“The ocean became their grave”: Catholic Priest Mourns Suspected African Migrants Feared Dead off Canary Islands

He said that agriculture must be transformed “from an activity associated with poverty into a modern and profitable profession”.

“We cannot continue importing food that our own young people could produce. We cannot praise the youth during political campaigns and abandon them after elections. When corruption, unemployment, tribalism and political connections determine who receives opportunities, frustration becomes dangerous,” Fr. Konteh said.

Underlining the need for governments on the continent to invest in the youth, the Catholic Priest said, “The greatest resource of Africa is not its diamonds, gold, bauxite or oil. It is its young people.”

He warned that governments that fail to invest in young people lose them to drugs, crime, despair, dangerous migration “or death.”

To Africans living in Europe and America, Fr. Konteh said, “Please tell the truth.”

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“Do not show only photographs taken beside beautiful buildings, airports, expensive cars and tourist attractions. Do not create the impression that everyone who reaches Europe or America immediately becomes successful,” he said.

According to Fr. Konteh, Africans who have managed to enter Europe and America hide the difficulties they grapple with abroad.

Calling for full disclosure, he said, “Tell young people about the loneliness, discrimination, unemployment, immigration difficulties, homelessness, high cost of living, and the exhausting jobs that many migrants must endure. Tell them that some people live for years without legal documents and cannot return home even when their parents die. Tell them that many are struggling silently while pretending on social media that everything is perfect.”

“Europe is not heaven, and Africa is not hell,” Fr. Konteh asserted, adding, “Every society has opportunities and difficulties. Our young people deserve the complete truth before making decisions that could cost them their lives.”

The President of Priests in West Africa also called for the identification, arrest and prosecution of those who collect money from vulnerable families, deceive young people and place them in unsafe boats.

He described profiting from human desperation as “a grave crime”, adding, “These smugglers do not see passengers as human beings; they see them as money. They make false promises, collect huge payments and disappear when tragedy occurs.”

“Governments must dismantle these criminal networks, follow the money and prosecute everyone involved, including officials who protect or collaborate with them,” the Sierra Leonean Priest said.

Fr. Konteh acknowledged the legitimacy of young Africans’ desire for a better future.

“Your dreams are not wrong. But please do not allow desperation or false information to lead you into the hands of people who do not value your life,” the Priest said.

He added, “No dream should require you to gamble your life on the ocean. Seek reliable information. Pursue legal opportunities. Learn a skill. Consider agriculture, technology, entrepreneurship and other possibilities available at home.”

“Progress may be slow, but death at sea ends every possibility,” he said.

Fr. Konteh appealed to religious leaders, families, schools, governments, civil society and the media to persist in speaking about the crisis of unsafe immigration.

Calling for the protection of human life “above politics, profit and national pride”, the official of Caritas Freetown said, “The Atlantic must not become a cemetery for Africa’s hopes and dreams.”

“Enough tears. Enough empty condolences. Enough young lives lost,” he said, and added, “Let us create legal pathways. Let us create opportunities at home. Let us tell the truth. Let us prosecute the traffickers. Above all, let us protect life.”

“May the souls of all those who have died on these dangerous migration routes rest in perfect peace,” Fr. Konteh implored.