DAKAR, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Mali's president stood side-by-side with top officials from France and the European Union at the opening Monday of the EU's first African immigration information centre.

Set up to warn of the risks of illegal immigration, it opened its doors in the Malian capital Bamako. The West African nation is an important transit point for Africans heading to Europe in hopes of finding a better life.

The European Union hopes such information centres will not only curb illegal immigration but also help those who want to move to Europe legally, French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux said at the opening.

'This centre will allow us to work on all aspects of the issue: to facilitate legal migration and inform people of the possibilities for legal migration; to show people the risks of illegal immigration and to battle against it,' he explained.

'Illegal immigration is a wild dream, rushing towards an Eldorado that doesn't exist anymore,' he warned.

'Mali and France will have to find solutions to our common problems,' said Mali's President Amadou Toumanu Toure.

'Let's speak clearly, a solution of 100 percent security is not realistic but neither is (a) 100 percent humanitarian solution. The real trouble is finding work for young people,' he added.

Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Human Aid, said the centre was about promoting a more positive conception of emigration.

'It is a bridge that unites African and Europe and which should avoid the voyages by dug-out boats that have led to thousands of deaths,' he added, referring to the often fatal crossings attempted by would-be immigrants.

One Senegalese watching the proceedings, who had spent time in Europe as an illegal immigrant, said the centre was a symbol that people like him had not been forgotten.

'For me, to build a centre like this, it shows me that Europe and Africa agree that they need to think about us,' the man, who did not give his name, said.

The Centre for Migration Information and Management, known by its initials CIGEM, not only advises would-be immigrants but will also help returned immigrants pick up their lives in their home country.

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, try to reach Europe from West Africa each year.

Mamadou, a young Malian who was deported from France as an illegal immigrant five years ago, was also impressed by the the French minister's views.

'I like this speech, this is how we should see things,' he told AFP.

'If he (Hortefeux) wants, we can help him so that our friends who don't have any papers and are having are a hard time in France, or elsewhere in Europe, can return to find work here,' Mamadou vowed.

About one third of all Malians, some four million people, live abroad, mostly in other African countries such as Ivory Coast and Senegal but about 200,000 Malians reside in Europe.

The money that these immigrants send home accounts for some 10 percent of Mali's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The West African nation is one of the poorest countries in the world, but because of its stability and its democratic institutions has been looked upon favourably by international donors.

France, the former colonial ruler, is one of the main destinations for Malian immigrants in Europe and some 120,000 Malians live there. Figures show that only some 45,000 Malians live in France legally, usually getting by on low-paid jobs.