The EU has earmarked €274.2 million to tackle the underlying causes of illegal migration to the EU by people living in the Sahel region and around Lade Chad, announced the European Commission on Wednesday 13 December, when a high-level conference was held in Paris on implementation of a joint G5 Sahel force (see EUROPE 11925).
The money comes from the European Trust Fund for Africa and will finance 13 projects for stability and economic development in the region.
Of the cash, €65 million will help boost the resilience of vulnerable people in Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali, while €30 million will be spent on projects to create jobs and economic opportunities in Niger and €50 million will go to similar projects in Guinea.
For the region as a whole, the approved projects aim to promote mobility of students (for which support of €10 million from the Erasmus + programme will be available), to support entrepreneurs and SMEs (€15.8 millions) and to fight human trafficking in the Gulf of Guinea (€17.4 million). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)