Hundreds of migrants rounded up in Algeria have arrived in Niger, despite the Algerian government’s strong denials that it is forcibly removing the primarily West African migrants and dumping them in the desert. Migrants from Guinea, Cameroon and other nations tell the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that they are…
The much-awaited Global Compact for Migration is one step closer to adoption, as the United Nations finalized the text on Friday. Plans for that adoption are set for December at a conference in Morocco. The Global Compact initiative was approved in 2016 during the Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and…
Officials with the United Nations migration agency say the death toll has reached at least 112 after a boat on the Mediterranean Sea sank off the coast of Tunisia at the weekend. The boat was carrying an estimated 180 migrants, many of them from Tunisia, when it went down between…
Mamoudou Gassama became an overnight celebrity, as the video of the 22-year-old Malian refugee’s heroic rescue of a child dangling from a Paris balcony went viral. He was quickly ushered into a ceremony with French President Emmanuel Macron, promised a fast track to previously elusive French citizenship, and on Tuesday…
Global human rights organization Amnesty International is again pressuring European Union nations to change its policies on migration from Libya, where thousands of refugees and migrants are trapped in shocking conditions. That message comes as EU officials said Wednesday that the central Mediterranean transit numbers remain much lower, but the…
Representatives from the United Nations and international NGOs participated in a hearing on Eritrea’s record Wednesday as the United States Congress and its Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission focused on the drivers behind high rates of Eritrean migration. “Migrants from the small east African nation of Eritrea make-up a disproportionate…
African nations overall don’t rank well in the new World Happiness Report, but there are a few surprises – and, of course, it likely depends on how happiness is defined. The annual report released Wednesday in Rome evaluates happiness on the basis of pooled results from Gallup World Poll surveys…
A bottleneck for refugees fleeing Libya into Niger – and waiting to continue on to Europe – is threatening the success of an agreement to free migrants and refugees from Libyan detention centers and slave markets. The deal between the European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN)…
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo Addo will meet Wednesday with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, where he is finishing up a 10-day tour that also took him to Togo and the United States. The two are expected to discuss bilateral relations with an emphasis on economic partnership. Ghana is one of…
The world’s financial and diplomatic leaders have reacted with sadness to news of the death of Peter Sutherland, the 71-year-old Irish statesman and former European Union commissioner. Among the many tributes to his influence as a United Nations diplomat, or his leadership as a World Trade Organization negotiator, were those…
President Emmanuel Macron of France has announced €400 million (USD$474 million) in financial aid to Niger during his weekend press conference with President Mahamadou Issoufou in Niamey. Macron said the funding, planned through 2021, will support development in Niger and security in the Sahel. His remarks alongside Issoufou, who Macron praised…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
President Emmanuel Macron of France is headed back to the African continent on Wednesday, this time for another stop in Algeria before he continues on to Qatar for an official state visit. Macron is expected to meet with both longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, who returned…
President Emmanuel Macron of France begins his three-day visit to Africa Tuesday with a stop in Burkina Faso, before heading on to an African Union-European Union summit in Côte d’Ivoire and a visit in Ghana. Macron plans to make African youth a priority, beginning at the University of Ouagadougou where…
Tunisia will receive a €200 million loan installment from the European Union, following a decision by the EU Commission to release the funds as part of the latest financial assistance package for the North African nation. The loan is a first disbursement as the EU launches its second Macro-Financial Assistance…
The European Union introduced on Wednesday a new immigration plan that would bring at least 50,000 new people, primarily from African and Middle East nations, into member countries. The proposed two-year plan will run through October 2019, and acknowledges the shift in migration patterns across the Mediterranean since the immigration…