Europe declares migration emergency within 24 hours; Africa ignores xenophobic wave for weeks

While the European Union activates, in less than a day, an urgent mechanism to respond to the migration crisis in Spain, the African Union remains silent in the face of xenophobic attacks against Africans in South Africa – and even refuses to discuss the issue at its next summit. The contrast exposes not only different priorities, but also the fragility of continental solidarity.

The migration crisis affecting the Canary Islands and the Spanish coast has led the European Union to convene an emergency meeting for this Tuesday (August 4). The decision, taken less than 24 hours after the worsening of landings, demonstrates the bloc's capacity for immediate reaction – and places the issue at the top of the EU's political agenda.

Conversely, the African Union remains in a holding pattern. Since South Africa experienced a new wave of violence against immigrants from other African countries – with attacks on shops, forced expulsions, and injuries – the AU has limited itself to vague statements, without convening any extraordinary meetings.

More than the lack of urgency, what worries observers is the formal rejection of the proposal presented by Ghana, which requested the inclusion of the topic of xenophobia on the agenda of the AU coordination meeting scheduled for October in Egypt. The decision was interpreted by diplomats as a political retreat at a time when pan-Africanist rhetoric demands concrete action.

While the EU mobilizes diplomatic and financial resources to manage the flow of migrants in the Mediterranean, the AU seems to be wasting the opportunity to lead an African response to violence against Africans – in a silence that, for many, sounds like complicity.

Thus, the contrast is stark: on one side, a Europe that reacts with alarm to what reaches its borders; on the other, an Africa that hesitates to protect its own citizens within the continent. The question that remains is: how long will the African Union continue to treat xenophobia as a minor issue?