responded to questions about long-term support plans for returning migrants. Migration expert Margaret Monyani, founder of the Johannesburg-based OLAM Africa Research Institute, emphasizes that restarting life after repatriation is far from simple. “Reparation is not transformation,” Monyani explained. “Returning is not always as straightforward as it sounds. People just think, go back home and start again. No, what is home?”

Twenty-year-old Omotola Adeniyi echoes that sense of disorientation. She moved to South Africa to join her mother in 2015, when she was just 8 years old. After finishing high school, she found herself locked out of formal employment and higher education entirely. “After I finished high school, that’s when I saw real life because everywhere I looked for a job, all I could get was, ‘No, we don’t want to employ foreigners,’” Adeniyi said. She began saving for a return flight last year, but airfare was out of reach, so she accepted the Nigerian government’s offer of a free flight home. After 11 years away, she says Nigeria now feels like a foreign country.

The recent wave of anti-immigrant violence and protests has sparked widespread diplomatic backlash across the African continent. In addition to Nigeria, governments including Ghana, Malawi and others have organized repatriations for their citizens, and both Nigeria and Ghana summoned South Africa’s top diplomatic representatives to issue formal protest over the violence. “The price of your peace, and the safety of your children, is worth any sacrifices you have to make, or any assets you have to leave behind when fleeing a conflict zone or hate-infested environment. Survival is the noblest form of vengeance,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu told returning migrants in a statement delivered by her representatives upon their arrival in Lagos.

Even amid the ongoing outbreaks of xenophobic violence, migration experts note that South Africa remains a top destination for most African migrants due to its more advanced economy and developed infrastructure. “It doesn’t mean South Africa has the perfect institutions, but they’re working to a large extent,” Monyani added.

This coverage is supported by the Gates Foundation as part of the AP’s global Africa development reporting, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

Three days of intensive talks focused on addressing the lasting harm of the trans-Atlantic slave trade concluded in Ghana’s capital Accra this week, with delegates from across Africa and the Caribbean unanimously backing a bold 19-point roadmap to advance reparatory justice against nations that profited from centuries of human trafficking.

Hosted near Cape Coast Castle, one of the most infamous remaining strongholds that facilitated the forced displacement of millions of African people, the “Next Steps” conference built on a historic United Nations General Assembly resolution passed in March that formally labeled the 400-year transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity.” That vote, which garnered 123 votes in support, was opposed by just three nations — the United States, Israel, and Argentina — while 52 countries including the United Kingdom and most European Union member states chose to abstain. Unlike binding Security Council measures, General Assembly resolutions carry no legal weight, but they carry significant symbolic and political capital for the global reparations movement.

Between the 15th and 19th centuries, an estimated 12 to 15 million African men, women and children were captured from their homelands, trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean, and forced into chattel slavery in the Americas. The legacy of that exploitation continues to shape systemic inequality and underdevelopment across African and Caribbean nations today, delegates emphasized.

The newly endorsed 19-point plan outlines core demands: sweeping debt relief for affected nations, the repatriation of thousands of cultural artifacts looted by former colonial powers during and after the slave trade era, and the creation of a dedicated global reparations fund — though negotiators did not announce a specific funding target in the final statement. The framework also for the first time centers the unique, disproportionate harm of slavery and intergenerational trauma on African women and girls, a gap that has long been overlooked in global conversations about the crime.

Beyond material redress, conference leaders issued a unified call for former slave-trading nations to issue a “full, formal and unconditional apology” for their role in perpetuating the trade. Opening the conference, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama framed the demand not as a push for collective modern guilt, but as a call to collective responsibility. “History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility,” Mahama told assembled delegates.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a virtual address to the conference, acknowledging that enslaved people were systematically dehumanized and treated as disposable commercial goods rather than human beings. But he pushed back against framing reparations as a one-time financial settlement, arguing that the issue should not be reduced to “a cheque written to bring the story to a close.”

To date, no sovereign nation has ever paid reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans or to affected African, Caribbean and Latin American states. What little compensation has been distributed historically went exclusively to former slave owners, not to the people who were enslaved. Most notably, after abolishing slavery in the 1830s, the British government paid out compensation to enslavers equal to more than $21 billion in 2024 currency, a sum that was never redistributed to the families of the enslaved.

