michaela: in the end, less than 30 survived. it took the deaths of some 800 migrants during the sinking of one ship for the european union to once again start paying attention to the mass deaths of migrants in the mediterranean. overnight funding for sea rescue has been tripled. italy had organised its own rescue mission before. mare nostrum came in response to an earlier disaster, but when that ran out of funding last october, the eu's focus was firmly back on protecting its borders with no migration policy in sight. hello and welcome to our special programme on the growing crisis on the mediterranean. here's what we've got coming up. why people risk everything to

leave. we head to eritrea. how libya is struggling to police its coastline despite internal conflict. and cleaning up the reef. why brazil's parrotfish are under pressure. the conflicts driving migration from countries like syria, afghanistan and somalia have been well documented. but a growing number of people are also making the treacherous journey across the mediterranean to escape a home where they simply see no perspective. some 34,000 eritreans did just that last year alone. the northeastern african country is one of the poorest in the world. there's no war with guns to flee from but more than two decades of political oppression have left many eritreans without hope. our reporter sabine bohland has been able to get a rare journalist's visa. and soon found out why it's so hard to get into the country.

>> asmara, the capital of eritrea. i can't get over my astonishment. all around me beautiful buildings from the italian colonial era. cinemas, mosques, a futurist filling station very different from other african cities. at the weekend, people don't just worship. they indulge in what's called the third religion here, next to islam and christianity, bicycling. >> amazing. something we can breathe in with air. >> i've come here with mixed feelings. journalists aren't welcome here. it took months to get a visa. there's no roaming to other mobile phone networks, so i'm unreachable. it's a completely unfamiliar feeling. asmara is clean. there's scarcely any traffic and the climate is pleasant. yet eritrea has been called the

african north korea, from which an estimated 2000 people flee every month. eritrea's president isaias afwerki was once seen as a ray of hope. now the west considers him one of the most authoritarian heads of state in africa. in a conversation at the foreign ministry, the international community, and especially the us, are presented in a negative light. we're allowed to shoot footage, but not to use the conversation as an interview. the idea of comparing eritrea to north korea is met with indignation. faced with the question of why so many people flee, we're told europe and the us are at fault for luring them away. it's not the first time eritreans have fled abroad. during the thirty-year war against ethiopia many did so. after eritrean independence in

1993, some returned. the eritro-german cultural centre was founded back then for people returning from germany. alexander siyum teaches german at its language school. his pupils are young eritreans who are interested in germany, as they tell me cautiously. three of the young women are married to eritreans who live in germany. so they'll soon be allowed to emigrate. >> it's a highly developed country. i want to continue my education there and think i can live better there than here. >> alexander siyum grew up in wuppertal in germany. he's been back in eritrea for ten years, but still feels german. >> for ordinary eritreans it's normal to live here like this. it's not normal for me. i grew up differently. i have a different mentality, a

different way of thinking more democratic and you have to tolerate some things. >> for instance, the fact that there's no press freedom. the city is full of satellite dishes with unlimited reception of international channels, but in eritrea itself there is just one newspaper and one government tv station. the average annual income is the equivalent of about 600 euros, lower than almost anywhere else in the world. against the beautiful backdrop of asmara, extreme poverty prevails. everywhere on the streets people try to earn a bit of extra money. many resort to begging. we try to talk to a few passers-by, but it's almost impossible as soon as they see our camera. people seem to be too frightened to indulge in even harmless conversations. i'm told that to understand

eritrea you have to understand the war. i visit a tank graveyard discarded scrap from the war of independence against ethiopia. eritrea still feels threatened by its neighbour. that's why the strict military service every eritrean has to complete after finishing school can last for decades, virtually without pay. it's also why a very high portion of eritreans get refugees status in europe. but we're told tha no one leaves just because of that. the country's disastrous economic situation is an additional factor. hardly anything is produced in eritrea itself. the raw materials for the state-run brewery are imported. officially, the brewery operates around the clock, despite shortages of water and electricity.

we notice that it's mainly older men who work here men who by our standards would have retired long ago. the brewery manager explains to me the absence of young workers. >> because the young are not very much attracted to join us because of the salary. our salaries are not quite attractive. in the maltery we have younger people there, because we have a better salary scale there. mostly we have elderly workers and they are the most disciplined. >> there's quite a different average age at the dolce vita shirt factory, the only private factory in eritrea. more than 500 people work in the italian-run plant. they earn more than the country's average wage. manager pietro zambaiti is well

aware of the migration problem. employees are constantly leaving. he wants to try to keep them by providing better wages and social benefits. but he understands why so many go. >> things are not changing at the moment, but i'm sure that, as i said, things can change. probably they also need help. they need trust. european governments should really open and i think that other cases around the world have shown that only through development comes democracy, and the people grow, and cannot come by force or anything. >> this beautiful country provides me with plenty of food for thought. i sense despair, fear and resignation lurking beneath the unblemished surface. but no one would admit that publicly. presumably during my stay, hundreds more have left eritrea.

