{"id":31488,"date":"2016-12-31T09:05:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T09:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/mali-sends-back-migrants-deported-by-france\/"},"modified":"2016-12-31T08:55:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-31T08:55:44","slug":"mali-sends-back-migrants-deported-by-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/mali-sends-back-migrants-deported-by-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Mali sends back migrants deported by France"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Mali has sent back two people who were deported from France on the same planes they arrived on, questioning whether they were even Malian citizens.}<\/p>\n

The pair were flown to Bamako using European travel permits or “laissez-passer”, not passports or other Malian papers, the government said.<\/p>\n

The government said it could not accept people “simply assumed to be Malian”.
\nRecent reports of a deal with the EU to repatriate failed Malian asylum seekers have sparked protests.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Malian government condemned the use of the European “laissez-passez” in cases of expulsion, describing it as “against international conventions”.
\nIt also warned airlines not to let people using the document fly to Mali.<\/p>\n

The French authorities have not yet commented.<\/p>\n

Malians are among the sub-Saharan African nationalities most deported from France:<\/p>\n

Senegal – 540<\/p>\n

Mali – 290<\/p>\n

Ivory Coast – 270<\/p>\n

Nigeria – 235<\/p>\n

Guinea – 165<\/p>\n

Source: Eurostat, 2015<\/p>\n

Mali’s refusal to admit the two migrants comes as Bamako is under fire at home for having signed a ”migrant return agreement” with the European Union.<\/p>\n

Many Malians claim the government has betrayed them by accepting \u20ac145m ($153m; \u00a3124m) for ”measures to deter migration”.<\/p>\n

The deal, announced on 11 December, was the first of its kind between the EU and an African country.<\/p>\n

The Malian anti-corruption group “mains propres” (clean hands) says the authorities in Bamako were tricked by Brussels, whose own rules require such an agreement before mass expulsions can be triggered.<\/p>\n

Bamako and Brussels are now both playing the deal down as ”an agreement with a small A” or ”a communique on deepening migration partnership”.<\/p>\n

The EU has since signed a similar document with Niger, which is another major departure country for migrants heading through the Sahara desert on their way to Europe.<\/p>\n

There is a large Malian community in France, the former colonial power, who support their relatives back home by sending money.<\/p>\n

More than 360,000 people have reached Europe by crossing the Mediterranean this year.<\/p>\n

Many pass through Mali on their way although Malians are not among the 10 nationalities most likely to attempt the journey.<\/p>\n

A $1.9bn (\u00a31.2bn) European Union-backed fund to tackle African migration was announced in November 2015, with African leaders agreeing to allow the return of failed asylum seekers in return for development aid.<\/p>\n

\"Mali<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Mali has sent back two people who were deported from France on the same planes they arrived on, questioning whether they were even Malian citizens.} The pair were flown to Bamako using European travel permits or “laissez-passer”, not passports or other Malian papers, the government said. The government said it could not accept people “simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31488"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=31488"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=31488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}