EU seeks to curb African migrants

European Union leaders offered African counterparts aid and better access to Europe at a summit on Wednesday in return for help curbing chaotic migration across the Mediterranean and promises to take back those Europe expels.

With Europeans' attention now gripped by over 500,000 Syrians and others whose arrival has plunged the EU into crisis, memories have faded of the drowned Africans whose deaths in April prompted the Malta summit. Refugee haven Sweden imposed border controls as the leaders met.

But a 17-page Action Plan, seen by Reuters, to be signed in Valletta on Thursday, sets out dozens of initiatives. Many build on decades of stuttering cooperation between the world's poorest continent and wealthy but aging Europe, where many leaders are uneasy about their proximity to Africa's booming population.