International News
Poland Resumes Border Checks With Germany In Anti-Migrant Clampdown
Border guards and military police could be seen looking into passing cars and occasionally stopping vehicles for document checks on the bridge connecting the Polish town of Slubice with Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany.
The new checks are a response to growing anti-migrant sentiment on both sides of the border.
Poland says hundreds of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, cross into the Baltic states from Belarus every month, then travel through Poland into Germany.
The issue has become a particularly sensitive one in Polish domestic politics and has led to tensions with Germany.
Warsaw has accused Berlin of sending the irregular migrants it manages to intercept back into Poland.
“The checks being implemented aim to combat illegal migration,” Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak was quoted as saying by his ministry on X.
Shortly after the new checks came into force on Monday, Polish border guards detained a man for assisting irregular migration.
The Estonian national is accused of transporting four irregular migrants, believed to be from Afghanistan.
Siemoniak said the detention was “proof that these checks are necessary”.
‘Ping-Pong Game’
Germany, which introduced checks on the border with Poland in 2023, has welcomed the Polish initiative and called for collaboration against a common problem.
Speaking to the daily Rheinische Post, the head of German police union GdP, Andreas Rosskopf, said the two countries needed a “workable procedure”.
He warned against Polish and German border guards engaging in a “ping-pong game” with asylum seekers by sending them back and forth.
Representatives of German business associations have also voiced concern.
“We are receiving worrying feedback from the business community,” Helena Melnikov, chief executive of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
“If commuters can no longer get to work reliably and on time at the German-Polish border, there is an increased risk that they will look for work elsewhere on a permanent basis—with consequences for the shortage of skilled workers in border regions,” she said.
Marek Klodnicki, an administrative employee who lives in Slubice but works in Germany, said the reintroduction of border controls was “very sad”.
“We have waited so long for open borders,” he said, adding that the checks would result in “a disruption in social and economic life.”
Business owners, particularly hairdressers and tobacco shops, which get a lot of custom from Germans crossing the border, also voiced concern the checks could disrupt business.
“Ninety percent of our customers are Germans. We may have less traffic, less revenue,” Kinga Dziuba, a 29-year-old cigarette vendor, told AFP.
But Dziuba said the checks were “very much needed” to control migration, adding, “Security is more important to me than trade.”
The issue of migration was central to June’s presidential election in Poland, where nationalist Karol Nawrocki—who ran on a slogan of “Poland first, Poles “first”—narrowly defeated the candidate backed by pro-European Union Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Tusk government is now seeking to outflank its rivals by taking a tougher approach to immigration.
Checks ‘Unnecessary’
In total, 52 checkpoints have been set up on the border with Germany and 13 with Lithuania, Siemoniak said.
The controls will last from July 7 to August 5 but could be extended.
They will mostly consist of spot inspections, particularly of vehicles carrying several people, officials said.
Nationalist and far-right politicians accuse Tusk’s government of having “abdicated” to Germany on migration and of allowing Berlin to overwhelm Poland with migrants.
In June, members of a far-right movement gathered at several points along the border to set up “citizens’ patrols,” which the government insists are illegal.
In Slubice, Edyta Taryma, a 54-year-old hair salon owner, said her revenues had already dropped by 20 percent after Germany re-imposed border controls.
“A great many people did not come, or came less often, because they were afraid of traffic jams,” she said.
She called the checks “unnecessary.”
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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