African and European leaders will set up an immigration task force following the Arab Spring, which have seen a sharp rise in people making risky boat crossings to seek a new life in Europe.
The decision was announced at a summit in Malta which brought together the leaders of five European countries (France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) and five Maghreb states (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia). "The democratic urgency is immigration," Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said, adding that members had agreed to set up "a task force to prevent these migrations and help people in order to avoid tragedies at sea". The "Malta Declaration" released at the end of the summit stressed that the illegal immigration "cannot be managed purely through control measures" such as border checks or repatriation of those who manage to get across to Europe.
"It also demands concerted action to tackle the fundamental causes of migration along with the development of an efficient, quick and tangible solidarity" between the countries concerned," it added.
"There are Tunisian, Libyan children, sometimes very young kids who die in shipwrecks. Each shipwreck is a catastrophe... and cannot be accepted," Marzouki told journalists at the press conference closing the talks.
He called on the summit's members to "pool efforts and resources," but said it "must not be a security operation, but a humanitarian one.
Read more: Seeking new life in Europe | Oman Observer
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