FRANCE: Macron unveils African migration plan
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a plan to curb migration across the Mediterranean after meeting African and European leaders. It involves tackling people smugglers, improving stability in Libya and increasing aid to the transit countries. Mr Macron also wants asylum requests handled in Libya, Chad and Niger. Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said people-smugglers had […]
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a plan to curb migration across the Mediterranean after meeting African and European leaders.
It involves tackling people smugglers, improving stability in Libya and increasing aid to the transit countries.
Mr Macron also wants asylum requests handled in Libya, Chad and Niger.
Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou said people-smugglers had to be offered alternative means of making a living.
He said they destabilised his own country by bringing weapons back from Libya after guiding migrants across the desert.
Meanwhile Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said he wanted migration flows to fall to a more manageable level and the cultural impact of mass migration on host countries to be reduced.
Italy has long urged its EU partners to help ease the burden of housing migrants, as its reception centres are overcrowded.