Radio Erena: 25 May 2015
Report by Amanuel Ghirmai Bahta
France has granted political asylum to 120 Eritrean immigrants, who have been living in the port city of Calais waiting to crossover to neighboring the Great Britain.
The Eritreans were granted a 10-year-residence permit at an unannounced visit by a delegation led by the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and employees of the OFPRA (French office for protection of refugees and apartheid) handling the case of the Eritrean immigrants, confirmed by the French news media.
The media outlet also underlined that the Eritreans were the only ones among hundreds of immigrants in Calais who were granted the residence permit and that their cases haven’t gone under serious scrutiny before being granted the permit.
In a French immigration law, a political asylum is normally granted between 6 to 12 months, after a thorough investigation is conducted on the respective case.
In the recent action on the Eritrean immigrants, the French authorities were reported to grant asylum to any immigrant who is identified as an Eritrean national, especially, females and women with families.
According to reports, there are 2000 immigrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria in the Calais who are waiting to cross to Great Britain.
France encourages the immigrants to apply for asylum in the country instead of crossing to neighboring Great Britain, noted the reports. On the other hand, it also works on security its boarders with Italy to contain the extreme overflow of immigrants.
EU member states are dividing on the issue the dramatic growth of immigrants throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, the Italian Coastguard has rescued a boat carrying hundreds of Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrants over the last couple of days.
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