Is borderless travel in Africa possible? - What in the World podcast, BBC World Service

[@BBCWorldService]

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[@kennyking5606]

Your people from Europe created those boarders, remember the birlin conference?. We are not all fools

[@malvinmalvin9702]

We know the real problem . Economic issues in some African countries that will then cause them to massively emigrate to economically stable countries and in the end never go back home and hence burden such countries . Eg Nigerians will flood South Africa and other countries across Africa because of economic situation in Nigeria . Even in terms of visa wise , west African countries struggle to get visas not only for African countries but even across the world . They even require transit visas for Europe just to transit through the airport . On the other side , southern Africans don’t require transit visas for Europe and easily get visa for several countries . They also have more countries with visa free arrangements with them .

[@Franklyn-j8l]

Nobody is flooding s/a hiv republic. nobody want to live in shacks.

[@user-ib6xn4hl7s]

South Africans or people who live in the south of africa do need visas, its called the schengen visa , no matter how much you dislike nigerians or west african just know that whyte people dislike you just as much...

[@DavidOdusanya134.]

Pls stfu must y'all always talk about us? U sans are obsessed. Ur also aware nigeria visa is also one of the worlds hardest. Only west African countries can visit Nigeria without visa

[@Biobele]

Spoken like a xenophobic South African 😂. You could have easily made your point without the vitriol and direct attacks but no.

[@akshayganesh4144]

Africa need more trains 🚊

[@mpram5522]

Will those trains pass via Zimbabwe and Mozambique? Did you know that Zimbabweans and Mozambiqueans hade destroyed their train infrastructure and sold it as copper to Chinese? Do you know that they have destroyed and stolen 40% of South African train infrastructure? Do you think a train will pass via Congo and Mozambique without paying corruption? Stop dreaming and accept reality

[@maliksy7746]

It's called the Berlin Conference.

[@michaelogunronbi237]

If Nigeria, for instance had not turned out the way it currently is, borderless travel in Africa would have happened faster. Nigeria has more poor people than any other country in Africa. Nigerians majorly travel for economy reason not for leisure or pleasure. And with our huge numbers, need not mention the damage that can cause to other countries. If Nigeria was a somewhat better with needed infrastructure, vibrant economy that what it is, travel for leisure, sightseeing, etc would be common. Despite the fact that not many people want to visit Nigeria for reasons like insecurity, Nigerian visa is said to be one of the hardest to get. Why not make it visa free for all Africans? Other African countries will take a cue almost certainly.

[@Franklyn-j8l]

stop speaking for 200million people just because your entire family is poor does not mean others are. No nigeria does not want other african countries in Nigeria.

[@sampidia]

Obviously you are not a Nigerian. Just trying to create negative image. The conversation is about Africa as a whole. When is Nigeria the entire AFRICA continent? The AU should wake up and implement borderless travel across Africa ASAP

[@michaelogunronbi237]

@@Franklyn-j8l you're probably one of those children whose parents have benefitted from the rot in the land who get triggered whenever truth hit you in the face. If my entire family is poor, I'm not alone, I'm just one of the millions of Nigerians who have been at the receiving end of your parents' misrule of the country. You forgot Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world? You must have been living in a cave for you not to know that. In a sensible country, those who plunged the country into this almost irreparable state (among which I'm suspecting your parents are), should be languishing in prison. But unfortunately, here you are even having the guts to be robbing it in the face of your parents' victims. You should be ashamed of yourself. And you're wrong, Nigeria definitely wants others in Nigeria including from African countries. If not, Tinubu and his vice will not be jetting out every now and then looking for investors everywhere including from Africa.

[@michaelogunronbi237]

@@sampidia negative image? So scarcity of fuel in a major oil producing country is not negative to you? Lack of refinery is not negative to you? Lack of transparency in the oil and gas, in the NNPC and in almost every sector in Nigeria is not negative to you? Nigerian currency's worst performing status is not negative to you? Skyrocketing prices of goods isn't negative to you? Hunger and starvation ravaging the country is not negative to you? Nigerians running away in droves from their country (the Japa saga) is not negative to you? Banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, etc are not negative to you? Lack of infrastructure including electricity is not negative to you? It's stating the obvious that is creating a negative image, right? Go back to my message and afford yourself the relevance of the conversation and not just type for the sake of reply.

