From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, Abuja

President of Senegal, Macky Sall, has asked the African Union to halt illegal migration in the African continent.
This is even as he said Senegal has repatriated 2,480 of its citizens from Libya.
Sall made the call during the 2017 second ordinary session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament in Abuja.
Sall particularly urged ECOWAS member states to facilitate the repatriation of its citizens from Libya.
He condemned the slave trade involving migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, saying it was a violation of human rights.
He said the perpetrators of the crime must be apprehended and tried at the International Criminal Court of Justice in The Hague.
The Senegalese President laid emphasis on the need for member countries to enhance cooperation in the fight against illegal migration, human trafficking and modernised slavery.
Sall also urged African governments to put measures in place that would ensure that those who indulge in trafficking in persons would apprehended.
“It is a pure form of violation of human rights that should not go unpunished; these acts should be brought before the international court to dismantle clandestine networks.
“The African Union should sanction such illegal trade of people and the President of the ECOWAS Court should engage in coordinated action to repatriate, without further delay, African citizens in Libya.
“Senegal, in its struggle against such clandestine acts, has repatriated 2,480 citizens from Libya,” Sall said.
Speaking further, Sall said the issue of human trafficking would take the center stage during the fifth African Union-European Union summit in Abidjan at the end of November.
He urged all ECOWAS member states and institutions to propel the implementation of protocols that would remove barriers to integration and enhance development.
“Existence of abnormal practices at the borders which is an aggravated form of corruption goes against the community texts,” Sall added.
In his remarks, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mr Moustapha Cisse Lo, said the ECOWAS Parliament will incredibly work hard to ensure that the parliament fully exercise the new powers conferred unto it.
“This present session is devoted to this responsibility since it will be dedicated, for the first time, to the consideration of the community budget,” the ECOWAS Speaker said.
On his part, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, called for collaboration between the parliament and the executive in order to move the region forward.
Saraki who was represented by the Deputy Senate President and former Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Ike Ekweremadu, said issues confronting the region would receive the greatest attention if there is collaboration between the parliament and the executive.
“This ordinary session is being convened at a most auspicious moment in the history of this Assembly. It is a time of renewed hope for the West African future, with new opportunities, as well as challenges we must find the courage to tackle.

“There are a myriad of issues confronting our people, as well as many impediments to peace and economic growth. The resolutions to these will be borne out of the hard work of committed ECOWAS parliamentarians, working in close collaboration with the regional Executive, in order that we can move West Africa and her peoples forward,” Saraki said.