Leaders from Europe, Africa and the Middle East will meet in Paris this weekend to launch the Mediterranean Union.
The new body aims to strengthen ties between Europe and its southern neighbours.
Many of those migrating to North Africa and Europe come from West and Central Africa.
Their pursuit of a better life takes them on a dangerous journey north across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.
They leave their home countries and travel to transit countries such as Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
There, they begin their journey across desert borders to North Africa and then on to Europe.
Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman traveled to the northeast of Mali and met up with a group of migrants on the first leg of their journey across the Sahara.
afrol News - Huge diamonds found in DRC : "A Canadian mineral exploration firm, Mexivada Mining Corp, has reported the discovery of two large diamonds in its 100% controlled Malambani Permis de Recherche concession, located near Mayoko in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mexivada described the first stone as a white, modified octahedron 7.5 milimetres in diameter while the second stone was a shiny 6 milimetre greenish-white coloured dodecahedral diamond. Each of them weighs 0.1 gram"