By ADAM NOSSITER

DAKAR, Senegal — Amid the global cries of alarm over the deaths of African migrants in the Mediterranean has been a notable silence: Where are the impassioned voices of African leaders who, arguably, could be shouting the loudest?

Their citizens are drowning by the hundreds, along with Syrians and Afghans. But there has been barely an anguished word from the continent’s leaders.

The chairwoman of the African Union commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, belatedly expressed “condolences” and called for more “dialogue.” Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, offered a “salute to the memory of the victims.” But beyond such remarks, the relative lack of reaction has been revealing.

“While the West bears some responsibility for this massacre, African leaders, for their part, are standing by, mute, in front of this unprecedented spectacle, which is proof of their failure,” an editorial in the Senegalese newspaper Le Quotidien said last week.

“At least there was a wave of indignation among the Europeans, confronted by these deaths in the Mediterranean,” wrote Le Quotidien. “It’s as though our leaders, who offer no hope to our jobless youth, were telling themselves, ‘So much the better, at least it will reduce the unemployment rate!’ ”

To many, the muted response is an implicit acknowledgment that, at a minimum, Africa’s leaders are not shocked that tens of thousands of their citizens would rather risk death at sea than endure the hardships and limited opportunities at home.

Likewise, human rights organizations are flaying European leaders for closing their doors and holding migrants in overcrowded detention centers, but they are largely silent about the responsibility of the migrants’ home countries.

Yet a solution will have to come as much from Africa as elsewhere.

In the top 10 countries of origin for migrants risking the perilous journey are Mali, Gambia, Nigeria and Senegal, according to the European border control agency. Still, these four West African nations — and thousands more come from other African countries not specified by the agency — are not at war. And, except in the case of Gambia, they are not especially repressive.

Read more: African Leaders Are Mute, Even as Their People Die at Sea

Source: NYTIMES