Brussels, 7/03/2011 (Agence Europe) Almost 1,000 migrants, mainly from Tunisia, arrived on the island of Lampedusa in Italy during the night of Sunday 6 March to Monday 7 March. 850 migrants arrived in 11 separate embarkations during the night, following on from around 100 or so migrants who arrived at the weekend, the AFP press agency indicated. AFP added that due to the more favourable weather conditions forecast until Tuesday, other migrants from Tunisia are expected on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 March. Last week, 350 people were registered on arrival on the island following a “peak” in the middle of February, when more than 3,000 Tunisians arrived in Lampedusa.
According to AFP, all migrants are expected to be transferred to the reception centre on the island where there are already 1,000 people in an 850 bed capacity centre. Following the alarmist declarations made in the middle of February and Italy's request for EU aid, the Italian authorities now appear to estimate that the situation is under control. According to AFP, the mayor of Lampedusa, Bernardino De Rubeis, spoke to the Italian minister for home affairs, Roberto Maroni, on Sunday who assured him that “air and maritime transport operations would resume on Monday to transfer illegal migrants to other reception centres”, mainly in Crotone in Calabria and Porto Empedocle, near Agrigente.
On 20 February, the Frontex agency set up the Hermes mission to help the Italian authorities tackle the arrival of these migrants on their shores. Several experts were deployed to help the Italian authorities identify migrants. Most of the latter were young men looking for jobs in Europe, explained Frontex a few days ago.
So far, no direct flow from Libya has been observed in Lampedusa. The Libyan situation and its “migratory” consequences will, however, be on the agenda of the European special summit focusing on Libya on Friday 11 March. Bangladeshis, moreover, have arrived in Crete from Libya and there have been a number of fatalities amongst them. (S.P./transl.fl)