THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
German officials say 12,285 people applied for asylum in the country in January. That is a 15 percent drop compared with the same month last year. In January 2017, Germany recorded 14,476 new asylum requests, while some 13,082 people applied for asylum in December 2017.
Figures published by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday show most new asylum-seekers last month originated from Syria (2.590), Iraq (1.317) and Nigeria (948).
According to the statistics released, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees decided on more than 29,000 asylum applications in January. 16 percent of the applicants received protection under the Geneva Refugee Convention and about 12 percent subsidiary protection. The applications by 11,433 persons (39.2 percent) were rejected.
The number of new asylum requests in Germany has steadily declined since the dramatic influx of 2015 as European countries enforce stricter border controls and clamp down on people-smuggling across the Mediterranean.
European states have enforced stricter border controls and clamped down on people-smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea.
