Since August 5, 2015, Mamadou Diaby has dropped the moorings of his immigrant life in France to return to Mali. On that day, he said, he had no choice but to leave to escape from a daily lack of work, food, and a place to sleep. This is the daily life of a large number of undocumented migrants in France. « I understood that there was nothing for me to do. Without work, I could not have the papers. I asked for the residence card 4 times, but they refused. After the last attempt, they told me to leave French territory. » he said, with a smile on his lips that hides badly the sadness that seen easily on the face. He regrets to have lost his time running behind a Parisian dream that eventually became a nightmare. The situation of Mamadou is emblematic of that of many Malian migrants, in irregular situation in Europe, who continue to hold on to the hope that they will be able to regularize their situation. As Europe continues to intensify pressure on African countries to find a solution to the problem of migration, which has become a hot potato. In Mali, in recent months, the hunting of Malian migrants in Algeria and the supposed signing of the readmission agreement have made the issue of migration a headline.
It’s in 2010 that Mamadou Diaby left his village of Diéoura (Circle of Diema), where he was a tailor and a farmer, to leave for Libya. Driven by the war that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, he crossed the Mediterranean and spent nine months in Italy before setting sail on France where he will arrive on January 15, 2012. « I quarreled with my father, who said that I am nothing but a good-for-nothing. Because I did not get enough profits from my tailoring job. So I left. », he recalls. « People leave here, the main reason is poverty. You give them the opportunity to be fashionable, which means to educate themselves, to take care of themselves, to eat, I do not see why they would leave ». says Issa Sacko, general delegate of the Malians abroad.
In Garantiguibougou, south-east of Bamako, Mamadou now lives with his wife and continues to work as a fashion designer thanks to the financial and technical support of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), which allowed him to obtain two sewing machines. « OFFI helped me to get these two machines. I work with a boss to be qualified and set up my own business », he says, sitting at the back of the small room that is a sewing shop. When asked if he had approached a Malian service, he replied: « No, I did not know any Malian service to which I could speak ».
Indeed, many returning migrants declare that they do not know of structures that can help them to settle down, to reintegrate. However, according to Issa Sacko, general delegate of Malians from abroad, the National Migration Policy was adopted in 2013. « The objective of the PONAM is to put a policy to ensure the cohesion of all actions that more or less target migration, transit issues, all issues that affect mobility. », he explains.
The former professor of economics adds: « It is above all to exploit the assets that could arise from migration issues depending on whether people are inside or outside. It is no longer a question of starting from one-off actions. Beyond the Ministry Malians abroad, there are actions that are carried out like job creation for young people in the regions (Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training). There is the question of reintegration, of securing investments ».
Is PONAM a tool to fight irregular immigration? Issa Sacko replied in the affirmative because « the economic reasoning that must be done is that if they leave we lose them and the others do not want them. », he said. Thus, PONAM deals with cases of voluntary return, expulsion or repatriation.
According to Mrs. Guindo Fatouma Diakité, who is responsible for social reintegration issues at the General Delegation of Malians abroad, from 2007 to 2009, the fund to support the integration and reintegration of returnees, financed by the national budget, amounted to 150 million. « It was used to reintegrate returnees who came together to form an NGO or an association. They were given kits, moto pumps for those who were in agriculture. », she explains. Today, the same fund continues to be funded under PONAM, and an extensive awareness campaign on the dangers of irregular migration is under preparation.
Sociologist and lecturer at the University of Arts and Humanities of Bamako (ULSHB), Aly Tounkara, believes that, in addition to the fact that returning migrants are mostly unaware of their existence, the politicization of state structures is a factor which prompts them to turn to foreign services such as OFII. « They doubt their competence », says the researcher. Installed in Mali since 1988, this service attached to the French Ministry of the Interior, has set up arrangements for irregular migrants in France who have chosen to return to their country.
« We are not going to these migrants ; They come to us. After having refused them the residence permit, it is the administration that informs them about the existence of our system. We take care of the journey. And once in Mali comes the stage of social reintegration », explains Stéphane Vezignol, Director of the Representation of OFII in Mali (which also deals with Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin), whom we met at his office, located in Quartier du Fleuve. « The difficult situation that leads them to leave is the same one that leads them to return, recognizes Stéphane Vezignol. When they make the decision to return, the expectations of their families are disappointed. People are marked by this journey. A meager wage, an irregular situation. Some are tough and come out of the irregular situation, others give up. » It was after giving up that Mamadou Diaby was referred to the services of the OFII in France, who took charge of his return.
The OFII helps returned migrants to reintegration through the creation of a business by relying on partners in Mali (NGOs, Study Offices …). The project submitted must therefore be promising, feasible to be validated by the committee, where sits mainly the General Directorate of Malians abroad, APEJ, ANPE, French Development Agency, the French Embassy… Then, the migrant receives support that often goes up to 7000 euros. The last sustainability study for OFII-funded projects goes back to 2010.
And according to Mr. Vezignol, 70% were still active. « Before, we could register 150 people a year. In 2016, we received only 30 reintegration projects, 5 of which are young students who are inserted as employees. », he laments. He added that this decrease could be due to the socio-economic context affected by the security crisis, besides the fact that very few irregular migrants in France are aware of the existence of this measure. An extensive communications plan is being prepared to address this deficit. For Ali Tounkara, the problem is rather that “people are reluctant to go to these services that he suspects of being in complicity with the European Union. It is not that they are not aware of the existence of these measures.
As a tool for fighting against irregular immigration, OFII also helps to return skills with a system for students some of whom often switch to an irregular situation if they do not have work after their studies in France. The OFII accompanies them to have return benefits, a job in a company and takes charge for one year 50% of the salary of the young recruit.
Today, on the side of young students who have gone to Europe to study, the trend seems to be increasingly returning after training. This is the opinion of Abdoulaye Diakité, who runs the company « Diakité Robotics » that he created after his return in 2014 from England, where he studied computer science. « Europe is already ahead, when we have nothing. Living abroad means injecting money into the economy of these countries: home, transport, clothing … We must return to build our countries », he said with sparkling eyes behind his round glasses. He set up his own business with personal funds with some difficulty. « The system makes it difficult for those who return. This is especially difficult for an entrepreneur. There is no political will to support this sector, there is no support. But it is up to us to change things. The future rests on us. There were times when I wanted to leave. We have to fight. », he says.
This is also the opinion of Mamadou Diaby, who, despite the difficulties, does not want to retake the road of departure. « I did not know that France was like that, otherwise I was not going to leave. Everything I was told was false. », confided the man who lived in the VI arrondissement of Paris-Montparnasse. Yet he does not want to dissuade anyone from leaving: « They will say that you are selfish, that it is because you have failed that you do not want them to leave. »
Boubacar Sangaré