MIGRATION

The EU-African Summit, bringing together African and European leaders in Abidjan from 29-30 November, is a chance to find a win-win solution, argues the International Crisis Group’s Elissa Jobson* Video footage of African migrants detained on their way to Europe being sold as slaves in Libya has provoked outrage and dismay in Africa and the wider international community. As a …

Dozens of families of Moroccan migrants detained in Libya protested in Rabat on Monday, November 27, calling on Moroccan authorities to help their relatives return home as soon as possible. Sana Elouazi reports from Rabat Gathered in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarter in Rabat, the demonstrators, who came from several Moroccan cities, lambasted the “slowness” of authorities, …

The Black Community in Germany has again called for a public protest action against the enslavement of African migrants in Libya. The event will take place on Monday (27 November) in the western German city of Cologne. Under the motto ‘Stop Enslavement in Libya!’, the event is expected to be attended by more than 1,000 people who are outraged by …

Modibo, a 16-year-old Malian who arrived in France a few weeks ago, wants to warn those planning to come to Europe about the reality of travelling via Libya. “You mustn’t venture there,” he says about Libya. “You mustn’t cross this country. You become an animal there.” The young, angry migrant would like other Africans thinking of travelling through Libya in …

President Alassane Ouattara has expressed his “disgust” at recent revelations over African migrants being sold as slaves in Libya, demanding that those guilty of these crimes be brought to justice by the International Criminal Court. President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire has said that condemning the auctioning of African migrants as slaves in Libya is not enough, calling for the …

CNN report showing trade in sub-Saharan migrants in Libya has sparked outrage in Africa and the global Black community. Protesters turned out in Berlin on Saturday to express their anger and make demands. More than 500 people gathered in front of the Libyan embassy in Berlin on Saturday (25 November) to express their outrage at the widespread violation of the …

Mali has blamed “external intervention” for the chaos that reigns throughout Libya given the NATO-led bombing campaign in 2011. Addressing the European Parliament on Wednesday (22 November) in Brussels, Abdoulaye Diop, Malian minister of foreign affairs, said the raids were “carried out without a strategic vision, without a plan, and without the ability to manage the consequences.” The bombing campaign …

Rwanda could host up to 30,000 African migrants currently stuck in Libya where they are exposed to all forms of abuse, including being sold openly in slave markets. Speaking with New Times, a Rwandan newspaper, on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said that talks were currently under way with the African Union Commission. Mushikiwabo said Rwanda, despite not having …

France has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over slave-trading in Libya as President Emmanuel Macron condemned the auctioning of Africans as a crime against humanity. “France decided this morning to ask for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss this issue,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament on Wednesday (22 November). …

Deportees from Libya reveal the horrors of the migrant slave trade as they arrive home. Ivorian migrants returning from Libyan detention centres have confirmed the sale of slaves in the North African country. A total of 155 returned to Abidjan on Monday night, each with a tale to tell. Trying to make their way to a new life in Europe, …

Organisations of people of African descent have called for a public protest against the trade in sub-Saharan migrants in Libya on Saturday, 25 November. The event, named ‘Demonstration to End the Enslavement, Rape, Torture and Killings of Blacks in Libya’, will take place in front of the Libyan Embassy in Berlin. Organised by, among other organisations, Black Community Hamburg, Lampedusa …

Legendary Ivorian reggae musician, Alpha Blondy, known in private life as Seydou Kone, has waded into the debate for sub-Saharan African leaders to help protect their citizens wherever they find themselves. His recent call is on the African Union and the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, to take decisive action on migrant abuse in the North African country of Libya, …

CNN report showing trade in sub-Saharan migrants in Libya has sparked outrage in Africa and the global Black community, Sola Jolaoso reports. A grainy cell phone video showing unidentified African men being sold in an auction in Libya was obtained by CNN last month. One of the ‘slaves’ being sold is a Nigerian, whom the American news channel estimated to …

Italy’s southern city of Salerno held a mass funeral on Friday for 26 young women from Nigeria who drowned earlier this month trying to cross the Mediterranean. Twenty-six coffins were laid out in Salerno’s Monumental Cemetery on Friday morning, watched by a military guard, local politicians, rescue workers and journalists. A Catholic archbishop and a Muslim imam both said prayers. …

The Federal Statistical Office has revealed that 2 percent of the people who lived in Germany at the end of 2016 had lodged asylum applications. That’s more than double the figure for 2014. Ben Knight reports. On Friday, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) revealed that 1.6 million people were officially registered as “seeking protection for humanitarian reasons” in Germany at …

Edo State gets tough on people smuggling as increasing numbers of its indigenes drown in the Mediterranean. The government of Edo State, Nigeria, has announced its intention to make a law criminalizing human trafficking. The intention of the legislation, according to the state’s commissioner for justice, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, is to curb the activities of persons engaged in the irregular …

Two men, one of them an Egyptian and the other a Libyan, have been arrested and charged in Italy as investigators look into the deaths of 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the …

The remains of 26 Nigerian women believed to be migrants have been recovered from a Spanish warship in the Italian coast city of Salerno. A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday said a Spanish warship, Cantabria, which docked in the city, was found to be carrying 375 rescued migrants and the dead women. According to the report, 23 …

What happens when officials refuse an applicant’s request for asylum? In Germany, applicants have recourse to administrative courts and can even approach the European Court of Human Rights. Here is a short explanation. Types of rejection The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees or BAMF can reject applications for asylum if its officials believe that the individual concerned does not …

The German government has admitted that it does not always know the whereabouts of rejected asylum seekers, but argues that the number doesn’t tell the whole truth. The government’s asylum agency faces a file backlog. Ben Knight reports. Around 30,000 rejected asylum seekers have simply disappeared from Germany’s records, a German newspaper has claimed, though the government and refugee organizations …