It ended a month later with fellow migrants around her dying at sea, one of them screaming and reciting the Muslim profession of faith.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Idil Abdullahi Goley’s journey seeking a better life in Europe started in Somalia with a $6,500 payment to local smugglers. It ended a month later with fellow migrants around her dying at sea, one of them screaming and reciting the Muslim profession of faith.
The deaths of 25 migrants last month in boats off the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar brought to light yet another route that some in Africa are taking in dangerous bids for Europe.
Goley was one of the 48 people rescued. She spoke to The Associated Press about the journey that thousands of Somalis embark on every year as extremist attacks and climate shocks destroy hopes and livelihoods at home.
Some Somalis head for the Gulf countries via the Red Sea and Yemen. Others, like Goley, gamble on a longer sea voyage south, toward the French island territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, the poorest territory in the European Union.
Somalis are among an estimated 100,000 migrants living in Mayotte, according to French authorities. The migrants are part of communities affected after Cyclone Chido leveled entire neighborhoods on Dec.14.
The International Organization for Migration has estimated that two million people migrated from Somalia in 2021 in search of work, the latest data available.
The 28-year-old Goley heard about the smugglers from friends who had traveled the route and raised the $6,500 fee from her small teashop business in the capital, Mogadishu, and from her brother and mother. She hoped to reach Europe and pay them back. She left her three small children behind.
Her journey began with a flight from Mogadishu to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Then she and others took a bus to the port city of Mombasa, where they set off in fishing boats for Mayotte, more than 620 miles (997 kilometers) away. They hoped to request asylum there.