[@Franklyn-j8l]

@@michaelogunronbi237 focus on your country. keep nigeria out of your mouth.

[@e.u7778]

Funny how they discussed all d possible problems, but not the obvious problem making sure the continent remains divided....

[@KenyanGhost]

always bypass 😂

[@mydogisbailey]

Airlines will naturally offer more routes when the economy catches up. It’s simple economics. Land crossings are more about multilateral policies.

[@kabbahthoronkaExden]

I will visit Accra and Abijan this year

[@lozi4163]

As long as there is no free movement oof people, migration control is important to our stability

[@orisenabritt]

we need it.. its osmosis.. poor will move to better places around africa instead of growing where they are so that another african may be interested to visit..

[@taurussian4591]

It’s necessary… Imagine what would happen to security and health security

[@OrianJamieson28]

Loved this

[@nathanngumi8467]

Interesting conversation. There are many impediments to borderless travel in Africa, such as policies, infrastructure, ongoing armed conflicts and even geography. But as an African I am convinced all these are not insurmountable. It is possible to fix these issues if all countries in the African Union work together well. After all, if the European Union can do it then why can't we?

[@BonsuBigWhale]

Africa is not Europe SeverL additional EU countries may be exiting the EU. Including Germany. Folks need to focus on and fix their own countries, before any extension of invitations to join dysfunction….

[@Daniella162]

Borders have always existed since ancient times Till we achieve certain equal levels of development like Europian Union borderless Africa won't be achieved

[@knowz2367]

True

[@Allpro007]

no true , which borders were there with a world population of less than a million during ancient times times

[@YouStillNeedToSleep]

You sound very ignorant. The Berlin Conference in 1848 was where colonizers spent 4 months in the cold winter and carefully created the borders on paper to divide Africa and conquer it more easily. Before that conference the lands in Africa were marked only by tribes and their territories. This was before colonizers arrived on the continent Colonizers split the tribes such as Hausa, fulani, bantu etc by creating borders to break the movement and communication of Africans. Colonizers knew the tribes were speaking their own language to plan attacks. So by breaking them apart with borders they confused and controlled the Africans snd the resources even till today. So, example, people of Fulani tribe in Niger were cut off from seeing other Fulanis in Burkina Faso due to the borders. Bantu tribe in Kenya were cut off from other bantu people in neighboring countries by borders. Amazig tribes in Morrocco were cut off from the fellow Amazigs in surrounding countries by borders. Ewe tribe is broken by borders from Ghana, Togo, Benin and Cameroun. They used to be one territory with one language. But Instead colonizers gave their colonies languages like English, French, etc., after creating the borders. Do you understand now? Borders=bandage. Borders= captivity!!!

[@YouStillNeedToSleep]

​@@Allpro007The Berlin Conference, held from November 15, 1884, to February 26, 1885, occurred in Europe during a time when the global population was approximately 1.5 billion people. This estimate is based on historical population data. That was the conference where colonizers met with their ink and paper and drew the borders in the form of lines on the African map!

[@Allpro007]

@ , you are talking about ancient period which started 3000 BC - AD 500., not recent times 1848, read before you reply

[@mutalebwalya6542]

The prerequisite are proper and unified economic structures in each region to prevent mass migration

[@YouStillNeedToSleep]

Who are you to decide the prerequisites? How was it before borders were created by colonizers? In case you don't know, colonizers spent four months in the cold winter in the Berlin Conference in 1848 and carefully planned to divide Africa with borders and conquer the continent. Border were created to make it easier subdue and control African. You are just fooling yourself by inventing a new reason. Look at how hard the west is trying to disband even the Sahel with their democracy nonsense

[@haileyesuszewde]

You can travel to Ethiopia, Anyone with a valid passport from an African Union member state can get a visa on arrival.

