Sweden struggles to integrate Muslim immigrants

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

MALMOE, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden has welcomed immigrants with open arms for decades but now it is grappling with how to integrate them into society, especially in the southern town of Malmoe amid a massive influx of refugees.

Once a thriving industrial town with full employment, Malmoe has seen many of its plants shut down since the 1990s. That, combined with a never-ending stream of foreigners arriving, has led to rising juvenile delinquency and rampant unemployment.

Of the town's 280,000 inhabitants, a third are foreigners and 60,000 are Muslims.

"We are an open city. We see these immigrants as a resource for our society," Malmoe's Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu told AFP.

"The problem is that we have welcomed too many immigrants at the same...