Switzerland has restarted repatriation flights of rejected asylum seekers to Nigeria, after a break of ten months. Flights to Lagos were put on hold after the death in March last year of a failed Nigerian asylum seeker as he was about to board the plane at Zurich airport. The deputy director of the Federal Migration Office, Eveline Gugger Bruckdorfer, confirmed on Swiss television on Thursday evening that three Nigerians had left Switzerland for Lagos via Vienna late on Wednesday. Switzerland and Nigeria agreed in November to resume repatriation flights and a memorandum of understanding on migration is due to be signed at ministerial level between the two countries later this year. According to the Migration Office, this will strengthen long-term cooperation. It will be the first such accord between Switzerland and an African country that deals with a global approach to migration issues. Switzerland has signed three similar accords, all with Balkan countries. In 2010, a total of 1,969 Nigerian citizens asked for asylum in Switzerland. In the same period, Bern declined to consider the requests of 1,670 asylum seekers from Nigeria under the terms of the Dublin Agreement, which establishes which country is responsible for an asylum application.
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