By Akani Nkuna
International relations minister Ronald Lamola and his Rwandan counterpart, Olivier Nduhungirehe, have called for Africa’s migration challenges to be addressed through a continental debate on their root causes, rather than through criticism of how individual countries respond to them.
The ministers were speaking during a media briefing in Pretoria, after bilateral talks aimed at strengthening relations between South Africa and Rwanda.
Lamola said African countries needed deeper economic development and cooperation to reduce migration pressures within and beyond the continent.
He said the debate should focus on the reasons millions of Africans leave their countries of origin, including economic hardship, instability and other push-and-pull factors.
“We have been very clear that any debate that can take place on this matter at the African Union (AU) should focus on the broader discussion on the migration issues. Almost 45 million people from the African continent, particularly the youth, go outside their countries of origin,” said Lamola.
“It is clear, it is not just one country. It is an African challenge that is driven by root causes and those root causes have to be discussed — the pull and push factors, the countries of origin, the countries they flee to, and so forth.”
South Africa and Rwanda held the bilateral meeting as the two countries look to strengthen relations and improve cooperation across strategic sectors including trade, tourism, health, education and security.
The talks came after years of strained bilateral relations between Pretoria and Kigali, with Lamola saying major efforts had been made to repair the relationship and ensure continued economic cooperation.
Lamola said President Cyril Ramaphosa and Rwandan President Paul Kagame had, on several occasions, agreed on the need to reset relations between South Africa and Rwanda.
“While we are working on some confidence-building measures, [this working visit] is also in preparation for [the head of state visit] and that engagement will further deepen engagements and relations to issues related to the Eastern DRC,” he said.
Nduhungirehe said it was important for African leaders to debate migration, but urged them not to react emotionally to what they see on social media, including reports and commentary about anti-immigration protests in South Africa.
He said the AU’s flagship project on the free movement of people should be advanced, but stressed that Rwanda supports safe, orderly and legal migration.
“AU member states, we should not react with passion or based on what we see on social media, we should address real issues and provide a solution. So for Rwanda, we believe that it is important to have a debate, but not on having a passionate debate based on pointing fingers at a single country,” Nduhungirehe said.
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