September 30, 2005

EUPolitix: EU Works With Africa on Aid'

"Europe has worked closely with Africa to ensure increased aid will be allocated effectively," Louis Michel, "EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said on Thursday," September 29, 2005, according to EUPolitix. Read more here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:57 AM | Comments (0)

Some Africans Trying to Enter Spain Reportedly Shot

EITB24, the "Basque news and information channel," reported September 29, 2005 that, "Two of five Africans killed when hundreds of migrants charged a razor-wire fence in an attempt to cross into one of Spain's enclaves in northern Morocco had bullet wounds, indicating they were shot from the Moroccan side of the fence, news reports said Thursday [September 29, 2005]."

EITB24 said, "Sources close to the investigation told the national news agency Efe that bullets had passed through the side of one immigrant and through one buttock of the other. They said the trajectory meant they could only have been fired from Morocco.

"The Interior Ministry could not immediately comment on the report," EITB24 said. Read more here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:32 AM | Comments (0)

Keeping Desperate Africans at Bay

"The European Union is seen as the land of opportunity by many living in desperate poverty in Africa," according to Dominic Bailey of BBC News. However, some EU countries, many of whom had African colonies, are imposing additional measures to keep them out."

As Giles Tremlett of The Guardian of London noted in a September 30, 2005 report,

Spanish border police armed with riot gear and rubber bullets faced hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans prepared to risk their lives yesterday [September 29, 2005] to get across the razorwire-topped perimeter fence around a Spanish enclave [Ceuta] in north Africa in an attempt to claim immigrant status.
He said, "Two would-be immigrants died on the Spanish side of Ceuta's frontier and the bodies of three more were found on the Moroccan side after they tried to storm over the border shortly before dawn."

For more of the BBC report, please see "EU outposts turn into fortresses."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:18 AM | Comments (0)