Not kidding.
The members of the European Union really, really don't want refugees.
More than one million asylum-seekers arrived in Europe from Turkey last year, most of whom crossed the sea from Turkey in rubber boats. In March, the European Union 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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So much so that now the Germans are going to help a world leader wanted for genocide set up "closed detention camps" in his country.
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.
Gael Grilhot / AFP / Getty Images
The plan was supposed to remain a secret, according to classified documents obtained by German media. "Europe's reputation could be at stake," one high-level EU staffer said.
"'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 that the plan outlines $45 million for eight countries it calls "dictatorships" in the African horn — 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.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
The EU knows it might not be the best idea to give surveillance and detention equipment to governments accused of genocide and torture.
"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.
Ashraf Shazly / AFP / Getty Images
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