[@XY-rh3if]

Great Nation.

[@lawalayomide4611]

Infrastructure at this stage plays a small role, because a lot of people are backpacking through Africa at the moment but visa restrictions is the major problem

[@bonggypsygirl]

Beautiful vocal

[@mmasetemasegophatshwane8832]

Im all for visa travel. We need to protrect ourselves. Follow the requirements and you are good

[@Ruuduodu]

Good talk.

[@IamDrDee]

Kenya visa-free is nonsensical. Countries that were visa-free, including Jamaica, now have to pay $50 (eTA) for each visit to Kenya 😂 Talk about a scam! I've been to Kenya three times since the visa-free policy was implemented, but thankfully I applied for the 5-year visa available to Americans before the changes came into effect. Hence, I don't need to apply for an ETA until 2028 when my current visa expires.

[@annefalola9278]

Even within the block, foreigners have to obtain visas for each country - so going from Ghana to Nigeria by land means getting two additional visas for Benin and Togo for non West Africans - it is RIDICULOUS if we want economy progress for the ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICA - ECOWAS😢 Can’t we make travel easier at least for people to do business in our region?

[@Eric-dj1ko]

bruh kenya is not visa free, it's only for east African countries

[@malvinmalvin9702]

It is Visa free bro. However they introduced electronic travel authorization that you just fill in online before you go and usually takes few hours to get approval through email . And almost everyone gets approved because it’s not visa per se.

[@Eric-dj1ko]

@@malvinmalvin9702 bro visa free and ETA is different. ETA screen out visitors, if you don't book a hotel eta will be denied. visa free means visa freem you just book a flight that's it, like east africans don't need an eta to visit any east Africa country , you just go

[@jayo3074]

Then it's visa free lol

[@Eric-dj1ko]

@@jayo3074 do you know eta is visa too?

[@Frank-Bediko62]

Ghana is visa free for some countries like South Africa and Ghana.

[@pianemova]

the fact the guest being Ghanaian and Ghana being a country that asks EVERYONE except Africans a visa is WILD! Even if I plan to visit Ghana I need to have my passport shipped to Paris because there is no Ghana embassy in my country!!!! there you go.....

[@_Be_Still]

This convo is about Africans not non-Africans.

[@PanfordKhalifa]

Which country are you from?

[@Worldaffairslover]

There’s already borderless travel for Kenya and Uganda, they let anyone walk right in

[@NgasaMaduhu]

It's not working in South Africa and you think it'll work in countries full of tribalism 😅

[@reed.abdurrahman6748]

The answer is simple tho

[@BatsiraiMusuka]

Wildly profitable since 1884.

[@whereismissije1422]

I didn't find it that tricky. What I think should be a question is why Africans have many hurdles to jump to get visas to go to countries outside of Africa, especially if some of the countries are fellow 'Commonwealth' nations. I'm genuinely confused by this.

[@Martyr-hero-Yahya-Sinwar-RIP]

Muamar gadaffi wanted to do this and more but you murdered him. Britain also left every country hating each other by dividing boarders unjustisly.

[@IvanildoRoseno-x1e]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@DipendraRokka-kt1dt]

From nepal🇳🇵🇳🇵❤

[@WahalaStreetfootball9ja]

It can be if there is a WILL.

[@corteztt518]

Visas are needed because some countries are just unstable and even the stable ones it’s very hard to provide services to the population. And if they become visa free, there will be mass migration of people that aren’t tax paying and it’ll be detrimental to everyone.

[@kabbahthoronkaExden]

I am looking for the African digital nomads.

