Italy seeks fresh migrant clampdown as more boats arrive
ROME Italy’s government plans to throw more resources into its fight against boat migrants, an official said on Tuesday, as the number of new arrivals gathers speed, putting pressure on Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Some 47 migrants were brought to shore before dawn by an Italian police patrol vessel, while a charity ship rebuffed by Italy picked up 44 people in the central Mediterranean and said they would be transferred to Malta later in the day. After a sharp fall in migrant arrivals in recent months, numbers have picked up since June, with peoplesmugglers increasingly towing packed boats deep into international waters to escape especially the Italianfunded Libyan coastguard. Previously, the underpowered, rubber dinghies were pushed to sea from local beaches, making it relatively easy for the Libyans to stop them before they left their territorial waters. To clamp down on this, Italy is planning to boost its own sea and air patrols to try to spot traffickers before they leave local waters, and will give 10 motorboats to the Libyan coastguard. Salvini, who has built much of his political credibility on a drive to halt migrant flows, also wrote to his Tunisian counterpart urging him to do more to stop departures from Tunisia and to accept back swiftly those caught fleeing.
Over the past 18 months, the largest number of migrants entering Italy have come from Tunisia, a change from previous years when the new arrivals came mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. Since the start of 2019, some 3,126 migrants have reached Italy, with nationals from Tunisia topping the list, followed by Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Iraq and Bangladesh. More than two thirds of these have been picked up at sea relatively close to land by the Italian navy and coastguard, or else have come to shore directly. (Reuters)