The UK has maintained a long-standing refusal to entertain reparations claims, arguing that current generations and modern institutions cannot be held legally or morally responsible for atrocities committed centuries ago. During the March UN General Assembly debate, UK Ambassador to the UN James Kariuki argued that “No single set of atrocities should be regarded as more or less significant than another.” The US ambassador echoed that position, saying the United States does not recognize any legal basis for reparations for historical acts that were not classified as illegal under international law at the time they occurred, adding that the UN resolution failed to clarify who would qualify as recipients of reparatory justice.

A controversial U.S. immigration policy that sends asylum seekers to third-party African nations is facing fresh scrutiny after a new group of deportees arrived in Sierra Leone this week, with legal advocates warning the practice directly undermines existing court-ordered protections and puts vulnerable migrants at grave risk of persecution.

Erica Reilly, an attorney representing one of the migrants who arrived Thursday, confirmed to the Associated Press that the flight marked the second such deportation to Sierra Leone in as many months. Last month, nine West African asylum seekers landed in the country under the same policy, and approximately 12 more joined them this week.

Sierra Leone is just one of at least nine African nations that have struck formal third-country deportation agreements with the U.S., alongside a number of Latin American and Caribbean states that have reached similar arrangements. Under the terms of Sierra Leone’s agreement, which is backed by a $1.5 million U.S. government grant, the West African nation only accepts citizens of other West African countries, serving strictly as a temporary transit point rather than a place of permanent resettlement. A monthly cap of 25 deportees and an annual limit of 300 have been placed on the program, though Sierra Leonean authorities have not disclosed how long the agreement will remain in effect.

Upon arrival in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, deportees receive a briefing pamphlet from Kenvah Solutions, a private contractor hired by the Sierra Leonean government to manage deportees’ accommodations, food, healthcare, and transfers to their home countries. The document explicitly labels Sierra Leone a “temporary transit location” and confirms that “no long-term settlement is provided for or permitted,” adding that local authorities and contractors are working to “return you home as quickly and safely as possible.” Neither Kenvah Solutions nor Sierra Leonean government officials responded to requests for comment from the AP.

Immigration advocates and legal representatives say the policy is a deliberate legacy of the Trump administration’s broad crackdown on irregular migration, which relies on often-unpublicized third-country deportation agreements to create a legal loophole. U.S. courts have issued formal orders barring the deportation of many of these asylum seekers directly back to their home countries, where judges have confirmed they face credible threats of persecution. By routing them through third-party nations like Sierra Leone, the U.S. effectively bypasses these protections.

Reilly, who is representing a Nigerian asylum seeker among the most recent group of deportees, explained that once migrants arrive in Sierra Leone, they have almost no power to block their forced transfer to the countries where they face danger. “They’re put in a position where they just don’t have a say at all,” Reilly said. She added that U.S. authorities are fully aware of the risk facing most deportees sent through this program, choosing instead to disavow responsibility for their fates once they leave U.S. soil. “Our government is just saying, ‘What happens to them after they leave the United States is not our problem,’” she said.

This is not the first challenge to the controversial policy. Earlier this month, human rights lawyers filed a legal case against Equatorial Guinea with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Africa’s top regional human rights body, accusing the central African nation of violating international human rights law by forcing U.S.-deported asylum seekers back to their unsafe home countries.

ACCRA, Ghana – In a pivotal gathering held in Ghana’s capital on Friday, leaders from across Africa and the Caribbean have amplified calls for formal apologies and reparatory justice from countries that orchestrated and profited from the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved African people. The summit, branded the “Next Steps” conference, comes three months after the United Nations approved a historic non-binding resolution that formally categorized the centuries-long Atlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity.”

The final declaration issued at the conference lays out a clear demand: all nations that participated in the systematic enslavement and forced displacement of African people must issue “full, formal and unconditional apologies” as the fundamental first step toward advancing reconciliation, rebuilding broken trust, and delivering the reparatory justice that descendant communities have long demanded. While the UN resolution adopted in March carries no legal enforcement power, global activists and participating leaders note it carries unprecedented moral weight that shifts the global conversation on historical harm.

