Religious conflicts as a «push factor» of Migrations from Tropical Africa to Europe

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of religious conflicts as a “push factor” of migration from countries of Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, which is becoming one of the most acute problems for the leaders of the European Union. The result of the “Arab spring” and the overthrow of the ruling regimes in the Maghreb countries was the elimination of constraining obstacles to mass illegal migration of Africans. The greatest number of migrants arrives in Europe from the countries of Tropical Africa situated in the Sahel, where a clear line of demarcation between the Muslim and Christian parts of the African continent, which does not coincide with state borders, has emerged. Close attention is now focused on this border region, since after the defeat of the Islamic State (the organization is prohibited in the Russian Federation) in Syria and Iraq, the militants of this organization began to migrate actively to the sub-Sahel region, where the threat of African caliphate's emergence has occurred. The findings indicate that the conflict that exists and is gaining momentum in the countries of the Sahel zone is precisely a religious conflict, which is also fueled by ethnic contradictions, weak state structures, corruption, uneven economic development, as well as the influence of foreign states. The article discusses the policy of the EU countries to combat Islamists in the Sahel and concludes that the EU countries do not have a clear and unified strategy to combat Islamists, while religious conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa guarantee an uncontrolled flow of refugees to Europe.