Migrant crisis: EU to offer Africa aid at Malta summit

EU leaders are expected to offer countries in Africa billions of euros in exchange for help with the migrant crisis at a summit in Malta. The European Commission says it will give €1.8bn (£1.3bn) and it expects EU countries to pledge more. The aim is to tackle the economic and security problems that cause people […]

EU leaders are expected to offer countries in Africa billions of euros in exchange for help with the migrant crisis at a summit in Malta.
The European Commission says it will give €1.8bn (£1.3bn) and it expects EU countries to pledge more.
The aim is to tackle the economic and security problems that cause people to flee, and persuade African countries to take back more failed asylum seekers.
The meeting was planned after about 800 died in a sinking off Libya in April.
Some 150,000 people from African countries such as Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean from Africa so far this year, arriving mainly in Italy and Malta.
However, the EU’s focus has moved east since April, with some 650,000 people – mostly Syrians – arriving via Turkey and Greece and then travelling north through the Balkans.