EU, France aid Africa to stem flow of migrants

World
Europe

By CGTN's Jerry Owilli

The European Union plans to spend millions of dollars in curbing the flow of migrants from Africa, with France planning to set up hot spots in Libya to act as centers for processing asylum seekers.

The EU announced 53 million US dollars in funding, to help boost Libya’s border and coast guards to prevent migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

The body announced the program on Friday, saying that it would be implemented by Italy, the country where most migrants departing Libya arrive.

The program will provide equipment and training to Libyan coast and border guards.

EU Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini said that while the EU works to help end Libya’s political crisis, the bloc will continue assisting Libyan authorities “in their capacity to address the migration flows, rescue migrants, making sure that human rights are respected, and fight against the smuggling networks.”

The centers planned by France are expected to be open soon.

President Emmanuel Macron says the migrants are destabilizing Libya and Europe by fueling people-smuggling, which in turn funds terrorism.

Nearly a million people are currently in camps in Libya, hoping to get into Europe. Many of them, however, lack the right to asylum status.

Earlier this week, Libya’s Tripoli-based government invited Italy to send war ships into its waters to help curb human trafficking into Europe.

If the Italian parliament approves the request, the European nation will send its mission to the Libyan waters by the end of August.

Migrants crossing the Sahara desert into Libya ride on the back of a pickup truck outside Agadez, Niger, May 9, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Tripoli had refused access to its waters to the European Union’s anti-trafficking sea mission Sophia since 2015, hobbling efforts to stop smugglers.

The new stance came just a day after the two rival factions in the North African country agreed to end the fighting and hold elections as soon as possible.

Around 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea from North Africa since 2014. Most came through Libya, where people smugglers operate with impunity amid the turmoil that has gripped the country since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.