Paris: France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he wanted “all” European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris.
Jean-Noel Barrot spoke after an Algerian-born man went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern French city of Mulhouse at the weekend, killing one person and wounding several others in what President Emmanuel Macron called an “Islamist terrorist act.”
The 37-year-old suspect was on a terrorism watch list and subject to a deportation order.
France had attempted to expel him multiple times, but Algeria refused to cooperate, French authorities say.
“If a country does not cooperate with the French authorities, I will propose that all European countries restrict the issuing of visas at the same time,” Barrot told broadcaster France 2.
“When we do it on a national level, it doesn’t work unfortunately,” he added.
But if foreign governments cooperate, the European Union could consider reducing customs tariffs for such countries, Barrot proposed.
“It is a particularly powerful lever,” he said.
French authorities are seeking to tighten immigration policies and border controls, in a move emblematic of the right-ward shift in French politics.
“If we want our migration policy to be as effective as possible, there are many things that will be much more effective if we do it at a European level,” he said.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set later Wednesday to chair a meeting on immigration controls.
Bayrou has called for a national debate on immigration and what it means to be French, suggesting that immigrants were “flooding” France.
France wants Europe cooperation on visas over expulsion of undocumented migrants
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France wants Europe cooperation on visas over expulsion of undocumented migrants
- European countries to cooperate and start cutting back visas available to nationals of countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants expelled by Paris
171 bodies found in mass graves in eastern Congo, an official says
- Authorities found two mass graves with at least 171 dead bodies in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira
- M23’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment
KINSHASA: Congolese authorities and a civil society group said Thursday that mass graves were found in part of eastern Congo that the M23 rebel group has recently withdrawn from, as fighting in the region escalates despite a US-mediated peace deal.
The governor of South-Kivu province, Jacques Purusi, said authorities found two mass graves with at least 171 dead bodies in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira neighborhoods on the outskirts of the eastern city of Uvira.
“At this stage, we have identified two sites: one mass grave containing approximately 30 bodies in Kiromoni, not far from the Burundian border on the Congolese side, and another in Kavimvira where 141 bodies were found,” Purusi told The Associated Press over the phone.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. M23’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Executive Secretariat of the Local Network for the Protection of Civilians, a civil society group in the region, said Thursday it wanted to visit the mass graves but was prevented from doing so by the Congolese military.
Information gathered so far indicates that the victims were killed by M23 rebels, said Yves Ramadhani, the group’s vice president.
The governor and the civil society group alleged that the rebels killed the individuals because they suspected them of belonging to the Congolese army or a pro-government militia.
Both the Congolese military and M23 have been accused of extrajudicial killings and abuses by rights groups.
