Hungary urges more support for north Africa to help manage migrant crisis

Budapest, October 12 (MTI) – The Hungarian government stands by its position that greater support should be given to countries in the Middle East and north Africa that help manage the migrant crisis, foreign ministry state secretary Levente Magyar said.

North African countries are key to managing the migrant crisis, Magyar told public news channel M1 on Monday, adding however that Libya is an exception due to its “political crisis”, which Magyar attributed to a “flawed Western intervention” in that country.

Magyar said Tunisia has “overachieved” by accepting one million people, while Algeria is a “stable country” that plays an important role in easing Europe’s migration pressure. Morocco has always been a stable monarchy, Magyar added. The state secretary said that resolving the crisis in Libya could create a “line of defence” that could halt mass migration from southern Africa to Europe.

Magyar said Libya lets “masses of people” leave the country unchecked, the majority of whom end up drowning on the way, according to north African sources.

He said the crisis was not just a migration problem concerning Europe, but a “humanitarian catastrophe” as well.

Magyar said that due to the presence of Spanish warships off the coast of Morocco, Spain does not receive a significant amount of migrants. He said the Hungarian government has continually called for stopping migrants before they reach Europe.

He said that if the European Union could take meaningful action “along military dimensions”, it would mean migrants who set off for Europe would not even reach the continent.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters