France demands crackdown on people smugglers

Mali has rejected a demand by France that it crack down on people trafficking organisations that help illegal immigrants to reach Europe and North America, arguing that such immigrants send home 40 billion CFA (US $65 million) a year in remittances. French President Jacques Chirac urged his Malian counterpart, Amadou Toumani Toure, to "put an end to the the activities of mafia-style intermediaries who have no scruples" during a two-day visit to Mali which ended on Saturday. But Toure, replied that Mali, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, could not afford to prevent its citizens from seeking a better life overseas because of its economic dependence on the remittances they send home. He estimated these were worth $65 million per year. According to the French Ministry of the Interior, there about 120,000 Malian immigrants in France, 60 percent of whom are there illegally. Most come from the very poor Kayes region near Mali's western border with Senegal. There are also large Malian immigrant communities in the United States, Spain and Italy, and Malian traders are to be found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. During his two-day visit to Mali, Chirac announced 11.6 million euros ($13 million) of debt relief for the Malian government. He also promised that France would become a champion of African cotton producers within the European Union and in world trade negotiations. Mali is the world's third largest cotton producer. Along with Niger, Benin Chad and Burkina Faso, it has complained to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that US, Chinese and EU subsidies to domestic cotton growers are undermining the incomes of desperately poor cotton farmers in Africa.