It was not clear how the Valletta Summit on Migration’s conclusions would improve African lives, Oxfam said yesterday.

In a statement, the international confederation of humanitarian NGOs said the summit’s centrepiece – the EU Trust Fund for Africa – was “blurred”.

The lines between development aid and money to bolster African states’ border control, it said, were not clearly defined. Oxfam called on the EU to give clear guarantees that the €1.8 billion fund would be used to help vulnerable people and not to build barriers.

Sara Tesorieri, Oxfam’s migration policy head in Malta, said clear standards would have to be laid down on how the money was used. She warned against making aid to Africa conditional on cooperation in border control activity.

Oxfam also questioned why European leaders pledged to prioritise saving lives while the European Commission seemed to be “mobilising all means” to promote the return of people from Europe to Africa.