France holds migration summit

Germany, Egypt agree deal to stem migrant flow

PARIS, Aug 28, (Agencies): Getting Europe’s migrant crisis under control was in focus at a summit of Europe’s “big four” continental powers and three African nations in Paris on Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron seeking concrete action.

The 28-nation European Union has struggled to agree on a coherent answer to the influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty and political upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and the crisis is testing cooperation between member states.

Over the summer, Macron sought to take the initiative on managing the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, mainly into Italy. He proposed hotspots in Africa to handle asylum requests.

The viability of such centres was questioned by European and African allies and on Monday an official from the Elysee Palace said the idea was no longer under discussion.

“The hotspots announcement was nonsense and neither Chad nor Niger were consulted beforehand,” a West African official said. “Macron is trying to make up for that mistake.”

Leaders at the meeting were seeking accord on a migration action plan, notably on tackling the economic model of people traffickers. “The leaders will be presented a roadmap that outlines ... what we want to do to tackle all stages of the migrant route,” the Elysee official told reporters.

The meeting hosted the leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain as well as the leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya – all three of them transit countries for migrants. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will also attend.

The Elysee official said the roadmap would include ideas on fighting people traffickers, asylum rights and stabilising chaotic Libya, where thousands of migrants end up before embarking on a perilous Mediterranean sea journey to Europe.

Meanwhile, Germany said on Monday it had reached a deal with Egypt to stem the flow of migrants from the Arab country, part of a broader push by Berlin to head off waves of migrants that have stoked domestic

in a red collar, under the watchful eye of footmen in frock coats.

Every post-war French president has had a dog, who has the run of the palace’s expansive gardens.

Most have picked a labrador, though World War II hero Charles de Gaulle had a pint-sized corgi — a gift from Britain’s political tensions. The arrival in Germany of a million refugees over the last two years, mainly from Syria and Iraq, opened deep rifts in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party and is becoming a campaign theme ahead of a Sept. 24 national election.

Merkel and the European Union have already sealed a migrants deal with Turkey to stem the flow from the Middle East and her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the Egypt deal would “fight illegal immigration and the criminal smuggling of people”.

“Under this agreement, there are a number of measures for political and economic support so that a better climate and better living conditions can be achieved for refugees in Egypt,” Seibert told a regular government news conference in Berlin.

Transit

“Together, we will set up a centre for jobs, migration and reintegration”, he added. This centre would be in Egypt, a transit country for migrants striving to reach Europe.

In Paris, meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron prepared to host a summit of Europe’s “big four” continental powers including Germany, as well as three African nations to tackle Europe’s migrant crisis. Libya, Chad and Niger are all transit nations for migrants bound for Europe.

Since Turkey and the EU reached an agreement a year ago to curb the flow of migrants and refugees sailing from Turkish shores to Greece, most migrants have taken the more dangerous route from North Africa to Italy.

In Libya, people traffickers have operated with relative ease, but many migrants and refugees also set off from Egypt.

In related news, crew members of the C-Star, the ship chartered by farright group Defend Europe, came ashore Sunday in Malta in the final chapter of a fraught effort to disrupt the flow of migrants from across the Mediterranean.

“The mission ends and after 5 weeks of hardships... our crew members return home to their families and friends. But Defend Europe will go

Queen Elizabeth. (AFP)

Russia sends new sub to Med:

Russia has sent two large newly-upgraded submarines to reinforce its naval presence in the Mediterranean, where it has a Syrian base, the defence ministry said Monday. on!,” a statement from the group said.

During its troubled two-month campaign the boat spent less than a week performing its stated task: patrolling waters off Libya where hundreds of thousands of migrants were rescued in recent years and brought to Italy. Its crew never got the chance to act on their threats to take any distressed migrant boats they came upon back to Libya -- a move humanitarian organisations had warned would be in breach of international law.

Malta had warned the C-Star it was not welcome on the island, prompting a furious reaction from the anti-immigration campaigners.

But in the end at least three of the boat’s crew came ashore, which a spokesman for the Maltese government told AFP it could do little to prevent for European passport holders.

“Together we went in front of the bureau of Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat,” the group said. “It’s our right as Europeans to enter Europe.”

In a video posted on Twitter on Sunday, the crew members said they would be entering Malta. They said Malta had become a global “headquarters” for illegal immigration.

The C-Star had received similar cold shoulder treatment from ports in Greece, Italy and Tunisia during its short-lived mission. The C-Star’s brief presence in the Mediterranean was regarded as no more than a minor irritant and occasionally a source of amusement.

Chartered after a crowd-funding campaign generated $228,000 (195,000 euros), the C-Star set off from Djibouti in early July.

The boat was held up for a week in the Suez Canal by Egyptian authorities then delayed further in Cyprus, where some of the Sri Lankan crew got off and claimed refugee status, embarrassingly adding to the list of asylum-seekers the mission was supposed to help cut. Plans to refuel in Greece, Sicily and Tunisia were scuppered by local opposition and, at one point last week, it briefly looked as if one of the NGO boats would have to come to the aid of the C-Star as it encountered technical problems.

“The Black Sea fleet’s new large diesel and electric submarines, Kolpino and Veliky Novgorod ... have arrived in the Mediterranean,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It added the stealth submarines, which entered service in 2016 and have a speed of 20 knots under water, are intended to boost the Russian navy’s permanent presence in the Mediterranean.

The submarines, both with crews of 50 and built in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg, are classified by NATO as “Improved Kilo” class.

They are fitted with new navigation systems, fully automatised control systems, high-precision missiles and powerful torpedo equipment, the defence ministry said.

At Russia’s Syrian base of Tartus in the eastern Mediterranean, Russian ships have played a prominent role backing up an aerial bombing campaign in support of leader Bashar al-Assad.

During its military intervention in Syria, Russia has deployed warships, submarines and aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean.

In December last year President Vladimir Putin signed an order to expand the naval base at Tartus and allow Russian warships into Syrian waters.

In January, Moscow and Damascus signed a 49-year deal for Russia to expand and modernise the facility.

Russian submarines used in the region are covered from Syria by Moscow’s S-300 and S-400 missile systems and its Bastion coastal defence system.

According to official figures from last year, some 4,300 Russian military are deployed in Syria. (AFP)