Friday, May 6, 2011

Nearly 800 immigrants landed on Lampedusa

At least 760 immigrants from Africa have borrowed again on Thursday makeshift boats to travel on the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to police and the captaincy of the island's main port. Taking advantage of good weather, four boats had already landed, and a fifth was expected overnight. Most newcomers come from sub-Saharan Africa, and often flee the war in Libya.

A minority is made up of Tunisians. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 30,000 migrants from North Africa landed in Italy, especially after the riots in Tunisia and Libya. They came mostly on the island of Lampedusa, Italian territory of 20 km2 located within 100 kilometers of the North African coast.

The representative of Italy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Laurens Jolles, criticized the press to "alarmist tone" adopted by the Italian authorities to discuss immigration from Africa. According to Mr. Jolles, 23,000 people have arrived since the beginning of Tunisia and most of them have already been distributed in other European countries.

In the same period, about 8,000 migrants from Libya to war, while 700,000 others fleeing the fighting in that country were granted in Tunisia, Egypt and other African countries, noted that UNHCR's response .

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