JEDDAH, 11 November 2007 — Experts say that huge numbers of illegal Africans living in the southern parts of Jeddah is a problem that, if left unattended, could lead to massive demographic changes in Jeddah within 50 years, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
“The authorities need to act quick and do something,” said Ihsan Tayeb, a social scientist. “The authorities need to benefit from the large number of illegals in the southern parts of Jeddah by changing their social status and giving them a priority in jobs that Saudis are reluctant to do,” he added.
Authorities have failed to effectively deport illegal Africans simply because identifying their country of origin has been an impossible task. “The majority of overstayers hide or burn their passports and are able to speak several African languages, manipulating their dialects each time. The Saudi authorities have a hard time deporting them. They simply don’t know which country they should send them to,” said Tayeb.
“Since it is very difficult to deport them, we have to develop an effective mechanism to benefit from their existence,” he said, adding that Africans heavily populate areas such as Karantina, Al-Sabil and Al-Nuzla.
“Their social customs have contributed greatly in increasing their numbers. African marriages come easy and do not cost a lot. This allows them to marry multiple times and have many children,” he said.
Lutfi Abdul Hamid, a social expert, believes isolating illegal Africans in remote areas outside cities, as suggested by certain studies, is not a good idea. “This can have dangerous effects and increase discrimination in society. These large numbers of Africans could be used for work in construction industry instead of bringing in people from abroad,” he said.
“Providing them with a fixed income would put down the rate of crime committed by them as well as decrease the problem of begging,” he added.
Many experts told Al-Watan that there is a need for the government to coordinate with the embassies of African countries to develop an effective system of stopping illegal immigration.
Salem Baagaga, professor of economics at King Abdul Aziz University, said overstayers have destroyed the infrastructure of Saudi cities. “They’ve caused huge losses to the Kingdom. If we utilize them properly, we could reduce this problem. Together with foreign embassies we need to find solutions for the social, economic, and security problems caused by overstayers,” he added.