[@gillydragon10]

This is nuts 😢

[@surambaya]

We don't need it to be borderless, at least not at first. We can start with being visa-less for all Africans across all African countries. Trade happens best when people can travel unhindered. This is one of the factors that makes the 50 states known as the USA so powerful and successful. Once people can move, then capital needs to be unhindered. Start with double-taxation agreements across all African countries, as Mauritius has endeavored to do. Suddenly, I don't have to pay taxes on income twice and can therefore deploy more capital to employ more people and grow my enterprise. I don't have to face capital and forex restrictions such as we have in South Africa, Ethiopia and a bunch of other countries. Next, make it easy for me to employ any African anywhere in Africa without the prohibitive work visas and permits that only give rise to endless corruption. Finally, take away unnecessary tariffs and trade barriers across Africa. Allow for goods manufactured in different countries to access any markets they need to access across the continent. Once capital, labor, and goods can move unhindered across the continent, then we have the foundation for an amazing continental economy in the near future.

[@YouStillNeedToSleep]

You used Chat Gpt to write this comment. Lol 😂😂😂

[@surambaya]

@@YouStillNeedToSleep Thank you for the "compliment". I do this (strategy, problem-solving) for a living and have been doing it long enough that ChatGPT probably learns from all the papers and presentations I have put out in the past. I don't need it to write. It needs me to learn.

[@TaataGeo]

War torn countries like Somalia , DR Congo etc is the reason why coz refugees would flock to nearby countries and we know how that would turn out

[@fistosravenscroft6651]

Some things are only good on paper but in reality a headache for others, South Africa, Botswana,Namibia, Seychelles and Mauritius will be unjustly flooded with migrants, this will cause civil unrest. It will not be fair. Countries must first fix their domestic issues and stabilise their economies then we can talk

[@XY-rh3if]

Kenyan's visa on arrival thing is a complete technical and ease of traveling into Kenyan disaster. Try applying for the online electronic permit and you're always faced with website technigal glitch. Goodluck with first trying to obtain an online electronic travel authorization on the government agency responsible for the travel authorization permit. Basic common sense should have dictated to Western Puppet or Ruto that if he really wanted to encourage easy tourism and easy access for Africans into Kenya, he should have made it possible for tourists, particular people of African descent to just fly into the country with their passport without having to go through the barely functional online electronic travel authorization nonsense, just as Rwanda does it.

[@Bjorn-h4e]

Put simply the main hindrance is mental colonisation that still lingers in Africa which makes it harder for Africans to integrate.

[@hkisnotchina]

Travel hack: Slip some money in your passport. You travel visa free to most countries in Africa.

[@MI2020]

You gotta be joking...

[@smallscaleminingsupplies9670]

Last time i travelled to the DRC as Tanzanian we are neighbours we are in the East Africa community but still we have to pay 50 USD, seems like the migration officials pocket the money

[@orisenabritt]

i heard DR is corrupt.. if you had pushed, they would have agreed to let you in without 50 USD.. lol chai ya bwana mkubwa

[@elhaloumielmahdi3726]

Please update your profile picture to reflect my country accurately. There is only one country, Morocco, which should be represented by a single flag, not two. Thank you!

[@jayo3074]

No one cares

[@elhaloumielmahdi3726]

@@jayo3074 It's none of your business.

[@jayo3074]

@@elhaloumielmahdi3726 same to you. Stop telling people what they should do on their platform

[@elhaloumielmahdi3726]

​@@jayo3074 I simply told them the truth.

[@jayo3074]

@@elhaloumielmahdi3726 You were being very arrogant. It was an honest mistake

[@linthexplorer814]

Facts!! we are a blocked section continent 😢

[@3bdallah73]

When I see the boring applications in the online visa procedures, especially in Uganda and Kenya, I hate traveling and change it to East Asia. The economy of African countries is bad and these foolish leaders should learn from Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines how to attract tourists

[@antnam4406]

2nd richest man? nah, he's NO1.

[@lebo5281]

And where do you place Rupert?

[@DarthTrotter]

And no roadblocks?

[@SamsonOkwiri254]

When BABA RAILA ODINGA becomes the AU CHAIRMAN, he will make Africans country free visas, but others must apply for visas to enter our country, and that's it.

