Extending Europe’s Borders to Africa

Tens of thousands of migrants who arrived in Europe will soon learn that they risked their lives for nothing as their asylum applications are rejected. To forestall future rejections in Europe, Leaders from France, Germany, Italy and Spain met with representatives from Libya, Chad and Niger at the Paris summit on August 28. The summit concluded with the agreement to set up pre-asylum hubs in Africa. Europe hopes to thus get better control over the migration flow within Africa itself.

The meeting’s instigator and strongest supporter, Emmanuel Macron, called the summit the most effective and far-reaching meeting in months .

After Europe faced the influx of over a million refugees in 2015, European Union members have worked intensely on solving the crises. But the process moved slowly because of great division between EU members and their inability to find a common solution. Europe’s agreement with Turkey in 2016 only reduced the refugee flow over the east of the Mediterranean while the central route remained open.

The main routes migrants currently take to reach the Mediterranean lead them through Niger, Chad and Libya. Thus Macron invited to the Paris summit the presidents of Chad and Niger as well as the head of the United Nations-backed government in Libya. Macron hopes that, in future, asylum seekers will be approved or rejected in Africa before they attempt to journey to Europe. The migrants, while still in Africa, can then be redirected to their home countries if their asylum has been denied.

German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that the agreement, in essence, means that Europe extends its borders to Africa. Eva Ottavy, of the French charity Cimade, told Agence France-Presse: “We’re extending the European border farther and farther away.”

This latest measure has been taken despite the fact that the number of refugees arriving in Italy has already declined by 50 percent compared to 2016. Conditions in North Africa, on the other hand, have deteriorated. The area is plagued by terrorism and is facing an increase in traffickers. The refugees’ desperation drives them to Europe for financial aid and military support.

The European powers have a supplementary interest in the region that preceded the refugee crises. Prior to World War ii, Europe had a strong colonial influence in the region, which it lost in the war’s aftermath. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has warned that the refugee crises will again bring European combat boots to the North African shores—shores Europe was forced to leave at the end of World War ii. He wrote:

Since dictator Muammar Qadhafi was ousted by a Western bombing campaign in 2011, the northern African nation of Libya has been taken over by dueling militant factions and jihadist fighters. When Qadhafi was removed, I warned that what would take his place would be thousands of times worse.

Look at what has happened since! The resulting chaos has provoked hundreds of thousands of refugees to get on boats and head to Malta and southern Italy. Over 170,000 migrants landed in Italy in 2014! In 2015, the number of immigrants moving into Europe from Syria surpassed those from Libya. But now that the path to Europe through Turkey has been virtually closed, Europeans are once again seeing refugees move through Libya. Italian officials fear that as many as 270,000 migrants will try to get to Italy this year [2016].

This is a major problem for Europe. The EU knows it needs to act! The situation in Libya is a good pretext for the Europeans to move down to secure this area so critical to controlling the Mediterranean.

Mr. Flurry’s prediction could not have been more accurate. Today we see Italy and other key European nations working to gain greater control over the Mediterranean and North Africa. As the EU extends its borders to again encompass North Africa, it looks more and more like its ancient forerunner: the Roman Empire. It was that very empire that Adolf Hitler tried to resurrect and bring to even greater power. As Mr. Flurry explained in his article “Mediterranean Battle Escalating Into World War iii! ” Europe seeks to resurrect that empire again.

The parallels are striking. Intentionally or subconsciously, European leaders are reshaping its borders to match its forerunner’s. Read our book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy to learn what this empire did anciently and how the Bible foretells its final resurrection. What’s even more striking, a prophecy in Daniel 2 assures us that this will be the last kingdom of man to rule Earth before God intervenes supernaturally to establish His Kingdom. ▪