The images are unbearable. According to the latest figures obtained by Le Quotidien from security and diplomatic sources, 98 people died when a canoe capsized in Ndiago, a few kilometres from Saint-Louis. Their canoe left the Senegalese-Gambian border with 170 migrants on board, but only 9 people, including a five-year-old girl, were rescued by Mauritanian coastguards. The others are missing, showing that the number of people leaving for European shores is increasing. Especially as this is the end of winter season, which compromises the movements of would-be illegal immigrants.

Apart from the NGOs’ statements, the authorities remained silent on this latest tragedy. Until Saturday. At the Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, the Prime Minister commented on the affair on the fringes of the set-setal day organised in Saint-Louis: « Yet another shipwreck has occurred off our coast and, while we wait for the exact figures, it is thought to have cost the lives of many young people. I’m appealing to young people once again: your solution doesn’t lie in offices, the countries that some young people want to go to, I can assure you that they themselves are either in crisis, or at the beginning of a crisis! The future of the world lies in Africa, and you, young people need to be aware of this. The only continent that still has significant room for progress and growth, the only continent that should drive the world’s growth over the next 50 years.

That continent is Africa. He continued: « The debate is simple: will Africa’s growth be achieved by others and without Africans, or will it be achieved mainly by Africans? And incidentally, those who come to invest will also have the right to come. Our response is very clear: no one will do our development for us. We will no longer accept our natural resources being plundered to leave us with the poverty and unemployment that drive you young people to leave… ».