Italy's Salvini likens African immigrants to 'slaves'

The African Union on Tuesday, expressed dismay after Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Premier, Matteo Salvini, had a verbal spat with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

"I'm paid by citizens to help our young people start having children again the way they did a few years ago, and not to uproot the best of the African youth to replace Europeans who are not having children anymore... Maybe in Luxembourg there's this need, in Italy there's the need to help our kids have kids, not to have new slaves to replace the children we're not having." Salvini said.

"The African Union Commission expresses dismay at the comments made by the Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Matteo Salvini, at a recent conference in Vienna at which he likened African immigrants to slaves," the AU said in a statement. 

"It is the view of the African Union that name-calling will not resolve the migration challenges facing Africa and Europe". It continued

"In the interests of constructive engagement on the migration debate between the two continents, the African Union requests the Italian Deputy Prime Minister to retract his derogatory statement about African migrants and further urge Italy to emulate and support other European Union member states, like Spain, which have extended support and protection to migrants in distress, irrespective of their origin and legal status, before their admission status is determined," the AU said.