michaela: getting out of the country is one thing. but the really perilous journey is still to come. from eritrea, the route to europe leads through sudan and libya. there migrants from all over africa gather along with syrians who've been turned away from turkey since it stepped up its border controls. nobody knows how many of those who first have to cross the desert have died there. unaccounted for and far from any news camera. an estimated half a million people are currently waiting to cross into europe from libya. itself highly unstable, the country is simply unable to cope. >> misrata's security forces former militias in uniform. with no functioning government in the country, they can't do much more than send out patrols and keep a token watch over things. traces of the uprising of 2011 are still clearly visible. but so is reconstruction.

miraculously, daily life goes on for now. large parts of the country remain lawless. that's why thousands of would-be refugees reach libya's coast with no trouble, aiming to continue by boat to europe. this coast guard member says he often finds bodies on the beach generally between two and ten a month. >> recently we stopped a boat with about 90 people on board, including women. they were all alive, but it was a close call. >> libya's coast guard has eight vessels to patrol 1700 kilometres of coastline. here they're checking a ship. the coast guard commandant complains that europe is leaving him in the lurch. he says the west wants nothing to do with the government in tripoli, just because it's

supported by islamists. he asks where the crew comes from. they're all syrians, but evidently not refugees. >> we're not interested in politics. we want the eu to support us, so we can patrol our coasts and take action against illegal emigration and drug smuggling. these men come from senegal, niger and chad. they were captured on the coast near tripoli. when asked, they all say they came on buses, that they'd never heard of people smugglers and never meant to go to europe. >> we came to libya to work here. >> not to get to europe? >> i can't speak for everyone here, but most of us came to libya to work.

the policeman smiles when he hears this. that's just not true. if they were here legally, they'd have a stamp from the border. but they come through the desert illegally. it's organised crime. the eu has to cooperate with us. we libyans can't come to grips with it on our own. libya isn't only a stopover for migrants. it's also a destination. that makes the situation so complicated. men from niger work at misrata's steel plant. many have been coming for years, accepting the chaos in libya, islamic state and the risks. it's rarely better in their own countries. the country needs them. but sometimes too many come and then they don't get work. and when there's no work in

libya, the temptation to set off for europe grows. mohammed clears up a bit. the steel plant isn't operational. there's no electricity. the political chaos in libya has brought the economy down with it. michaela: another african country with an ailing economy is mali. with high unemployment and rebels threatening stability in large parts of the north, many people look towards europe. it's exactly that attitude the eu-wants to discourage. many of its information campaigns aim to do just that. but critics say such programs send out the wrong kind of message. we meet an ethnologist who believes support for migration-not deterrance is the way forward. >> oumar konate is a success. in his mid-fifties, he's returned to his home town in mali after living in switzerland for twenty years.

ethnologist stefan dunnwald has got to know people like konate personally. he's made several trips to west africa for a study on returnees. >> this is a perfect example of someone who has actually managed to shape his life very successfully after returning, partly through his original migration and the money he earned during that time. >> konate managed a hotel in switzerland. with his savings, he laid the foundations for his return. now a farmer, his needs are modest and he is contented. >> mali in particular presents examples of people who don't want to stay in europe, but instead want to gain experience, earn a little money, and have the opportunity to return to their families and friends as well-respected people. these aren't the people who want to slave away as street cleaners till the end of their lives.

>> a social scientist from the bavarian refugee council, dunnwald noticed that the focus of many european programs was not on providing opportunities for returnees..but on deterring others from leaving. one example is cigem, an information centre. it was opened in bamako in 2008. during its four years of operation it found a few jobs for people, but most of the time it showed videos designed to deter people from leaving the country. for returnees there was little except symbolic gestures. >> there was a sewing machine for someone who might have been a tailor, but still didn't have a workshop or room with lighting to work in who didn't know where the money for electricity would come from, where or from whom to buy

fabric. in general it wasn't enough to really help people stand on their own two feet financially. >> so he also collected many stories of failure and not just in bamako, the capital of mali. examples such as mahmadon keita. he's considered a voluntary returnee from france, but was effectively deported after 14 years there. now he gives talks paid for by the french warning people not to go to europe illegally. dunnwald believes emigrants need more support. >> people who are very well-integrated into a new place need to have the best chances of re-integrating into the societies they're returning to. that means we have to open paths to integration, support people

