Migrant flow via Niger drops sharply

The EU has hailed Niger for sharply curbing the flow of migrants entering Europe.

A European Commission report said the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to Libya via Niger reduced by almost 100% between May and November 2016.

European leaders are in Brussels to discuss the report and step up aid-for-cooperation efforts with African countries.

The EU is seeking aid-for-cooperation “compacts” with Niger as well as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal by early next year, when the weather improves and migrants are likely to head en masse again to Europe.

Migrants from west Africa travel north through Niger to the Mediterranean coast of Libya, where smugglers put them on rickety boats to Italy, which received a record 175,000 people this year.

AFP