MK
Both you and Pundit have good ideas. This is a complex problem.
The key lies in identifying the reasons people move. In fact I should say poor people. Rich people move easily around the world. They are called variously tourists, investors, businessmen / businesswomen etc.
Poor people move because of all manner of problems associated with poverty. Whether they are the so called natural disasters or man made, the underlying cause is poverty. A cyclone hitting The Philippines inevitably kills the poor and destroys their hovels. It hardly makes a dent on a rich man's castle built on the high ground overlooking the slum.
Locally: Post election violence in Kenya was about poverty and the power of the Presidency as seen to ameliorate deprivation. We are seeing devolution beginning to calm the nerves with unbearable resistance from the National government and the tribes benefitting from the inequality of the pre-devolution period.
These are the issues to be addressed.
Note that people do not flee their own country until the inequalities are horrendous and near-"sinful". It is just a question of time before those South African Inkathas begin to mount boats in Durban port and head North and East. That is because of the huge inequalities between the rich and poor. I need not belabour the point. The large number of Nigerians among the migrants is enough to support that point. Nigeria is not poor. It is a highly unequal society.
Democracy or lack goes hand in glove with or without these inequalities. Societies that by and large "Equitable" where difference between citizens' incomes and wealth are not so pronounced are also likely to conduct free and fair elections whose results accurately reflect the will of the people. They are also the same countries that produce none or few migrants. Need I name Tanzania?
So I am saying it not about pumping huge sums of money in to these countries. The US did that with Mobutu's Zaire and we all know how that did end. Let us first learn how to harness the limited resources we have before we can take on more.
For instance if you are familiar with the "absorption capacity" principle, you will need no imagination to know that most of the cash now being pumped inn to Kenya by China will end up in private bank accounts. That is because any analysis will show that it cannot be absorbed by the country in the period that is provided - whatever they do!
But in the MEANTIME (I know you did single out the word): There is need for immediate emergency action to stem the deaths. If these people want to go to Europe and since many of them will be deported. The EU should set up camps all over Africa and Middle East where they can apply be screened and some taken in. It should not be a place to turn people away but to seriously consider their cases.
They should increase the search and rescue services (land, Sea and Air) to ensure that nobody dies.
Omollo:
The essence of a large part of your questions appears to be that racism is involved. There is no doubt about that; generally mzungu does not care much for non-mzungu and especially blacks. Should the racism be condemned? Absolutely, and in the strongest possible terms. But in the meantime people are dying in that sea. What is to be done beyond condemning the racism and appealing to the "better" side of people?
