Africans condemn EU curbs on illegal immigration

DAKAR – Senior African officials criticised new European Union rules against illegal immigration yesterday, accusing the wealthy bloc of failing to treat migrants with dignity and of breaking pledges to cooperate.

EU ministers backed French proposals on Monday for a European pact to stem illegal immigration and attract highly skilled job-seekers, weeks after the EU decided illegal immigrants could be detained for up to 18 months and face a five-year re-entry ban. “Senegal is surprised by this European initiative when we had committed ourselves …to another path, that of dialogue,” Senegal’s Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio told a conference of EU and African migration experts in Dakar.”The time has passed when Europe decided things on its own and Africa fell in line,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.The detention rule agreed by the EU in June had sparked outrage in Latin America, where Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez said it recalled “times of xenophobia” and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Europe had “legalised barbarity.”But Africa, from where thousands of would-be immigrants risk their lives each year trying to reach Europe in rickety boats, had so far been largely silent on the new EU measures.”We are absolutely opposed to this repressive…attitude and to treating undocumented migrants as if they were criminals,” Gadio said yesterday.”It’s a pity that Africans did not react more quickly to this situation,” Dominique Guerematchi, an ambassador from Central African Republic, told Reuters.”It’s not because people want to go to Europe that they should be sent home like animals,” Guerematchi said at the Dakar meeting.”We are quite shocked by this situation.””We were outraged to see sanctions from another time,” Alice Bienvenu Bayidikila, Congo Republic’s director of border security, said of the new EU law.”Illegal migration must be fought, but in a way that respects human dignity.”The European Commission estimates there are up to eight million illegal immigrants in the 27-nation European Union.More than 200 000 were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007 with just under 90 000 expelled.Nampa-Reuters”Senegal is surprised by this European initiative when we had committed ourselves …to another path, that of dialogue,” Senegal’s Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio told a conference of EU and African migration experts in Dakar.”The time has passed when Europe decided things on its own and Africa fell in line,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.The detention rule agreed by the EU in June had sparked outrage in Latin America, where Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez said it recalled “times of xenophobia” and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Europe had “legalised barbarity.”But Africa, from where thousands of would-be immigrants risk their lives each year trying to reach Europe in rickety boats, had so far been largely silent on the new EU measures.”We are absolutely opposed to this repressive…attitude and to treating undocumented migrants as if they were criminals,” Gadio said yesterday.”It’s a pity that Africans did not react more quickly to this situation,” Dominique Guerematchi, an ambassador from Central African Republic, told Reuters.”It’s not because people want to go to Europe that they should be sent home like animals,” Guerematchi said at the Dakar meeting.”We are quite shocked by this situation.””We were outraged to see sanctions from another time,” Alice Bienvenu Bayidikila, Congo Republic’s director of border security, said of the new EU law.”Illegal migration must be fought, but in a way that respects human dignity.”The European Commission estimates there are up to eight million illegal immigrants in the 27-nation European Union.More than 200 000 were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007 with just under 90 000 expelled.Nampa-Reuters