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Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel to discuss EU migrant crisis, Ukraine unrest
Highlights
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will meet in Berlin on Monday to give a new push to European efforts to tackle the biggest migrant crisis in 50 years.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will meet in Berlin on Monday to give a new push to European efforts to tackle the biggest migrant crisis in 50 years.
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The pair will also hold talks on the resurgence of violence in Ukraine and will be joined by that country's president Petro Poroshenko later in the day. A joint press conference by the trio will be followed by a working dinner.
Merkel and Hollande have put enormous political onus on resolving Ukraine's 16-month pro-Russian uprising and returning peace to the European Union's turbulent eastern front.
Monday's talks will be notable for their exclusion of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The French and German leaders had spent 17 hours locked up with Putin and Ukraine's Poroshenko in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February before emerging with a peace deal that promised to end the fighting quickly and resolve all political disputes by the end of the year.
Yet the so-called Minsk II accord has repeatedly been broken by the warring sides. The death toll in the war is meanwhile steadily approaching 6,900.
A Ukrainian source said Putin's exclusion pointed to the fact that "France and Germany are in the same boat as us", but a French source quickly quashed any interpretation of a "diplomatic war against Russia".
The diplomatic push on migrants meanwhile comes as the EU is grappling with an unprecedented influx of people fleeing war, repression and poverty in what the bloc has described as its worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Official figures show a record 107,500 migrants crossed into the EU last month and there are mounting calls for the bloc to adopt a more unified approach in dealing with the influx.
'New impetus on migrants needed'
"There has to be a new impetus so that what has been decided is implemented," a source in the French presidency said, referring to EU decisions taken in June to tackle the crisis.
"The situation is not resolving itself," the source said, adding that the decisions made by the EU "are not sufficient, not quick enough and not up to the task".
Their priorities include compiling a list of countries whose nationals would not be considered asylum seekers except in exceptional personal circumstances.
The EU has hitherto failed in efforts to draw up a common list of such countries.
The French and German leaders will also move to help speed up the setting up of reception centres in overwhelmed Greece and Italy -- two countries that have borne the brunt of the crisis -- to help identify asylum seekers and illegal migrants.
"As long as these reception centres are not there and there is no internal solidarity within the EU, the return of migrants -- which will dissuade further new arrivals -- will not happen," the source added.
In Rome, Italian officials said the coastguard had rescued 4,400 migrants from 22 boats in the Mediterranean on Saturday alone in what was understood to be the highest daily figure in years.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has warned that the deepening crisis could pose a major threat to the "soul" of Europe.
"On immigration, Europe is in danger of displaying the worst of itself: selfishness, haphazard decision-making and rows between member states," Gentiloni told Il Messaggero.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel meanwhile said that a four-fold increase in asylum requests -- expected to top 800,000 this year -- was the country's "biggest challenge since reunification" in 1990.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon began a two-day visit to Nigeria Sunday in the wake of a suspected Boko Haram ambush on the army chief, saying it was "a time of hope" despite the rise of extremism.
Combating Islamist violence is expected to be high on the agenda as the secretary-general holds talks with President Muhammadu Buhari, whose inauguration in May sparked a massive upsurge in jihadist attacks.
"Across our world, we see insecurity, inequality, growing divides," Ban told a private meeting of state governors in Abuja, according to a UN statement. "Here in Nigeria, you know the challenges all too well, including the rise of extremism and the lack of equal opportunity.
"I know this is a deep and vital challenge in particular for the governors of the northeast... This is also a time of hope. I want to commend you and all of Nigeria's leaders for the peaceful democratic transition of power."
Ban touched down at Abuja's international airport just hours after the military revealed Boko Haram fighters had ambushed a convoy carrying Nigeria's army chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.
The senior officer, who was unharmed, was visiting troops Saturday when insurgents attacked in Faljari village, 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Borno State capital Maiduguri, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
'Overwhelming firepower'
"The terrorists encountered an overwhelming firepower from the troops in which 10 of them were killed. The troops captured five terrorists," he said. "During the encounter, sadly, we lost a soldier, while an officer and four soldiers sustained gunshot wounds."
