Tag Archives: migrants

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Flags flew at half-mast in Mali on Thursday as the government announced 48 of its citizens drowned in the Mediterranean on a single day over the weekend, all trying to reach Europe. The west African nation accounted for the fifth largest contingent of arrivals to …

Madrid, Spain | AFP | Spanish authorities said Wednesday they had transferred migrants being controversially accommodated at a jail just two weeks after an Algerian man was found hanging in his cell in an apparent suicide contested by his brother. The lawyer for the victim’s family said some of the migrants …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Between 90 and 100 migrants were missing after their makeshift boat sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, the country’s navy said late Tuesday. The inflatable boat was carrying more than 100 people when it went down, according to navy spokesman Ayoub Kacem, who …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Italy will be sending 470 soldiers to Niger to help the west African nation stem the flow of Europe-bound migrants, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday. Agadez, the main city in central Niger, has become a revolving door for economic migrants seeking to reach Europe via …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Up to 10,000 people stranded in refugee camps and detention centres in Libya could be relocated to Europe in 2018, the Italian government said on Sunday. The initiative would be part of an attempt by EU countries to address the deteriorating conditions in Libya, where …

Rome, Italy | AFP | A group of 162 “vulnerable” refugees were flown directly from Libya to Italy on Friday for the first time, a day hailed as “historic” by Interior Minister Marco Minniti. “For the first time a humanitarian corridor has been opened from Libya to Europe. It’s a start,” …

Paris, France | AFP | France on Monday accepted a first group of 19 refugees identified in Africa under an overhauled asylum policy that will also see it expel thousands of economic migrants. While it has drawn little public outcry in France, the policy faces stiff opposition from the left …

Just as 16th century Europe needed African gold, 21st century Europe needs African migrants COMMENT | IBRAHIM ASSANE MAYAKI | In October, the European Union announced a plan to invest €40 billion ($47.6 billion) in Africa, a “Marshall Plan” for the continent that would boost economic growth, create jobs, and, ultimately, …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Around 36,000 child migrants, including 14,000 who are unaccompanied, need help in Libya, a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe, UN agencies said Monday. Out of about 400,000 migrants in Libya, nine percent are children, the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the International …

Bani Walid, Libya | AFP | For migrants who escape torture and starvation at the hands of people traffickers, a “Safe House” in an oasis town offers a rare commodity in Libya: shelter and medical care. Bani Walid, on the edge of the desert 170 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of …