German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be in Cairo today and in Tunis tomorrow, and the issues that will dominate her visits will be the stabilization of Libya and the halting of the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
Merkel will also discuss economic co-operation, as Egypt and Tunisia seek financial help and investment to help their economies, which have stagnated and are plagued by unemployment, recover.
But it will be Libya, between the two countries, which remains in the chaotic situation it has fallen into since 2011 and from which most migrants trying to reach Europe are now leaving, that will mainly occupy the chancellor's discussions with both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Tunisian President Beji Kaid Essebsi.
"Without the political stabilization of Libya, we can not stop the activities of traffickers, who work from Libya" and send people to Italy, Merkel said on Saturday.
"Egypt is called upon to play a major role here, as are Algeria and Tunisia," she added.
The closure of migration routes in Africa to Libya, whose borders are out of control, is expected to be considered as one of the priorities. Merkel, who raised the issue in Mali and Niger this autumn, planned to do the same in Algiers in February, before the cancellation of her visit to the country due to the health condition of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
With the closure of the "Balkan migration route" in early 2016, Libya has once again become, despite the dangers of crossing, the main point of departure for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe.
According to Italian government figures, about 13.400 arrivals were recorded in January and February, a number that increased by 50 and 70% compared to the first two months of 2015 and 2016.
Merkel, who is in a hurry to push for a solution because she faces attacks in her country for opening Germany's borders to more than 1 million asylum seekers, took over the leadership of European movements in early 2016 to reduce the influx of migrants and refugees. It mainly promoted agreements for the repatriation of migrants to their countries of transit, mainly to Turkey.
The issue may dominate the election campaign in the run-up to the September 24 federal elections in Germany, in which Merkel is running for a fourth term.
However, the controversial proposal to set up refugee camps in North Africa is not expected to be - at least officially - on the agenda of its talks in Cairo and Tunis. The idea, to which Merkel had referred, was flatly rejected by Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Sahid.
Tunis and Berlin are expected to show that they intend to turn the page on tensions over the issue of deportations of illegal Tunisian immigrants from Germany. The German government had complained that the Tunisian authorities were holding back their repatriation.
In the most iconic case, Tunis denied denying the repatriation of Anis Amri, the young man who ended up killing 12 people on December 19 in a truck crashing into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin. Islamic State organization.
However, the German ambassador to Tunisia, Andreas Reinike, believes that "things have improved recently and will improve even more."
A source close to the Tunisian government said that during Merkel's visit the emphasis is expected to be on "investment", as the recovery of the economy is a necessary condition for maintaining political stability in Tunisia.
Source: newsbeast.gr