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in Borno and two neighbouring states in its northeastern heartland since Buhari came to power in May. The Islamists have also carried out deadly ambushes across Nigeria's borders and in recent weeks suicide bombers, many of them women, have staged several attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.
The fresh wave of violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives over the last three months, dealing a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon. Military officials have said it will be more effective than the current alliance in the battle to end Boko Haram's six-year insurgency, which has claimed at least 15,000 lives.
"This a crucial moment for Nigeria," said Ban, on his second visit to Africa's largest economy since taking office in 2007. "You face many serious challenges but you have also taken a hugely important step to move forward in a way that can respond to the aspirations of the country's people."
Deadly UN bombing
Before his departure the UN chief will lay a wreath to commemorate the fourth anniversary of a Boko Haram bombing at Abuja's United Nations House, the headquarters for around 400 UN employees, that left 21 dead in June 2011.
He is also due to dine with captains of industry and discuss "democracy, human rights and countering violent extremism" in a meeting at the foreign ministry. Ban last visited Nigeria in May 2011 to discuss the crises in southern Sudan and Libya with then leader Goodluck Jonathan.
Buhari, who came to power on May 29 vowing to destroy Boko Haram, replaced his military leaders earlier in August, ordering his new chiefs-of-staff to end the insurgency within three months.
The military under Jonathan was heavily criticised for poor handling of the insurgency and its failure to free more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok in April last year.
Ban is due to head to France late on Monday to discuss preparations for a major climate change conference to be held in Paris in December.
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UN chief Ban Ki-moon began a two-day visit to Nigeria Sunday in the wake of a suspected Boko Haram ambush on the army chief, saying it was "a time of hope" despite the rise of extremism.
Combating Islamist violence is expected to be high on the agenda as the secretary-general holds talks with President Muhammadu Buhari, whose inauguration in May sparked a massive upsurge in jihadist attacks.
"Across our world, we see insecurity, inequality, growing divides," Ban told a private meeting of state governors in Abuja, according to a UN statement. "Here in Nigeria, you know the challenges all too well, including the rise of extremism and the lack of equal opportunity.
"I know this is a deep and vital challenge in particular for the governors of the northeast... This is also a time of hope. I want to commend you and all of Nigeria's leaders for the peaceful democratic transition of power."
Ban touched down at Abuja's international airport just hours after the military revealed Boko Haram fighters had ambushed a convoy carrying Nigeria's army chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.
The senior officer, who was unharmed, was visiting troops Saturday when insurgents attacked in Faljari village, 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Borno State capital Maiduguri, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.
'Overwhelming firepower'
"The terrorists encountered an overwhelming firepower from the troops in which 10 of them were killed. The troops captured five terrorists," he said. "During the encounter, sadly, we lost a soldier, while an officer and four soldiers sustained gunshot wounds."
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in Borno and two neighbouring states in its northeastern heartland since Buhari came to power in May. The Islamists have also carried out deadly ambushes across Nigeria's borders and in recent weeks suicide bombers, many of them women, have staged several attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.
The fresh wave of violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives over the last three months, dealing a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon. Military officials have said it will be more effective than the current alliance in the battle to end Boko Haram's six-year insurgency, which has claimed at least 15,000 lives.
"This a crucial moment for Nigeria," said Ban, on his second visit to Africa's largest economy since taking office in 2007. "You face many serious challenges but you have also taken a hugely important step to move forward in a way that can respond to the aspirations of the country's people."
Deadly UN bombing
Before his departure the UN chief will lay a wreath to commemorate the fourth anniversary of a Boko Haram bombing at Abuja's United Nations House, the headquarters for around 400 UN employees, that left 21 dead in June 2011.
He is also due to dine with captains of industry and discuss "democracy, human rights and countering violent extremism" in a meeting at the foreign ministry. Ban last visited Nigeria in May 2011 to discuss the crises in southern Sudan and Libya with then leader Goodluck Jonathan.
Buhari, who came to power on May 29 vowing to destroy Boko Haram, replaced his military leaders earlier in August, ordering his new chiefs-of-staff to end the insurgency within three months.
The military under Jonathan was heavily criticised for poor handling of the insurgency and its failure to free more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok in April last year.
Ban is due to head to France late on Monday to discuss preparations for a major climate change conference to be held in Paris in December.
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