Pressure on EU's southern borders from African migrants seen persisting in 2018

Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri briefs the media on the findings of the EU border agency's Risk Analysis Report for 2018, in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's southern borders in the Mediterranean will remain under heavy pressure from African migrants trying to reach Europe this year, the head of the EU's border agency Frontex said on Tuesday.

Nearly 119,000 Africans were caught trying to get to the EU last year on smugglers' boats departing from Libya, more than 42,000 from Turkey to Greece and another 23,000 heading from Algeria and Morocco to Spain, Fabrice Leggeri said.