Millions who risk death for a better life

Across Africa, millions are dreaming of fleeing to Europe. Families scrimp and save to find the money needed to secure a seat on a boat. Young men, often fathers, squeeze on to overcrowded, rickety fishing boats that leave Senegal, Libya or Somalia in the dead of night. They take with them nothing more than the hope that a better life lies across the sea.

Some leave because of conflict, most because of poverty. All hope to find enough money in Europe to be able to send some back home to their families. The money earned by a migrant on a construction site in Spain or hawking sunglasses on the streets of Italy can be several times more than he would have made back in Mali, Nigeria or Eritrea. African migrants' remittances are growing at a faster rate than official aid from foreign governments.

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Trafficking Africa's migrants has become a lucrative business. Boats leave every night from the shores of Senegal in the west, Libya in the north and Somalia in the east. But it is not only Senegalese, Libyans and Somalis that make the trip. Others from across the continent will walk and hitch rides thousands of miles to reach the coast.

The port town of Bossaso in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia, is the centre of the Horn of Africa's people-trafficking industry. Hundreds of Somalis, Eritreans and Ethiopians arrive in Bossaso every day, desperate to leave the poverty, drought and war which blights the region. The current round of fighting in Somalia - the latest in the 16 years since the country last had a functioning central government - has seen up to 400,000 people flee the capital, Mogadishu. In Eritrea, an anti-western dictator has shunned international food aid as his people starve, while in eastern and northern Ethiopia rebel groups have waged a growing campaign for autonomy against an autocratic regime in Addis Ababa.

Across the continent, in west Africa, it is a similar tale. Civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast have devastated the region in the past decade, while poverty has taken hold in countries such as Senegal and Mali despite their relative peace and democracy. No one knows exactly how many die pursuing the dream of a life in Europe. According to the UN's refugee agency hundreds of would-be migrants have drowned so far this year. The real figure could be far higher. Boats are unregistered and there are no passenger lists. It is impossible to know how many boats failed to reach their destination or how many people were on board.

But as long as poverty and conflict continues to blight the African continent people will continue to find a way out. And as long as Europe needs unskilled labour this will continue to be their destination.