GERMANY: Germany's Interior Minister, Mr Otto Schily, has split the government by coming out in favour of a British idea to set up EU asylum centres in northern Africa. Derek Scally reports from Berlin.
Mr Schily said he had changed his mind in favour of the proposal after the captain of a ship owned by German aid agency Cap Anamur was arrested and charged with illegally bringing into Italy 37 African refugees whose dinghy had capsized in the Mediterranean.
"I believe that north African countries have to be interested in preventing things from continuing as they are," said Mr Schily. He said the centres in north Africa could house asylum-seekers until their asylum requests were processed.
Germany's opposition leader, Dr Angela Merkel, yesterday said the plan was "legitimate", but Mr Schily's remarks have infuriated the junior coalition partners, the Greens.
A leader of the Green Party, Ms Angelika Beer, said the proposal violated Europe's humanitarian principles, adding: "People in need will have to be able to reach Europe in the future as well."
German Foreign Minister Mr Joschka Fischer said yesterday he "disagreed completely" with Mr Schily, saying that "the humanitarian factors haven't been thought through to the end".
The UN's refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, opposes the so-called "safe zones", saying they would undermine refugees' rights to asylum.
Mr Rupert Neudeck, founder of Cap Anamur, the German aid organisation at the centre of last month's refugee dispute, said the idea of "camps" was wrong. However, he said he could see the need for special "admission centres" in north Africa, run by the UNHCR.
"The refugee problem is getting ever bigger so unconventional solutions are necessary."