FRESH START: Refugees and migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Sunday. Picture: AFP

The gathering of more than 50 leaders from both continents on Tuesday and Wednesday will see an overwhelmed Europe call on Africa to take back more people classed as economic migrants and not refugees from war.

In return, Europe will offer development funds in a fresh thrust by the wealthy EU to tackle the wars and poverty in Africa that are the root cause of nearly a quarter of the nearly 800,000 migrant arrivals in Europe this year.

Eritreans make up the bulk of nearly 140,000 migrants who arrived in Italy from Africa by sea this year, along with 18,000 Nigerians and 8,000 Sudanese, according to International Organisation for Migration figures.

A European diplomat acknowledged the concerns of senior African officials, such as Khadim Diop, Senegal’s minister for African integration.

"We cannot tolerate double standards," Mr Diop said, adding that Europe admits people from the Middle East and central Asia as refugees, while turning away Africans as economic migrants.

Leaders from more than 30 African countries — including Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan — the sources of many people fleeing conflict and repression are among those invited to the meeting.

Also due to attend are the leaders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria in the drought-stricken Lake Chad basin, where 2.5-million people have been displaced by abject poverty and the Boko Haram Islamist militant movement.

The African nations will be asked to approve an action plan aimed at tackling the root causes of mass migration, according to a draft of the document obtained by AFP.

The plan involves Europe sending many economic migrants back home, while opening legal channels for a limited number of others to enter the EU.

African countries were reluctant to take back nationals to avoid losing billions of euros in remittances, which exceed the value of development aid, a European diplomat said.