[@JimmyOcen-jr3xm]

You are just talking about Africa and yet you Eroupen are the one who are dividing African you don't want African to come together and why don't you first fixed the movement of African to eroup why you don't want??? But you are you more concern about Africa ???

[@jayo3074]

Keep quiet

[@JimmyOcen-jr3xm]

@jayo3074 I'm not going to keep quiet you the truth is also biter 😂

[@Lowee4642]

Dangote is the richest man in Africa.

[@lebo5281]

Not that it should matter but, Johann Rupert overtook him in August.

[@mpram5522]

What about the world? Since you guys are supposedly the giants why don’t you compete with the world? You always compete with young kids and never big boys. Since you are populated why don’t you compete with similar populations like China, US etc? Why do you always compete with countries like Namibia and Lesotho with 2 million people. How stupid

[@Lowee4642]

@ not you defending your masters.. who did the ranking and what happened after August? Always research for the latest!

[@jonanasingwirek3585]

I wonder how BBC gets the audacity to engage in such topics...

[@banukasilva6153]

Please do it remove all borders within sub saharan africa and create one single border around sub saharan africa keep sub saharan africans within the sub saharan africa.

[@DrTopp]

Immigration services in many african countries need to level up. Just to start with!

[@sahraoui8338]

Overstayed should be jailed. We need border

[@jayo3074]

No we don't. We need open borders

[@leobvenzen8565]

Why is that the business of the BBC? Havent you people done enough famage ....please Stay out of Afrika's business and affairs... thx

[@gibson2675]

So you want open door immigration

[@jayo3074]

I hope you are not African?

[@Lulu-wv1nt]

Africas is not stable enough for that. Border control is needed

[@XY-rh3if]

It's not stable because of distabilization from the same Western Imperialists governments who come into our continent without visa restrictions.

[@IvanildoRoseno-x1e]

🙏🙌💯🇮🇱🇺🇸👍👏

[@jayo3074]

I support Palestine

[@YouStillNeedToSleep]

Ha ha the same colonizers who created the borders in the 1844 Berlin conference are now asking this African whats it's like to travel around Africa?.. she is having thos interview to say" we colonizers are amazing. We messed you up!"

[@gibson2675]

We in south africa are against open door immigration. Go to Niger Burkina and Mali

[@caesar2671]

The problem is, will Africans get brains and create free travel on the continent like the Europeans did? As an African, I think it is possible.

[@Sudiya.m]

Africans don’t even travel around Africa. It’s plausible the idea of a border less Africa doesn’t cut across an African’s mind

[@gibson2675]

Dont think South Africa wants this

[@jayo3074]

Of course not because south Africa is s racist country​@@gibson2675

[@orisenabritt]

you talk as if you dont live in africa..dod you know SA gave kenya visa free status as long as no ethiopians are passing through kenya to SA?

[@Sudiya.m]

@@orisenabritt pls we gave each other free visa

[@anstaranstar]

See what they are doing in GHANA....OH NO BECAUSE OF NIGERIANS NO BORDERLESS AFRICA..ITS A HUGE RISK..

[@malvinmalvin9702]

We know the real problem . Economic issues in some African countries that will then cause them to massively emigrate to economically stable countries and in the end never go back home and hence burden such countries . Eg Nigerians will flood South Africa and other countries across Africa because of economic situation in Nigeria . Even in terms of visa wise , west African countries struggle to get visas not only for African countries but even across the world . They even require transit visas for Europe just to transit through the airport . On the other side , southern Africans don’t require transit visas for Europe and easily get visa for several countries . They also have more countries with visa free arrangements with them .

[@Franklyn-j8l]

Nobody want to live in shack. where majority of south africans live.

[@anuhassan5596]

Immigration is not what we’re talking about we’re talking about travelling

[@fistosravenscroft6651]

@@Franklyn-j8llol shacks are only found in big cities my friend, and most people who live in shacks are migrants. But nice try buddy