Germany wants migrants to remain in Africa

Abstract:

Angela Merkel became the first German chancellor to visit Mali and Niger on 9–11 October 2016. On 14 October, the chancellor received the presidents of Chad and Nigeria in Berlin. At the same time, the German minister of foreign affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, took part in a meeting of the German-Nigerian commission for combating terrorism. Niger, Mali and Chad are the countries which refugees from Southern Africa are travelling through en route to Libya. Merkel visited the Bundeswehr soldiers stationed as part of the MINUSMA mission in Mali. Merkel also announced that a conference concerning investments in Africa would be held during the German presidency of the G20 in 2017.

Migrants from Africa have not made up a large proportion of the asylum seekers in Germany so far: in 2016, 250,000 Syrians submitted applications for asylum, against 13,000 applications received from citizens of Eritrea, and this was the largest number of applications to have been submitted from an African country.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Merkel admits mistakes, sticks to refugee policy http://www.europeansources.info/record/merkel-admits-mistakes-sticks-to-refugee-policy/

ESO: Background information: Summit Migration along the Balkan route, Vienna, 24 September 2016. Remarks by President Donald Tusk before the summit on migration along the Balkan route http://www.europeansources.info/record/summit-migration-along-the-balkan-route-vienna-24-september-2016-remarks-by-president-donald-tusk-before-the-summit-on-migration-along-the-balkan-route/

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