Yahoo – AFP,
3 April 2014
 |
| African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma speaks on the second day of 4th EU-Africa summit on April 3, 2014, at the EU Headquarters in Brussels (AFP Photo/John Thys) |
Brussels
(AFP) - EU and African leaders trying to stop migrants from crossing the
Mediterranean in perilous conditions unveiled a raft of measures on Thursday
designed to boost development and crack down on human trafficking.
A huge
summit bringing together some 80 leaders from the two continents touched on
security, business and climate change, with sideline talks on the violence-hit
Central African Republic.
There were
so many delegates in town that the summit caused two days of traffic snarls in
Brussels.
After tragic
scenes of migrants storming fences in Spain and drownings off the Italian
island of Lampedusa, delegates drew up a detailed plan to boost legal
immigration while trying to dissuade Africans from trying to reach Europe
illegally.
"If we
concentrate on improving the skills of our people, investing in them, they will
not have to come through Lampedusa," said Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, head of
the African Union Commission.
"They'll
come through the airports and the ports and they will be welcome," she
said.
In the
plan, the first of its kind, the two blocs commit to putting their resources
together to normalise migration, with a focus on development and education on
the one hand, and tightening borders and fighting traffickers on the other.
A joint
statement said the EU and AU would "upscale efforts in combating
trafficking in human beings" and "fight irregular migration".
Immigration
charities estimate between 17,000 and 20,000 migrants have died at sea while
trying to reach Europe in the past 20 years, but fighting the phenomenon from
both Africa and Europe has proved difficult.
Delegates
failed to reach an agreement on migration at the last Africa-EU summit in 2010
-- an unusual affair hosted in Moamer Kadhafi's Libya -- with Africans
reluctant to impose tighter controls at their shores.
European
Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the agreement was a "real
breakthrough, a very important declaration".
In one of
the worst ever Mediterranean migrant tragedies, a boat overloaded with
refugees, mostly from strife-torn Somalia and Eritrea, caught fire and capsized
last October off the island of Lampedusa.
Some 366
people lost their lives, prompting calls for an overhaul of European migration
and asylum policies.
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