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The president of the African Union has attacked the
'selective immigration' policies of developed
countries that draw scientists and other skilled
workers away from developing countries.
Speaking on Monday (3 April) in Algiers, Algeria,
at the opening of an African Union meeting on
migration and development, Alpha Oumar Konare said
these policies amount to a "brain trade" that
hinders African development.
According to the Algeria News Agency, Konare said
industrialised nations took a "one-sided decision to
loot African countries of their brains".
Algeria's foreign minister Mohammed Bedjaoui told
the meeting that despite what is said about
partnership and co-development, selective
immigration policies are "simply depriving Africa of
its right to development".
He said this meant that Africa must explore new
ways to better mobilise "the diaspora's know-how,
work experience and investment".
Last September, the British government announced
plans to attract more scientists from developing
countries, but denied that this policy would
exacerbate the so-called brain drain (see UK says
luring Asian talent won't increase brain drain).
Bedjaoui said 23,000 university graduates leave
Africa each year and that the brain drain is "a
cause rather than a consequence of under-development".
But Robert Egnell, a Swedish researcher based at
the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, says
this suggestion is "highly questionable".
Egnell accepts that selective immigration laws
encourage educated Africans to emigrate, but says
the real reasons people leave their homes and
families are "poverty, corruption, political
mismanagement and lack of opportunities".
"Sure, Africa is losing valuable skills, but it
gains enormous sums on money in the form of
remittances [sent by emigrants] that are directly
pumped into the local economy and so boost economic
development," he says.
"The flow of educated labour is a sign of how a
government is doing politically and economically,"
Egnell told SciDev.Net. "If people are leaving, the
government must shape up."
The aim of this week's meeting in Algiers is to
reach a common African position ahead of a
Euro-African ministerial conference in June.
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