Brussels, 07/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The latest disaster off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa demonstrates the need for more intensive dialogue between the EU and the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) states to try to find solutions to the challenges of migration, says the ACP Group of states that are linked to the EU through the Cotonou Agreement.
On behalf of the ACP Group, H.E. Fatumanave III Dr Pa'o Luteru, Samoan Ambassador and Chairman of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, expressed his deepest sadness on Friday evening 4 October at the disaster on 3 October when a boat that had set sail from Libya with some 500 illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa on board capsized, leaving only 150 alive. He offered his profound condolences to the countries and the families of those who had lost their lives and empathised with the national mourning declared by the Italian government.
He expressed his “distress and grave concern at the frequent occurrence of this type of tragic incident which serves as a constant reminder of the urgent need to attack the root causes of the circumstances that drive so many ACP nationals to embark on such desperate voyages and to intensify the search for appropriate solutions to the challenges of migration, including through the ACP-EU Dialogue on Migration and Development” for which the Cotonou Agreement makes provision. (AN/transl.fl)