German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with President Muhammadu Buhari next week in Berlin, Germany.
The meeting will hold after returning from her trip to Mali and Niger before heading to Ethiopia where she is to visit the headquarters of the African Union in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Also, on October 12, she will host Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Merkel is to meet with Buhari to discuss Nigeria’s battle against Boko Haram Islamists.
“The well-being of Africa is in Germany’s interest,” Merkel said in an interview with German National newspaper Die Zeit ahead of the visit, arguing that bringing more stability to Africa and improving living conditions on the continent would help reduce the numbers of people seeking to leave.
Simply ignoring the reasons that are pushing people to migrate “will not make the problem go away,” she warned.
Pointing to drought plaguing Chad as an example, Merkel said, “it does not mean that everyone who is in difficulties there can come to Europe as a refugee”.
The German leader has said that she wants the European Union and North African countries to do deals modelled on a controversial agreement with Turkey to curb migrant flows to Europe.
Under the EU-Turkey agreement, Ankara agreed to take back one Syrian who made it to Greece in return for being allowed to send one from its massive refugee camps to the bloc in a more orderly redistribution programme.
The deal also pledges billions of euros in EU aid for Turkey, visa-free European travel for Turkish citizens and accelerated EU membership talks.
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