The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The rescuers are angry at the idea that their well-intentioned efforts may be greasing the migrant smuggling machine — and their phone numbers are sometimes sold as part of the “package” offered to migrants.
“Our mission is to rescue people who are in danger on the mountain, not to act as a taxi for traffickers,” said Philippe Wyon, one of around a dozen volunteers who regularly carries out mountain rescue missions.
Tous Migrants reluctantly decided in mid-February not to answer smugglers’ phone calls any more, worried about inadvertently breaking the law if found to be cooperating with criminal gangs.
Instead, they’ve been carrying out ad hoc search operations on the mountain, hoping simply to bump into migrants so they can bring them to safety.
– In failure, dishonour –
Most of those crossing the Alps in recent months have been from Guinea or Ivory Coast, both former French colonies.
Few have any hope of being granted refugee status, being considered economic migrants for fleeing a crippling lack of jobs and opportunities at home rather than war.
But that message has been slow to filter through — partly because those who make it through do not want others to know how much they suffered and those who get deported keep a low profile.
Failure to make it “spells tragedy for these young people,” Ivorian sociologist Fahiraman Rodrigue Kone, author of a report on returning migrants, told AFP, adding: “It’s seen as a sort of social death and a dishonour”.
At 16, Cellou has already seen a lifetime of suffering. The Guinean teenager was kidnapped, imprisoned and abused by armed Libyan gangs over the course of his long voyage to France.
“I came here to study and train as a chef. I love cooking!” he says.
Some, like Ibrahim, have already had their dreams dashed.
The 22-year-old Guinean was left paralysed down one side of his body after plunging 40 metres (130 feet) while attempting to cross a mountain pass in August and has been in several hospitals ever since.
He has a message for west African parents who pack off their sons to make their fortune in Europe: “This journey, these mountains, are too dangerous. Don’t encourage your children to come here.”
