ITALY YESTERDAY had difficulties in its dealings with both the European Union and the government of Tunisia as it struggled to contain what interior minister Roberto Maroni has termed “a biblical exodus” towards Italy of Tunisian boat people.
Last night Mr Maroni said that since January 15th, in the wake of the ousting of Tunisian president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, some 5,278 refugees, mainly Tunisian, had landed in Sicily, leading to the arrest of 26 traffickers and seizure of 41 boats.
The “exodus” to Italy has increased dramatically in recent days, said Laura Boldrini, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner For Refugees, with approximately 4,500 people landing in Sicily in the last four days.
Earlier yesterday Mr Maroni complained that Italy had been left “entirely alone” to deal with this latest wave of boat people. The EU “is doing absolutely nothing” and is “too slow and bureaucratic”, he added.
That criticism prompted a lively exchange with EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, whose spokesperson said she was “very surprised” by Italian comments.
The spokesperson said Ms Malmstrom had in fact contacted Mr Maroni on Saturday but had been told that Italy did not, at that stage, require the assistance of the European Commission.
Despite this “negative response”, the commissioner, nonetheless, alerted both the EU border agency Frontex and the EU asylum support office, asking them to assess just how the EU might assist Italy.
Last night, Mr Maroni repeated his previous appeal for help, arguing that Italy might require emergency funding of up to €100 million to handle the crisis.
As most of the boat people were landing on the tiny Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, off the Sicilian coast, the interior ministry yesterday decided to reopen its refugee reception centre, closed last March because of much reduced clandestine immigration, then coming mainly from Libya.
Italian authorities believe the only effective curb on clandestine immigration is to block boat people at their point of departure. Consequently, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini last night travelled to Tunis to hold talks with Tunisian prime minister Mohammed Gannouchi.
Mr Maroni had previously suggested that Italy would consider sending a contingent of its own military forces to Tunisia to “handle this emergency” because of its current political confusion. However, Tunisia has rejected this offer, calling it an “interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs”.
Meanwhile, a report yesterday on the Arab website “Attounisia” has claimed that 29 Tunisian boat people had been drowned off the Tunisian coast, near Gabes, following a reported ramming by a Tunisian navy motor boat.