in their attempts to fit in and see how many will stay and how many will return voluntarily. and the substantial number who actually do return voluntarily are better able to contribute meaningfully to development in the countries they come from. >> like oumar konate. he was not an illegal immigrant. because he was able to work legally, he was successful. now he's an employer back in mali. michaela: you can find out more about our topic of the week: "refugees' hopes europe's challenge" by logging on to dw.de/refugees. like many places around the globe, the coral reefs off the coast of brazil are under threat from climate change. overfishing is a huge issue too -- and it's the demise of one fish in particular that's left environmentalists most dismayed. the diligent parrotfish evolved

into something of a clean up team for coral reefy by feasting on algae...but few now survive long enough to reproduce. environmental group "conservation international" is working hard to bring them back. parrotfish possibly the most beautiful south american fish. and we find one here in a backyard. "this is it," says the fisherman. "the finest fillet." the blue beauties are native to these waters. but here on land, no one knows what the fish actually look like. they only know them in the form of a tasty snack. thousands of fishermen in the brazilian state of bahia earn their living from these fish.

one of them is dilson cajueiro, known as za. he's going to show us how most of them fish for them out here, 20 nautical miles from the coast, in the famous abrolhos reefs. >> i know there are enough parrotfish here. i've been diving here forever. >> but he can't ignore what he sees down here: more and more algae. the corals aren't getting enough light. they're dying off. so were are the much sought-ater parrot fish hiding? after ten minutes, za finally discovers one a small specimen. but where are the large ones? today it takes two hours to catch half a dozen of them, all

of them small, not even ready to reproduce. that barely covers the cost of fuel for his boat. parrotfish earn za three times as much as other species. their flesh is tender, not too soft perfect for filleting. he discards the rest. conservationists are alarmed. for the last decade, the organization "conservation international" has been investigating why the coral reef is so damaged. for a long time it was thought that ph levels in the water were the cause. but now it's suspected that it's simply the lack of parrotfish. >> the blue parrotfish is the biggest herbivorous fish we have in the region. and it feeds on algae. and it's really important to

keep this process ongoing, because in its absence, the algae overgrow and that can lead to coral death. so we need the algae and we also need the parrotfish in balance to avoid this overgrowth. the scientists studying brazil's reefs are now trying to find out if protecting parrotfish would also help revive corals out on the reef. at a length of more than 100 kilometres, abrolhos is south america's largest coral reef complex. on this trip, two reefs are being compared. on one, fishing has been allowed. on the other, it's not. ronaldo francini has been monitoring them since then: keeping track of fish species, coral stocks and the concentration of algae.

he sees immediately that there's been extensive fishing here recently. there are just a few small parrotfish. ten years ago it was full of large blue fish. it's clear the reef has been overfished. to explain how special this species is, he's taken a baby parrotfish on board, a year-old specimen. it will reach a length of a metre and live to be thirty, if it's allowed to. >> in comparison to other species, this species grows very slow, and it's a late maturation, so it's characteristic that this species is more vulnerable to fishing. >> parrotfish have brought fishermen like za comparative prosperity. and they don't want to lose it. they can buy engines for their boats, and they can now travel fast on land as well.

this bare chunk of coral is a silent witness to earlier times. za's father yusuf was the first to start hunting parrotfish, 15 years ago. he tells us that, at first, there were enough large ones. but then it became fashionable as a fish fillet. >> of course, you have to catch only the larger ones and spare the small ones. but here in our region, fishermen have now been killing fish that are much too small because there are hardly any large ones left. >> za knows as well as anyone the fish don't reach sexual maturity until they're 50 centimetres long. before that, they can't reproduce. but like nearly all the fisherman, he doesn't think fishing bans are the solution. >> here's how i see it: all this

research is very new in the abrolhos coastal region. it's too early for conclusions. but ultimately i hope they help fishermen instead of setting limits. >> but that could be what happens. the researchers have travelled far out to the reef where hunting was banned five years ago. here, too, there are scarcely any large fish. then they discover something: stocks are recovering. there are many mature parrotfish. protection has worked. >> the reef is very well, very healthy. we're very happy to see this. we've just arrived and it has lots of corals, no diseases, and lots of parrotfish. >> and in fact, this is what a healthy coral reef looks like, a place where parrotfish can grow to maturity.

if it's to be like that everywhere, a lot of patience and work are needed less in the water, but more on land. michaela: promising news there from brazil's coral reefs. that is all from us at global 3000. find out more online at dw.de and follow us on twitter. we're back here in seven days from now. from me and the whole global team thanks for watching and bye bye!

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