Resilience Of Irregular Migration of Ghanaians Across the Sahara Desert to Libya

Abstract

Given the rising incidence of irregular migration around the world, this study explored the resilience of irregular migration of Ghanaians across the Sahara Desert to Libya. The objectives of the study were to (a) find out the factors motivating Ghanaians to migrate through the Sahara Desert to Libya (b) explore the sources of resilience in migrating through the Sahara Desert (c) investigate the challenges faced by Ghanaian irregular migrants in Libya and (d) explore the coping strategies of Ghanaian irregular migrants in Libya. A total of eighteen returned irregular migrants from Akontaanim, a farming community under the Dormaa Central Municipality in the Bono Region participated in the study and they constitute the point of saturation. A qualitative study was employed involving both in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, manually coded, and analyzed using thematic data analysis method. The findings of the study indicated that migrants were motivated to migrate irregularly due to economic, family/community influence as well as the difficulties in acquiring valid travelling documents. Also, findings from the study showed that irregular migrants on the Sahara Desert faced horrific challenges such as the unavailability of water and food, and armed robbery. The study found that participants possessed both internal sources of resilience (for instance spirituality, courage, and the mental conditioning to endure) as well as external sources of resilience (relying on fellow travellers as a source of resilience). Furthermore, the study found that participants faced many challenges as irregular migrants in Libya but they relied on both the problem-focused and emotional-focused coping strategies to deal with these challenges which included harassment and arbitrary arrest by security officials as well as the inability to access formal healthcare. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that both the Government of Ghana in partnership with other International Organizations such as IOM intensify education on regular migration as well as the pitfalls of irregular migration.