EU, African nations tackle human trafficking

PARIS: Europe’s “big four” continental powers and three African states agreed to a plan on Monday to tackle human trafficking and support nations struggling to contain the flow of people across the desert and Mediterranean sea.

The 28-nation European Union has long struggled to reach 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.

After hosting the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, Chad, Niger and Libya, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was time for greater coordination.

“We must all act together — from the source countries to Europe and passing by the transit countries, especially Libya — to be efficient,” he said.

The leaders agreed on the principle of setting up a mechanism to identify legitimate migrants who were fleeing war and persecution, and to use the United Nations to register them in Niger and Chad to prevent them being exploited by traffickers.

“At its core, it’s all about fighting illegal migration,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, adding that Berlin was willing to increase its efforts.

“If we want to stop human traffickers, then this can only be achieved through development aid,” she said.

The migrant crisis has put Paris and Rome at odds. Italy has accused France and other EU states of not sharing the migrant burden and also asked the EU Commission for more budget flexibility to help it tackle the crisis.

Nearly 120,000 migrants, including refugees, have entered Europe by sea this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

More than 2,400 have drowned while making the dangerous journey, often without enough food or water in overcrowded dinghies run by smugglers.

“We are all committed to reducing the damage, the death of Africans in the desert (and those) crossing the Mediterranean,” Chad President Idriss Deby said.

“Development will always remain the fundamental problem. We need resources,” he said.

The informal meeting did not outline any new financing, and the leaders repeated that stabilising chaotic Libya, where thousands of migrants ended up before their perilous Mediterranean sea journey to Europe, would be key to any long-term solution. Reuters

AFP PIC African and European leaders met in Paris on Monday to discuss ways to stem the flow of migrants into Europe from northern Africa in return for aid.