Italy yesterday appealed for “immediate” European Union assistance and warned of a looming emergency as boatloads carrying hundreds of undocumented immigrants arrived from Tunisia.
Italy “is requesting the immediate deployment of a Frontex mission for patrolling and interception off the Tunisian coast,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the EU’s border security agency based in Warsaw.
The ministry also called for “an urgent political level meeting of the EU’s justice and home affairs council to deal with the immigration emergency.”
“We are asking for an immediate response from the European Union to a situation that Italy cannot deal with on its own,” it added.
Weary-looking immigrants were given blankets and checked out by health officials yesterday as they stepped off dilapidated fishing boats on the tiny island of Lampedusa – some 110 kilometres from Tunisian shores.
Nearly 1,000 immigrants have been brought to the Mediterranean island by coast guards in the past 24-hour period and more boats have been spotted. Most of the new arrivals are sleeping out in the open on the pier in Lampedusa.
“There are people fleeing the strikes and poverty. Some have made asylum requests, others just want to wait and see what happens in Tunisia,” said Federico Fossi, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ms Fossi said a total of around 1,700 Tunisian immigrants including 50 children have arrived in the 20-square-kilometre island since the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14 and the ensuing weeks of unrest.
“There is a risk of a real humanitarian emergency,” Interior Minister Roberto Maroni warned, saying that the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia had triggered a “mass flight” by immigrants towards Italian shores.
Referring to fleeing Tunisians, he said: “There are citizens looking for protection, there are criminals who have escaped from prison and there are figures from terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
“The problem is that the bilateral agreement that we have with Tunisia and which allowed up until now for an efficient management of illegal immigration is not being implemented because of the crisis situation,” Mr Maroni said.
The immigration issue is expected to dominate talks when Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abderraouf Ounais visits Rome as expected next Thursday.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Mr Ounais would “re-confirm the cooperation agreements” on the return of undocumented immigrants.