CAIRO - German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed in Cairo Thursday on a two-day trip to Egypt and Tunisia, in a push to limit migrant flows to Europe through North Africa, especially chaos-torn Libya. Turmoil exploited by people smugglers since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi has made Libya the main gateway for African migrants seeking to make dangerous Mediterranean crossings. Her government has urged the North African states to step up border controls and speed up repatriations of migrants whose asylum applications are rejected. But as with the Turkey deal, the negotiations with the North African countries have been clouded by human rights concerns. A year before, sexual assaults by large groups of mostly North African men on New Year's Eve against women in Cologne provoked outrage in Germany.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 02, 2017 13:18 UTC