VALLETTA, Malta (AP) - The European Union pressed African leaders on Wednesday to take back thousands of people who do not qualify for asylum, as overwhelmed Slovenia began building a razor-wire border fence to keep migrants at bay, raising tensions with neighboring Croatia.
Sweden, struggling to manage the influx too, became the latest EU nation to announce the introduction of temporary border controls, as of today.
According to the International Organization for Migration, almost 800,000 people have entered Europe by sea this year. The EU predicts three million more could arrive by 2017.
The Europeans say most Africans are coming in search of work and should be sent home, but many deliberately arrive without documents and must wait months before they are taken back.
At an EU-run summit in Malta, African leaders are set to commit "to cooperate with the EU on return and admission, notably on travel documentation," according to the latest draft of an "Action Plan" being drawn up.
The president of Niger - a major transit route for Africans heading to lawless Libya in the hopes of crossing the Mediterranean to Europe - was cautious about opening the floodgates for people to return.
"We are open to talk about it. Everything will depend on the conditions that will be put in place for when they arrive," President Mahamadou Issoufou told reporters in the Maltese capital Valletta, adding that the best method of solving Europe's migration crisis is to attack the root causes forcing people to leave in the first place.
"We can put security measures in place, but the flow will remain difficult to stop as long as we don't take measures to reduce poverty," he said.
The EU is working closely with Niger to stem the flow of migrants toward Libya, and ultimately to Europe. It is also trying to seal deals with Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. One was signed with Ethiopia as the two-day summit began.
The move gives Ethiopia - a major hub for people trying to reach Europe - access to money from a $1.9 billion trust fund.
But the head of the African Union expressed concern that moving on returns too quickly might result in the building of reception centers where people are held until they can be granted asylum or be sent home.
Such centers, "whatever we call them, will become de-facto detention centers," AU chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said.
She warned that women and children would be in danger if held there, and she also hit out at some European countries that "have taken a fortress approach" to migration.