Conference organizers emphasize that the Accra gathering is not just symbolic: its core goal is to move the global reparations debate beyond formal recognition of historical atrocities toward actionable, concrete policy measures. Among the key priorities under discussion is pushing to formalize compensation requirements under frameworks of international law.

Historical records confirm that between the 16th and 19th centuries, an estimated 12 million African people were violently abducted from their homelands by European traders, then trafficked across the Atlantic to be forced into chattel slavery on colonial plantations. The forced labor of enslaved people generated enormous, enduring wealth for European and North American powers, a progress built entirely on the systemic violence, displacement and death of millions.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama opened the summit by noting that the UN resolution has opened an unprecedented new window for constructive global dialogue on reparations. He stressed that the intergenerational harm of centuries of slavery continues to shape structural inequalities across Africa, the Caribbean, and the global African diaspora to this day.

Addressing delegates representing more than 80 nations in attendance, Mahama stated: “We’re here because recognition creates responsibility, and because the enduring consequences of this history continue to demand thoughtful, coordinated, and sustained international engagement.”

This summit builds on efforts launched at a 2023 reparations gathering also hosted in Ghana, where attendees first proposed the creation of a dedicated Global Reparation Fund, though key operational details for the fund have yet to be finalized. Global opinions on reparations remain deeply divided, particularly among nations that would be expected to contribute to compensation efforts. In the United States, for example, public opinion leans heavily against reparations for descendants of enslaved people: a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that only 30% of U.S. adults support any form of compensation such as cash payments or land grants.

Movement activists have outlined a broad vision for reparations that extends beyond direct cash payments to individual descendants. Many leaders call for targeted developmental aid to African and Caribbean nations impacted by the slave trade, as well as the return of cultural artifacts and natural resources stolen during the colonial era that followed the formal end of the slave trade.

CAIRO – A devastating new tragedy has struck the perilous central Mediterranean migration route, after a smuggling boat carrying dozens of migrants hoping to reach Europe capsized off Libya’s eastern coast last week, leaving 51 people confirmed dead or missing, a regional migration monitoring group confirmed Friday.

The Abreen Organization, which documents migrant movements across eastern Libya, reported that 10 migrants managed to survive the June 12 shipwreck. So far, recovery teams have pulled 11 bodies from the waters or shoreline, while 40 additional passengers remain unaccounted for, the group confirmed.

This latest incident underscores the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has plagued the Mediterranean Sea for decades. Libya’s extensive northern coastline has long been the primary departure point for migrants from across Africa and the Middle East fleeing conflict, poverty, and political instability, who seek safety and better economic opportunities in Europe. Human smuggling networks operate with near-impunity across Libya, packing hundreds of desperate migrants into overcrowded, unseaworthy boats ill-suited for the open ocean crossing. Thousands have lost their lives attempting this dangerous journey year after year.

Local authorities confirmed that recovery efforts have been ongoing for days. The Libyan coast guard and the Red Crescent branch based in the eastern Libyan port city of Tobruk confirmed that bodies began washing ashore in the area over the 24-hour period ending Friday, releasing footage that showed rescue teams carrying remains wrapped in white body bags onto the beach.

Data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) highlights the scale of the crisis. Between January 1 and May 16 of this year alone, more than 800 migrants were recorded as dead or missing along the central Mediterranean migration route. In all of 2023, the IOM documented more than 1,300 deaths and disappearances on the route.

Libya descended into widespread political chaos and civil conflict following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed long-time authoritarian ruler Moammar Gadhafi, creating a power vacuum that smuggling networks have exploited to expand their operations. In the years since, the country has become the world’s busiest transit hub for migrants heading to Europe, with criminal networks moving people across Libya’s unpatrolled, 4,300-kilometer border it shares with six neighboring countries.

Migrants who survive the crossing attempt but are intercepted by Libyan authorities face further danger: those returned to Libya are typically held in overcrowded, government-run detention centers where systemic abuse is rampant. A UN-commissioned investigation has documented widespread human rights violations in these facilities, including forced labor, sexual violence, beatings, and torture, with many of these abuses classified as crimes against humanity under international law.

This incident is the latest in a long string of maritime disasters that have drawn repeated international condemnation, yet policy solutions to address the root causes of the crisis remain stalled. For more coverage of global migration trends, visit AP News’ dedicated migration hub.