Algeria evacuates 556 African immigrants

The Algerian foreign minister Muhammad Bajawi said that his country evacuated 556 south Sahara African immigrants "in the framework of the efforts made by the country to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to Europe."

Bajawi, to whom human rights groups are expected to raise criticism, stressed that the evacuation was made in a friendly way, adding that he defies anyone else to prove the contrary. He said that all evacuated persons got appropriate housing and medical care before they were taken by air to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Genea and New Genea, noting that the governments of the seven countries approved to evacuate their citizens back to it.

The European Union was urged to expand cooperation for fighting illegal migration through providing more aid to the poor African countries.

In November, Morocco was criticized by the human rights groups inside and outside over human rights violations, widely alleged, when it evacuated more than 1000 immigrants.