When I decided to do research on illegal migration to Europe by West Africans and the perils of their journeys, Alphonse’s case came to my mind. Thousands more of his kind may have different experiences but the underlying motivation to travel to Europe is a common one: grinding poverty and destitution, compounded by bleak prospects of life home.

In April 2007, a year after my encounter with Alphonse I decided to arrange for an interview with either his brother or sister in the Gambia. I telephoned to enquire through one of their neighbours about Alphonse and the rest of his family.

The neighbour told me he had not seen Alphonse for almost two months but he could let me talk to his youngest sister, Diminga, aged 11 years. The little girl told me Alphonse had travelled to Senegal with some friends.

When I asked whether he was on his way to Europe, she hesitated a while before saying he had. I asked whether he was travelling by air but she said Alphonse had told her he would travel by sea but advised her not to tell anyone.

But the little girl had confidence to confide in me. Apparently, I had become a family acquaintance because of the television programme I made for her late sister to solicit assistance for her overseas treatment. Diminga said it was two months since Alphonse left and they’ve not heard from him yet.

Alphonse’s other brother, Fadul, 17, has also dropped out of school to work as a driver’s assistant. He wanted to be a driver because it was a trade he could learn quickly and so help his sister. At 17, he became the breadwinner of what was left of the family.

Diminga was able to continue her education thanks to the Gambian government’s free education for girls. "Our father has abandoned us and if it were not for our mother’s brother, we would not even have a place to sleep. He too, is poor and has to support his family and that is why our brother, Alphonse, said he has to go. We pray that God helps him realise his dreams."

Instances of children dropping out of school to become the breadwinners of their families as a result of poverty, is a reality of life in sub-Saharan Africa. Instead of being a priority, education is an option which people are often obliged to dispense in order to earn enough to barely live. The scourge of poverty and destitution is tearing apart the social fabric of families and communities.

The current wave of Africans trying to migrate illegally to Europe by perilous means in search of better conditions of life should be seen in this context. Poverty remains the most important push factor at the root of this migrant trade. Research by individual and multilateral organisations suggest that poverty in sub-Saharan Africa remains the biggest challenge to development on the African continent.

At the G8 summit in mid 2005 in Gleneagles, the world’s richest nations pledged to double development assistance to Africa, from $25bn in 2004 to $50bn per year by 2010, according to the World Bank.

They also pledged increased debt relief through the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, to write off $37bn in debt. The bulk of it is owed by African countries. These initiatives come against the backdrop of increasing poverty and destitution in Africa, fuelled by decades of corruption, poor governance, conflicts, weak institutional capacity and an unfair global trade regime.

The billons of dollars in loans accumulated by African countries over the preceding decades, which are the focus of current debt relief initiatives, have done little to lift the continent out of enduring poverty. And the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s and the democratisation and good governance programmes of the 1990s pursued by many African countries have failed to bail the continent out of chronic poverty.

Statistics on sub-Saharan Africa’s economic performance over the years have recently shown some sustained levels of annual growth in Gross Domestic Product. The World Economic Forum projected overall economic growth for sub-Saharan Africa at 5.7% for 2007 up from 4% in 2006. And the percentage of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 4.7% over the five years to 2006 to 41%.

But the decreases in percentages have not translated into a decrease in the actual number of people living in poverty. This, according to the World Economic Forum, is due partly to a high population growth rate. However, that is not the full explanation. Economic growth is uneven and intermittent conflicts tend to undo gains made over the years. The scourge of diseases, such as AIDS and malaria, also has a negative impact on development.

With a population of some 700 million people, Sub-Saharan Africa represents about 10% of the world’s population. Of this total, according to the International Labour Organisation, three out of every four people live in poverty, with some 320 million living in extreme poverty: on one US dollar a day or less.

Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is preventing the continent from realising its vast potential. Since 1981, according to the World Bank, the number of Africans categorised as extremely poor; living on one US dollar a day or less, has nearly doubled. Some 24 of the 32 countries ranked lowest on the United Nation’s Human Development Index are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Unemployment presents one of the greatest challenges to development on the continent. A rapidly expanding urban informal sector, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), coexists with an agricultural sector which employs more than 70% of the population.

However, this trend is changing due partly to large scale internal population movements. Rural-urban migration is rapidly depopulating rural communities; which have traditionally been the food basket of most African countries. This situation continues exacerbate hunger and food insecurity.

Secondly, government subsidies to farmers in developed countries undermine any competitive advantage African farmers might have for their labour intensive products on the world market. At the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town, South Africa in June 2007, former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, told delegates that Africa is the only region where overall food security and livelihoods are deteriorating.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the youths are particularly at risk. In some countries, according to ILO, more than 60% of the unemployed are youths. The region has the highest unemployment rate in the world. Many of the youths are trapped in the least skilled category of the population.

Although primary education enrolment rates in sub-Saharan Africa have increased, the completion rates remain comparatively low. According to World Bank figures for 2005, only 50% of school children in sub-Saharan Africa complete primary education. This huge number of primary school dropouts is likely to grow into an army of unskilled youths with limited prospects of securing employment.

These youths make up the bulk of potential migrants to Europe by perilous means that claim so many lives in West Africa. And the statistics on youth unemployment suggests it will be very difficult to stem the current tide of illegal migration. Nearly 20 million sub-Saharan Africans, the ILO reports, are migrant workers and by 2015, it predicts a dramatic rise - about one in 10 Africans is likely to live and work outside his or her country of origin.

The problem of HIV/AIDS poses another major development challenge to sub-Saharan African. The pandemic is thwarting development efforts by decimating the continent’s labour force and exacerbating its already grinding levels of poverty.

The growing number of AIDS orphans faces an increasingly bleak future as the social security systems of these poor countries can seldom cater for their educational and other social needs.

Sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS, is home to more than 60%, 25.8 million, of all the people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2005 alone, there were 3.2 million new infections. And about 2.4 million adults and children died of the disease in the same year. HIV/AIDS continues to aggravate the continent’s high levels of poverty. It is not only a health problem but a major development challenge too.

At the current rate of economic growth, the World Bank warns, the objective of halving extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015 as called for by the United Nations Millennium Declaration will not be met. Some experts suggest an annual growth rate of 10% might make it possible for the region to attain the Millennium Development Goals.

The World Bank predicts a substantial increase in extreme poverty for the region by 2015. The number of Africans living on one dollar a day or less will increase by 30%, from 320 million in 2006 to about 404 million by 2015. This would mean that about half the people of sub-Saharan Africa (about one in two people) will be categorised as extremely poor. If these statistics are anything to go by, the fight against poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is not succeeding.

This will have serious consequences for illegal migration to Europe. The link between poverty and the current wave of African migration to Europe is evident. As the levels of poverty continue to rise exponentially, illegal migration to Europe will increase exponentially across the Atlantic and Mediterranean routes, regardless of the consequences.

These African youths will certainly try to escape the status quo or be willing to die trying. For Alphonse Mendy, the young man from Guinea Bissau and thousands like him across West Africa, going to Europe in search of better conditions of life, is a mission to be achieved by any means available.