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IMMIGRATION

Spain eyes drone patrols to control border fences

Spain’s interior ministry is considering using unmanned miniature aircraft to patrol weak spots along the border fence at its north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Spain eyes drone patrols to control border fences
Photo: AFP

José Antonio Nieto, the Spanish Interior Ministry's secretary for security, this week confirmed interest in enlisting airborne surveillance at Spain’s land borders with Morocco.

Just days after hundreds of migrants forced their way into Spain by scaling the border fence, Nieto visited Aeorum, one of Spain's leading drove developers, to discuss the idea, reported Spain's ABC newspaper

The use of drones equipped with heat-detecting cameras could provide early warnings of groups gathering to mount an attempted assault on the fence and ensure extra security forces were called in to prevent it.

Spain has installed high fencing topped with razor wire at its land borders with Morocco in its north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. But despite the tight security, migrants regularly breach the border fences to enter Europe.

READ MORE Trump's wall: Spain shows why US president is heading for trouble.

Last Monday more than 350 migrants stormed the border at Ceuta which is protected by a double wire fence six metres high and eight kilometres long.

Three days earlier around 500 migrants successfully breached the border, in the largest wave of arrivals in years.

Spain has been criticised by human rights groups for its treatment of migrants and refugees at the border

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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