Refugee crisis:
The European Union presses African leaders to take back thousands of people who do not qualify for asylum.
VALLETTA, Malta — The European Union pressed African leaders on Wednesday to take back thousands of people who do not qualify for asylum, as Sweden, struggling to manage the influx too, became the latest EU nation to announce the introduction of temporary border controls, as of Thursday.
According to the International Organization for Migration, almost 800,000 people have entered Europe by sea this year. The EU predicts that 3 million more could arrive by 2017.
The Europeans say most Africans are coming in search of work and should be sent home, but many deliberately arrive without documents and must wait months before they are taken back.
At an EU-run summit in Malta, African leaders are set to commit “to cooperate with the EU on return and admission, notably on travel documentation,” according to the latest draft of an “Action Plan” being drawn up.
The president of Niger — a major transit route for Africans heading to lawless Libya in the hopes of crossing the Mediterranean to Europe — was cautious about opening the floodgates for people to return.
“We are open to talk about it. Everything will depend on the conditions that will be put in place for when they arrive,” President Mahamadou Issoufou told reporters in the Maltese capital Valletta, adding that the best method of solving Europe’s migration crisis is to attack the root causes forcing people to leave in the first place.
“We can put security measures in place, but the flow will remain difficult to stop as long as we don’t take measures to reduce poverty,” he said.
The EU is working closely with Niger to stem the flow of migrants toward Libya, and ultimately to Europe. It is also trying to seal deals with Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. One was signed with Ethiopia as the twoday summit began.
The move gives Ethiopia — a major hub for people trying to reach Europe — access to money from a $1.9 billion trust fund.
But Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the head of the African Union, expressed concern that moving on returns too quickly might result in the building of reception centers where people are held until they can be granted asylum or be sent home.
She warned that women and children would be in danger if held there, and she also hit out at some European countries that “have taken a fortress approach” to migration.
In Sweden, Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said border controls will be introduced Thursday and last until Nov. 21.
He said the move was a way to “bring order” to the Swedish asylum system while sending a signal to the EU.
Sweden says migration authorities are overstretched and nearly 200,000 asylum-seekers are expected this year. Relative to population size — Sweden has 9.7 million people — no other EU country comes close.