Ex-ambassador Dominik Langenbacher (72): “We cannot subject all migrants to the asylum law”

Mr. Langenbacher, one government after another is brought to power in Africa. What is?
Since the 2012 coup in Mali, international relations have become militarized due to the Islamist threat in the Sahel. There are also armed conflicts in other countries. The military does politics in Africa today. But the economy is in decline. Since Donald Trump and Brexit, the West has therefore reduced its presence in Africa.

What role does the young generation play in this?
They put pressure on their governments. They defend themselves against the political elites that fall under the cartel. The West is seen as a partner of the corrupt government. The young people want change. The military is working with them, but for their part they only want to get their hands on the government’s wallet.

In our interview six years ago, you described Africa as an emerging continent. Are you still saying that after the overthrow of the government?
In each case. The African Union has just been admitted to the G20. The continent has made progress in areas such as food security, education and healthcare. In connection with climate change, we hear about natural disasters and crop failures, but hardly any more about mass deaths due to hunger.

The withdrawal of Western allies has created a vacuum in Africa that Russia and China want to fill. How is their influence felt?
China provides loans for infrastructure and the economy, while Russia – especially the Wagner Group – supports the military with weapons and training. But both are concerned with the same goals: raw materials and market access.

How deep are the two superpowers already in the systems?
Both have been quite successful so far, although the Russians currently have more momentum with the coups. But the population is not satisfied, neither with the Chinese nor with the Wagner mercenaries. The Africans are checking that they only care about gold and other natural resources and that they are colluding with the corrupt governments.

How does the Wagner Group make its presence felt?
The military merger of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the pro-Russian demonstration in Ghana and the military movements of Niger on the southern border with Benin certainly bear the signature of the Wagner Group. However, the African Union, its two affected regional organizations and the displaced political elites, in cooperation with the UN and the West, will put an end to permanent military regimes.

How far will Moscow and Beijing be able to extend their influence?
They won’t be able to keep it up. The Africans’ honeymoon with the Chinese is definitely over, and that with the Russians won’t last long either. Young Africans want to be part of the West. They will turn away from the Chinese and Russians.

Is there a way for the West to regain its influence in Africa?
African countries have recently blamed their enormous debts on climate change. On the one hand, this is of course hypocritical because of their mismanagement and corruption. On the other hand, Africa is only responsible for four percent of global CO2 emissions₂-Emissions contribute little to the climate crisis, but suffer the most serious consequences worldwide. The first negotiations are taking place in which individual Western countries cancel their debts and African countries use the released amount to combat the climate effects in their countries. In such a so-called CO₂-Swaps I see the possibility of a new rapprochement.

How will Africa develop after the coups?
The army will not prevail. This has become apparent in Mali, where there have been repeated changes of power within the army since the 2012 coup. They will return to the barracks and make way for new – and old – political elites. Africa will continue to make progress despite everything.

In the last interview you said that many African asylum seekers were wrongly granted asylum in Switzerland. Do you adhere to this statement?
Yes. And Switzerland has taken something into its own hands. Especially in Eritrea, the general human rights situation has been advocated for too long and migrants have been accepted as asylum seekers. There was no reason to accept all Eritreans except in certain times of war.

Many fled because they were forcibly recruited…
In Switzerland you also have to join the army, and in Ukraine men are also forcibly recruited. That is not a reason for admission.

In Switzerland we need workers. How can you bring people from a continent with enormous unemployment to the labor market?
The problem in Switzerland is that we do not allow labor migration, except within the EU. People from non-EU countries can only come to Switzerland through a specific placement for a specific employer. Politicians should step in here and ensure that we also manage and regulate access to work from third countries. We cannot simply subject all migrants to asylum law in the long term.

How should this be done?
We should negotiate with African countries and create quotas. People could come to Switzerland with a visa to work, but the country in question would have to take back people who didn’t make it here. The condition for entering Switzerland would be that they can prove themselves here and stand on their own two feet. Otherwise they would have to start the journey home again.

You yourself worked in Africa for a number of years and married a Kenyan woman. What fascinates you about this continent?
The cultural differences between our Western and African world. I am becoming more and more convinced that it is wrong to believe that only we live and think correctly. Africans live in two worlds: they dominate our world and at the same time have an original reality of life, just as I imagine life to be. However, this may disappear within a few generations.

Since the coup in Niger Many people only pronounce the country’s name in French as “Nischer” because it sounds discriminatory with a “g”. The word “Mohrenkopf” was also replaced by chocolate kiss. What do you – as an Africa expert and husband of an African woman – think of this discussion?
My wife and I just shook our heads at such language acrobatics in Switzerland. This is a woke and identitarian ideology that has nothing to do with Africa as I know it.