Italy Declares Emergency Over Migrants

Posted on Feb 13, 2011

AP / Elio Desiderio

Migrants from Tunisia are seen on the shores of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, after arriving by boat.

A humanitarian emergency has been declared in Italy after boatloads of migrants from revolution-racked Tunisia began arriving on a tiny Italian isle in the Mediterranean.

The Italian interior minister has said he will ask Tunisia to let Rome send a security team to the African nation to try to stem the tide of departures. —JCL

Al-Jazeera English:

Italy has declared a humanitarian emergency after thousands of migrants sailed across the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia, overwhelming authorities on Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island.

The Italian government said on Sunday that it was planning to deploy security forces on Tunisian soil to stop the waves of illegal immigrants.

“I will ask Tunisia’s foreign minister for authorisation for our forces to intervene in Tunisia to block the flux,” Roberto Maroni, Italy’s interior minister, said in a television interview.

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