The European Union ambassador to Gambia, Attila Lajos, has said that the EU is in talks with the Gambia Government to deport thousands of undocumented Gambians.

Lajos said in a press conference on Wednesday that no agreement has yet been reached and that The Gambia government should comply with her international obligations. He added that the EU is seeking to deport Gambians who are either classed as illegal migrants or failed asylum seekers in Europe.  

“It is part of the discussions because I made it clear last year that those who exhausted their legal possibilities for seeking asylum or legalising their status in member states and if they exhausted all these possibilities those migrants are going to be returned. This is a matter of principle; this is part of the respect for the rule of law. No country wishes to have illegal migrants on its territory.”

The EU ambassador said the recent deportation flights from Germany is being facilitated by an agreement between the governments of Germany and The Gambia.

“Those who were returned have been identified by (German Immigration) services as Gambians and since they exhausted their appeals to stay longer in the territory of Germany, they were decided to be deported. But that’s not what the EU is discussing in the sense that this particular flight was a German flight. It was not an EU sponsored return operation.”

About 35 Gambians have so far been deported from Germany this year after an agreement was reached with the Gambia Government last year. A total of 2,500 Gambians are awaiting deportation from Germany.  

According to the German newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Germany has deported and returned more rejected asylum seekers than any other EU member states.