Italy launches Libyan airlift of 10,000 migrants

ITALY: Italy has airlifted migrants from Libya to Rome for the first time, with the country’s interior minister pledging to bring another 10,000 by plane next year to save them from people traffickers.

The 162 migrants, mainly women, children and the disabled, were flown to Rome in two Hercules aircraft after being released from detention centres where beatings and torture are common.

Marco Minniti, the Italian interior minister, who was at Ciampino airport to meet the migrants, said: ‘‘This is a historic moment because we have created the first humanitarian corridor to save migrants given refugee status by the UN from the clutches of criminals.’’

It is understood that Italy prefers to airlift refugees because it wants to limit treacherous Mediterranean crossings but also so officials can vet migrants in camps in the North African country and select who they want.

The arrival of migrants in Italy has become a key campaign issue before the general election in March, with right-wing parties encouraging hostility to African migrants waiting on asylum requests at reception centres.

The most recent polls indicate that right-wing parties – including the anti-migrant Northern League – are likely to emerge as the strongest force.

The passengers were chosen by United Nations staff visiting detention centres in Libya that hold African migrants who have travelled north only to fall into the hands of traffickers. Nearly 1000 visits had been made this year.

‘‘For the first time, we have been able to evacuate extremely vulnerable refugees from Libya

"Many of those evacuated spoke of great suffering and were kept prisoners by traffickers in inhuman conditions."

Vincent Cochetel, UN official

directly to Italy,’’ Vincent Cochetel, an official for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said.

‘‘Many of those evacuated spoke of great suffering and were kept prisoners by traffickers in inhuman conditions.’’

The scheme follows humanitarian flights of 1000 Syrians to Italy organised by the religious charity St Egidio.

Italy has been criticised after it trained the Libyan coastguard to intercept migrants as they set sail and return them to land, allegedly handing them back to traffickers.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy this year after being rescued at sea by the Italian coastguard or charity vessels has fallen

34 per cent year-on-year to nearly

119,000 after the increase in Libyan coastguard patrols.

Italy has defended the move to block sailings, claiming it has saved lives. However, 2832 migrants have still drowned on the route this year.

Minniti added that humanitarian aid was arriving in parts of Libya where migrants were being held, and justified the flights on the grounds that only genuine refugees would now arrive in Italy.

– The Times