Thread: UPDATE 1-Nearly 1,000 Tunisian migrants reach Italy overnigh

UPDATE 1-Nearly 1,000 Tunisian migrants reach Italy overnight

Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:30pm GMT

* Italy govt declares "humanitarian emergency"

* Foreign minister calls for EU boat, aircraft support

* Tunisia says government will address the problem

(Updates with Tunisian government comment)

ROME, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Nearly 1,000 people escaping turmoil in Tunisia landed on an Italian island overnight on Sunday after the government declared a wave of illegal immigrants a humanitarian emergency.

Struggling local authorities called for more support on Sunday to help handle the increasing stream of migrants into Lampedusa, a Sicilian island closer to Africa than mainland Italy, after thousands of arrivals in the past week.

The situation has alarmed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, which proclaimed a humanitarian emergency following a meeting on Saturday, giving authorities extraordinary powers setting aside normal bureaucracy to control migrant flows, in part by blocking incoming boats off-shore.

The interim government running Tunisia since its president was overthrown last month will discuss the issue, but Italy has yet to make direct contact with it about the problem, a government spokesman told Reuters.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Sunday repeated calls to the European Union for help after one boat sank off Tunisia's coast on Saturday, with at least one migrant reported dead.

"We have to mobilise countries around the Mediterranean which have boats, aircraft, helicopters," Frattini said in an interview with the Corriere Della Sera newspaper.

Authorities have directed migrants to a Lampedusa soccer field while hundreds slept under open skies in its port, wrapped in space blankets. Local hotels and churches have also thrown open facilities.

PATROL BOATS

Italy has called for an urgent EU meeting to work out an efficient response and it wants patrol boats stationed near the Tunisian coast to intercept migrants.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has blamed the new exodus on Tunisian authorities being unable to enforce bilateral accords on curbing illegal immigration after weeks of protests overthrew President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last month.

Maroni, a member of the fiercely anti-immigrant Northern League, said earlier this week that there could be "terrorist infiltrations" among the migrants and criminals could take refuge in Europe under the guise of seeking political asylum.

Italy has also asked the European Commission for help and the situation will be discussed with Tunisia's foreign minister when he visits Rome next week, Maroni said earlier.

Asked how the Tunisian authorities would respond to the migrant problem, government spokesman Tayeb Baccouche told Reuters: "This is a response for the security forces."

"We need to discuss this in the cabinet once we have been alerted by the Italian government because we have not yet been informed directly by the Italian government," he said. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby in Rome and Tarek Amara in Tunis; editing by Jon Boyle)

http://af.reuters.com/article/tunisiaNe ... 13?sp=true

related: http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1184756.html#1184756

As Tunisian migrants begin to arrive, Italy fears 'epic emergency'

By Joshua Keating
Monday, February 14, 2011 - 2:11 PM



More than 4,000 Tunisian migrants have arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in since the fall of longtime strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

On Saturday Italy declared a humanitarian emergency and called for EU assistance.

A spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Simona Moscarelli, said Italy must fly migrants from Lampedusa to the Italian mainland as soon as possible.

"It's quite a critical situation. That's why we are asking the government to organise as many trips, as many flights as possible," she told the BBC's World Today programme, by phone from Lampedusa.

She described the migrants as "a mixed flow" - some were fleeing insecurity in Tunisia, following last month's uprising there, while others were seizing the chance to get to Europe to find work.

There appears to have been some miscommunication between Rome and Brussels as to whether Italy actually asked for help.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a bilateral deal with Ben Ali in 2009 under which the Tunisian leader pledged to keep emigration from his own country, as well as the rest of Africa, under control. The new government has promised to continue the policy, but Italy isn't taking any chances. A state of emergency has been declared, and Interior Minister Roberto Maroni from the anti-immigrant Northern League party has now called for a special EU summit to discuss the "epic emergency" resulting from the revolutions in North Africa.

Mauro Seminara/AFP/Getty Images

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/201 ... _emergency

14 February 2011
Last updated at 14:57 ET

Tunisia migrants: Italy alerts EU amid Lampedusa influx

The influx from Tunisia is putting tiny Lampedusa's resources under severe strain



Italian authorities are struggling to cope with a crisis on the tiny island of Lampedusa after thousands of migrants arrived from Tunisia.

A holding centre designed for 850 people is reported to be overflowing. More than 4,000 migrants are said to have arrived there in recent days.

Since Tunisia overthrew its president last month, police patrols along the coast have been patchy.

EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton has visited Tunis promising support.

She said the EU wanted to be Tunisia's "strongest ally" in pushing towards democracy and announced immediate new financial help of 17m euros (£14m; $23m).

Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is also due to visit the Tunisian capital.

He discussed the influx by phone with Lady Ashton and called for the EU border agency Frontex to help patrol the waters off Lampedusa, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reports.

On Saturday, Italy declared a humanitarian emergency and called for EU assistance.



A spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Simona Moscarelli, said Italy must fly migrants from Lampedusa to the Italian mainland as soon as possible.

"It's quite a critical situation. That's why we are asking the government to organise as many trips, as many flights as possible," she told the BBC's World Today programme, by phone from Lampedusa.

She described the migrants as "a mixed flow" - some were fleeing insecurity in Tunisia, following last month's uprising there, while others were seizing the chance to get to Europe to find work.

