4,000
immigrants reach Italy by boat in 48 hours – as minister calls for EU help
Boats from Africa and Middle East are arriving at the fastest rate since
a naval operation to handle influx began last year
Italy says 4,000
immigrants have reached its shores by boat in the past two days – the highest
number since it began a naval operation to handle the influx after two
shipwrecks last year.
"The
landings are non-stop and the emergency is increasingly glaring," the
interior minister, Angelino Alfano, said. "Right now two merchant ships
are rescuing two boats with 300 and 361 people aboard. It appears there's at
least one corpse on board." Alfano estimated that 15,000 migrants crossing
the Mediterranean had been rescued so far this year.
He claims up to
600,000 people from Africa and the Middle East are ready to set off from Libyan
shores. "Europe must take the situation in hand. It cannot say that,
having given €80m (£66m) to Frontex, the problem has been resolved," he
said, referring to the European Union's border control agency. "There are
death merchants who profit from this people-trafficking and who send out
requests for help just 30 to 40 miles after leaving the Libyan coasts."
Italy began its
naval operation after more than 400 migrants from Eritrea and Syria perished in
twin tragedies off Italian shores in October 2013.
Five navy ships
are currently operating in the region south of the tiny Italian island of
Lampedusa, which has become one of the biggest gateways for irregular migration
into the European Union. Italy said it had rescued around 2,500 of the 4,000
arrivals and that others were being intercepted by merchant ships and
coastguard vessels.
This is the
highest number over a 48-hour period since the naval operation began, a
spokesperson said. Italy reported a 60% increase in asylum claims last year –
mainly people fleeing the war in Syria – although numbers of arrivals are still
lower than after the Arab Spring revolts in 2011.
The latest
increase comes just ahead of European parliament elections next month. The
anti-immigration Northern League – a small opposition party – was quick to
weigh in on the issue, urging Alfano to stop the arrivals "by turning them
back". But Silvia Canciani, a spokeswoman for the Association for Legal
Studies on Immigration, played down the scale of the new influx.
"The
number of people arriving is increasing, but it is only becoming an emergency
because of the bad management of Italy's asylum system," she said. She
said the new arrivals would probably be taken to private accommodation such as
hotels "because there is no more space" in Italy's asylum and
immigration centres, warning that vulnerable migrants such as minors risked not
receiving the care they needed.
"This is
very similar to the North Africa emergency in 2011. The Italian government is
repeating the same mistakes," she said.
