Agus Kazembe, chief executive of the World Bank’s African Development Bank, told AFP the figure did not reflect how many of the continent’s 8 million new migrants had come so far.

Africa’s first migrant crisis in two decades

With about 200,000 migrants and refugees pouring across the Mediterranean daily, it was “disappointing” that Africans still needed to settle in countries that had “not yet accepted or accepted most of the new arrivals,” Kazembe said.

Ahead of the summit in London next month, more than 130 countries called for urgent action to help those fleeing war or conflict in the Middle East and Asia, a chorus that could be heard from Arab states.

But the bloc’s member states continued to struggle to respond on multiple counts.

Africa’s fragile economy and growing middle class had put the continent on the cusp of a migration surge.

The World Bank says it will do its bit to help by tackling poverty and a shortage of skilled workers such as doctors, engineers and engineers, economists and business people, Kazembe said.

But without urgent action, the migrant issue could become a major political obstacle in the EU and UN, analysts said.

“The migrant crisis is not over. We believe this is a crisis of the future and unless everyone makes a collective effort it could last well into the 2020s, possibly longer,” said Fabrice Balanche, Africa analyst for the IMF.

“No one on the continent wants to miss the boat, and we need to start thinking about the future.”