European and African ministers said yesterday that the waves of illegal migrants seeking a better life in Europe would never be stopped until Europe helped Africa fight poverty.
The ministers, meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, to reach a plan on migration, came from 50 nations - grouping for the first time countries where migrants leave, travel through and end up.
They said legal migration should be encouraged to channel money and skills back to Africa, the world's poorest continent.
Thousands of African youths make treacherous journeys every year trying to reach Europe for work. Many die in the attempt, often drowning in rickety boats.
"Let us offer Africa's youth a future of dignity. Then it will not risk resorting to violence and extremism, or choosing, en masse, the paths of exile," French President Jacques Chirac said in a letter read in his behalf at the conference.
Europe, apparently willing to show commitment on aid, yesterday offered grants to Mauritania and other African states.
Spain said it was committing €10 million to help would-be African migrants set up small businesses. Mauritania, a springboard for illegal migrants sailing to Spain, got a €2.45 million EU grant to help it cope with the migrant flow.
Morocco said the EU had promised it €70 million. At least three Africans died last week when up to 70 people stormed a razor-wire fence separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla.
Eleven died last year when hundreds of Africans scaled the fences at Melilla and sister enclave Ceuta, prompting Madrid and Morocco to push for the diplomatic drive on migration.
"We are uniting will, ideas and criteria," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told the two-day conference. "We are at a decisive moment. We have the shared responsibility to build a migratory model."
Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said the systematic refusal of visas by European countries encouraged migrants to seek desperate solutions to their plight.
His Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed Benaissa, warned against the consequences of cracking down on illegal migrants and tightening security at southern Europe's flank without addressing the underlying causes of migration.
"You can't limit the problem of immigration to a security approach. Societies that are comfortable cannot abandon poor societies," he said.
"Morocco is ready to collaborate with its African brothers and to overcome these difficulties."
Africa's population is rising sharply and economic growth has not kept pace. In 2001, around 46 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa's people lived on less than $1 a day.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Moroccan newspaper Le Matin that managing migration between Africa and Europe would be key to giving new impetus to relations between the two continents.
"The fates of Africa and Europe are linked. A failure of Africa today will be disaster in Europe tomorrow," Mr Sarkozy, who attended the meeting with three other French ministers, said.
He defended his immigration policy, criticised by rights groups in Europe and Africa as selecting the best talent and brains from Africa while shutting the doors to poor Africans.
"It was not a question for me to have a selective migrant policy. Immigration for me must be chosen by the country of origin and that of destination," he said.
Mr Sarkozy, France's conservative presidential frontrunner, tightened residency rules after youths in poor suburbs - many of them home to descendants of immigrants - went on the rampage last year in a wave of rioting that shocked the country.
Key facts on illegal migration from Africa
Sources: Reuters EU/UNHCR/UNDP
Why Do People Leave?
Africa's population is rising sharply and economic growth has not kept pace. From a population of 221 million in 1950, there are now around 800 million, or 13.5 per cent of the total world population.
¤ In 2001, around 46 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa's people lived on less than a dollar a day. Africa is also grappling with environmental degradation, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, conflict and famine. In sub-Saharan Africa, 44 per cent of the population is aged under 15.
Numbers
More than 9,500 immigrants arrived in the Canaries by boat this year, double the number from last year. Malta and Italy face similar problems.
¤ The Red Cross estimates that more than 1,000 African migrants have died since the start of this year trying to break into "Fortress Europe" by ever longer sea routes.
¤ Eurostat, the EU statistics office, has said the EU population rose by 2.3 million in 2004, 1.9 million of these were immigrants.
¤ The United Nations has said that Europe hosted 34 per cent of all migrants last year, North America 23 per cent and Asia 28 per cent. Only nine per cent were living in Africa, three per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and three per cent in Oceania.
What Is Being Done?
Experts from Europe and Africa are crafting a joint plan to fight illegal immigration, due to be adopted by ministers at a meeting in Morocco.
¤ Spain called earlier this month for a common EU immigration policy and more resources.
¤ The EU's border agency pledged €2.1 million to help coordinate EU help to the Canaries and Malta. The money helped organise the EU's first joint sea patrol mission, aimed at stopping migrants reaching the Canary Islands.
¤ France and Morocco have agreed measures to curb illegal migration to Europe, including offering financial support to stop Africans emigrants sailing to the Canary Islands.