Brussels, 03/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 March, the Frontex agency launched the joint operation, Poseidon 2011, to replace the Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT), which were deployed in Greece alongside the Evros River on 2 November 2010, ending on Wednesday 2 March. The new mission, to be operational until end 2011, will, like RABIT, be aimed at overseeing illegal migration along the border with Turkey. Poseidon 2011 is an extension of the Poseidon land mission which already existed for Greece, and should also extend this time along the border between Bulgaria and Turkey.
On Thursday, Frontex took this handover to draw up what has been achieved by RABIT, that it considers a success. Operation RABIT, which involved some 200 border guards from all member states, allowed the average number of migrants crossing the Greek-Turkish border to be reduced by 76%. Between 2 November 2010 and 1 March 2011, a total of 11,809 migrants were detected as they prepared to cross the border illegally, the agency said. The operation also allowed over this same period the arrest of 34 smugglers from Turkey, Afghanistan, Palestine and Georgia, Frontex points out. Early in 2011, the agency notes, movements observed have remained more or less identical, with an average of 58 migrants being detected daily. Before RABIT, this average number had peaked in October 2010 with about 245 detections each day.
European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström welcomed RABIT's success, saying in a press release that the mission had made a considerable contribution towards “stabilising the situation at the Greek land border with Turkey” and the number of unlawful entries. She called on all member states to continue to support Greece with their full commitment to Operation Poseidon 2011.
At another level, in relation to Lampedusa, the Frontex border control agency has also begun to deploy a mission responsible for controlling the flow of illegal migrant arrivals, namely Operation Hermes that is to run until 31 March. Ten member states are involved in this operation, contributing human resources, aircraft and vessels. The operation was set in place further to the arrival of thousands of Tunisians at Lampedusa in mid-February. On Wednesday 2 March, 500 new arrivals had been registered on the island, with 151 during the night of Wednesday to Thursday, Italian media reports state. These migrants come mainly from Tunisia. (S.P./transl.jl)