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A one-day conference in Rome recently brought together representatives of some 20 nations, EU officials, and international organisations mainly to discuss migration-related issues.
A one-day conference in Rome recently brought together representatives of some 20 nations, EU officials, and international organisations mainly to discuss migration-related issues. Convened by Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, the summit discussed issues impacting Mediterranean nations such as energy as Europe looks to Africa and the Middle East to permanently replace Russian supplies and illegal migration.
African representatives attending the event included Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed, Tunisia’s President Kaies Saied, Nigerien Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, and Egypt Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. Human rights groups see the meeting as designed to create a future roadmap for crafting anti-migrant policies that put the onus on Africa to keep Africans out of Europe.
Meloni told the opening meeting that Western arrogance had likely stood in the way of solutions to the migrant issue and proposed four main prongs for future cooperation. Those included fighting criminal organizations trafficking migrants, better managing flows of migrants, supporting refugees, and helping countries of origin. She said if flows were better managed there would be more room for legal migration. Meloni emphasized that there were no legal means of entry for many people who might have a case for refugee status because quotas are filled by those who arrive illegally.
More than 1,900 migrants have died or gone missing and are presumed missing in the Mediterranean so far this year, bringing the total of dead and missing since 2014 to 27,675. A further 483 are dead or missing in Africa this year. Tunisian President Kais Saied, signed a memorandum of understanding for a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in a meeting that included Meloni and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/eu-and-tunisia-sign-strategic-partnership-with-wider-scope-than-migration/
https://trendsnafrica.com/tunisia-and-eu-conclude-agreement-relating-to-migrants/
The EU has held out the promise of nearly 1 billion euros (US$1.1 billion) to help restart Tunisia’s hobbled economy, and 100 million euros (US$111 million) for border control as well as search and rescue missions at sea and repatriating immigrants without residence permits.
