The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

African billionaire rebuts idea of migration flood to Europe


AP Photo,FILE - In this Wednesday May 6, 2015 file photo, Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East & Africa meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. The migration of Africans to Europe and North America should be viewed as a positive phenomenon, not a threat, said billionaire Mo Ibrahim. “Migration is healthy. It’s not a disease,” Ibrahim told The Associated Press on Sunday, April 7, 2019. “Migration is about aspirations, not desperation. People who migrate are mostly capable, ambitious young people who are migrating to work and to build successful lives. They add wealth to the countries they go t (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, file)
AP Photo,FILE - In this Wednesday May 6, 2015 file photo, Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East & Africa meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. The migration of Africans to Europe and North America should be viewed as a positive phenomenon, not a threat, said billionaire Mo Ibrahim. “Migration is healthy. It’s not a disease,” Ibrahim told The Associated Press on Sunday, April 7, 2019. “Migration is about aspirations, not desperation. People who migrate are mostly capable, ambitious young people who are migrating to work and to build successful lives. They add wealth to the countries they go t (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar, file)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Sudan-born billionaire Mo Ibrahim says the migration of Africans to Europe and North America should be viewed as a positive phenomenon, not a threat.

Experts said during a conference hosted by Ibrahim’s foundation that Africans make up about 14% of the global migrant population, a much smaller share than the 41% from Asia and 23% from Europe.

The conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, ended Sunday.

Ibrahim said in an interview that statistics also show that Europe isn’t being flooded with Africans because 70% of African migrants remain on the continent.

The 72-year-old philanthropist earned his fortune by establishing the Celtel mobile phone network across Africa. He now lives in Britain.

He says African countries should have better education and employment opportunities for young people.

Ibrahim’s foundation publishes an annual index to encourage good governance in Africa.