Stop migrants on shores of Africa says Italy’s minister

‘Under enormous pressure’

MIGRANTS travelling to Europe need to be stopped on the shores of Africa – not welcomed to Italy, the country’s interior minister said yesterday.

Most migrants at sea are taken straight to Italian ports – 83,000 this year already.

Italian interior minister Marco Minniti suggested the only option is a border system similar to the controls put in place by Britain – with immigration checks carried out on the other side of the Channel.

Mr Minniti called for processing of migrants in Libya, the main port of embarkation for people-trafficking vessels.

The politician suggested refugees could be granted asylum and sent on to Europe, while the rest could be ‘voluntarily repatriated’, to their homes, mostly in subSaharan Africa.

He said Italy was bearing the brunt of seaborne mass migration, putting the country ‘under enormous pressure’.

Arrivals in Italy are up 19 per cent on last year, while 2,160 have drowned while sailing to Europe.

Mr Minniti said: ‘We have to distinguish before they set off between those who have a right to humanitarian protection and those who don’t.

‘And, on the basis of the decisions made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, we must ensure the former depart for Europe while economic migrants are voluntarily repatriated.’

It may be difficult to establish European asylum assessment centres in Libya because the country has been in chaos since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

Mr Minniti’s proposal came as he called on other European nations to take their fair share of arrivals. Although there is a dispersal scheme of asylum seekers from Italy to the rest of Europe, in practice only 5,000 were sent on in the 18 months to this spring, far short of the 35,000 target.

Mr Minniti said: ‘If the only ports refugees are taken to are Italian, something is not working.’

Last week an Italian senator claimed aid agency vessels may be seized if they do not abide by a proposed code of conduct to discourage them waiting for boats just off the Libyan coast before rescuing migrants and taking them to Italy. But charities say they have to be close because the boats are so unseaworthy.