Tunisia turmoil

Tunisia's long-time President, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, quit amid a popular uprising later dubbed the Jasmine Revolution.

Frontex says it has not yet received an Italian request for help.

Analysis
Duncan Kennedy

BBC News, Rome

The fear being shared from Rome to Brussels is that the influx of migrants into Italy becomes a tidal wave of people flowing into the EU.

Many of the French-speaking Tunisian migrants have already said they see Italy as a stepping stone to get them into France.

Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, is trying to get the Tunisians to restore the sea patrols that existed before the revolution.

Italy has a similar arrangement with Libya, a deal which has drastically cut the numbers crossing from there in the past year or so.

But the policy has been criticised by human rights groups, who say it is unjust and even illegal.

Immigration has long been a divisive issue in Italy and the government wants to cut the numbers arriving from Tunisia quickly, before it becomes a broader problem.

In the past Frontex has helped Spain to stem a flow of African migrants to the Canary Islands and Frontex currently has a police team in Greece, to stop illegal migrants entering the EU from Turkey.

A Frontex spokeswoman told the BBC that "we are following the situation in Italy very closely and two staff members have gone to Italy over the weekend".

"We've run many joint operations in Italy in the past. The procedure depends on what type of request we have," she said.

Any Frontex deployment to Lampedusa would require days if not weeks of planning, as the EU member states would have to agree on their contributions to the mission, in terms of personnel and equipment.

Crowded boats

Italian officials said another 1,000 migrants arrived on Lampedusa on Sunday, bringing the total to more than 4,000. Most of the migrants are from Tunisia.

The small Sicilian island, which normally has a population of about 5,000 people, is closer to North Africa than the Italian mainland.

The migrants have arrived in small and overcrowded boats.

In Tunisia there have been strikes and clashes on the streets since the uprising, and many police officers have abandoned their posts, leaving what some describe as a state of lawlessness.

Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said on Sunday that Europe was not doing anything to help stop the flow of migrants and that he would request permission from Tunisia for Italian authorities to intervene.

A Tunisian government spokesperson, Tayeb Baccouche, dismissed the statement as "unacceptable", AFP news agency said.

In 2006-09 Frontex conducted patrols in the central Mediterranean, before Italy signed an agreement with Libya to block illegal migration to Europe.

In another operation, called Hermes, Frontex has conducted patrols south of Sardinia, to intercept Algerians and Tunisians trying to reach Europe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12446555

14 February 2011 Last updated at 06:45 ET

In pictures: Tunisian migrants target Italian island













http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12447618

Italy declares state of emergency over influx of 5,000 Tunisian immigrants

A state of emergency has been declared by the Italian government after 5,000 illegal immigrants fleeing riot-torn Tunisia arrived in just five days.


Tunisian immigrants are guarded by policemen upon arrival on the Italian island of Lampedusa Photo: AFP

Nick Pisa in Rome
5:23PM GMT 13 Feb 2011

Coastguard officials said that in just one 12-hour period 977 had arrived, with many more boats seen on radar screens approaching from north Africa.

The vessels carrying the illegal immigrants had all arrived on the tiny volcanic island of Lampedusa, which is just 60 miles from the Tunisian coast and the lone accommodation centre was struggling to cope.

Extra coastguard and navy patrols were dispatched to the waters between Lampedusa and Tunisia in an attempt to block the influx.

On Sunday, Tunisia sent security forces to coastal areas to stop the exodus.

Roberto Maroni, the interior minister, said the emergency had been declared because they feared "possible terrorists" had infiltrated the illegal immigrants and would then slip into the country.

He added that there was a risk that some of those who were trying to enter Italy could have come from prisons that were stormed during the unrest last month and had escaped.

Maurizio Massari, a foreign ministry spokesman, said: "The influx of illegal immigrants from Tunisia needs to be dealt with utmost urgency for national security.

"There is the possibility of infiltration by criminals who have escaped from prison or terrorists trying to get into Europe via our shores – that's why we need a European response.

"Italy has asked for an urgent meeting with the European Council of Justice and Internal Affairs to coordinate a European response to this new emergency."

To cope with the vast numbers many of the illegal immigrants were being ferried to the nearby larger island of Sicily where there were more accommodation centres.

Calm seas meant that dozens of boats were making the short crossing – which is the equivalent of travelling from London to Brighton – and more were expected in the coming days.

Lampedusa harbour master Antonio Morena said: "We have had hundreds and hundreds of people arrive, more than we can cope with and they are being moved on by sea and air to Sicily.

"The sea is calm and the weather is good and so that means the boats will keep coming – we can see them on the radar screens and the last time we looked there were at least another ten."

The influx comes after the fall of Tunisia's veteran ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14 and the ensuing weeks of social unrest and lawlessness.

One woman trying to flee to Italy said: "The situation in Tunisia is still very bad. Prices are going up, there is unrest and there is still violence. Women are being raped and people are being robbed."

Tunisia's foreign minister, Ahmed Ounaies, resigned. The 75-year-old retired diplomat joined the reshuffled transition government formed on January 27 by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi.

In the first government of national unity announced on January 17 he had been appointed secretary of state at the foreign ministry.

He had barely resumed work since returning from a visit to France on February 4, diplomatic sources said.

He had been heckled by foreign ministry staff on February 7 demonstrating outside and inside the ministry demanding his immediate departure after the Paris visit, as a result of which he took his personal belongings and left.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rants.html