Not kidding.
More than 1 million asylum-seekers arrived in Europe from Turkey last year, most of whom crossed the sea from Turkey in rubber boats. In March, the EU agreed to pay nearly $7 billion over the next two years to Turkey. In exchange, Turkey agreed to accept refugees Europe decides to send back.
The EU also recently proposed that member countries refusing to accept some of these people for relocation pay a "solidarity contribution" of nearly $300,000 per head.
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Classified documents obtained by German magazine Der Spiegel and broadcaster ARD reveal the secret European plan to send cameras, scanners, and servers for refugee registration to Sudan, which is the transit point for refugees from East and Central Africa moving through the desert to Libya to cross the sea to Italy.
The plan also includes assistance from Germany's international development arm, GIZ, to set up two detention camps for refugees in Sudan.
Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted on three counts of genocide by the International Criminal Court. He's twice evaded arrest during diplomatic travel, once in South Africa and once, just last week, in Uganda.
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"'Under no circumstances' should the public learn what was said at the talks that took place on March 23rd, the European Commission warned during the meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee," Der Spiegel reported.
According to the magazine, a staffer for Federica Mogherini, pictured here, who is the EU high representative for foreign affairs, "warned that Europe's reputation could be at stake."
Der Spiegel said the plan outlines $45 million for eight countries it calls "dictatorships" in the Horn of Africa — a region that includes Eritrea, an authoritarian country known for human rights abuses — and Somalia, which has been at war for more than two decades.
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"The equipment could be used to oppress the population," the documents say, according to ARD.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a country in the Horn of Africa that isn't described in human rights reviews as practicing torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, censorship, harassment of political opposition, or even extrajudicial killing.
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