ASSESSMENTS

North Africa: The Other Side of Europe's Migrant Crisis

Oct 7, 2016 | 09:16 GMT

Each year, thousands of migrants reach Europe from North Africa by way of the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. Now the European Union is looking for ways to put a stop to these treacherous journeys.
Each year, thousands of migrants reach Europe from North Africa by way of the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. Now the European Union is looking for ways to put a stop to these treacherous journeys.

(ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Forecast Bullets

  • Managing migrant flows along the central Mediterranean routes will require cooperating with multiple Central and North African governments, impeding progress in building comprehensive migrant agreements.
  • Egypt will hasten to address the increased flow from its shores as more young Egyptians join the migration to Europe.
  • Libya's coast will remain insecure as long as its government is unstable. 

To talk of a single migrant crisis in Europe can be misleading. The eastern routes over the Mediterranean Sea have commanded international attention for the sheer number of Syrian refugees who have traversed them to enter Europe from Turkey and elsewhere and for the negotiations -- and subsequent migrant deal -- it prompted between the governments in Brussels and Ankara. Despite its higher profile and amount of traffic, however, the eastern routes are not the only migrant paths into Europe across the Mediterranean, nor is Syria the only country from which migrants are fleeing. Thousands of migrants also reach Europe each year from North Africa by way of routes crossing the central and western Mediterranean. Though these paths are less traveled than the eastern routes, they are no less treacherous. Most deaths among migrants who headed across the Mediterranean this year -- one of the deadliest on record -- occurred along...

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