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On Italian Isle, Migrant Plight Draws Scrutiny
Published on October 5, 2004 By joeKnowledge In Current Events
SOURCE: NY TIMES

On Italian Isle, Migrant Plight Draws Scrutiny
By IAN FISHER
and RICHARD BERNSTEIN

Published: October 5, 2004

OME, Oct. 4 - Hundreds of migrants from Africa in rickety boats have landed in the last few days on Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island, and the Italian government is responding quickly and contentiously, sending most of them back to Libya almost immediately, by airplane.

The crossing to Italy is a treacherous one for the thousands of poor and desperate migrants who each year chance no less than 70 miles of open sea on the Mediterranean. Last weekend, at least 17 people drowned off the coast of Tunisia trying to reach Italy, the official Tunisian news agency reported Monday. Another 47 people, in a boatload of 70 Moroccans and 5 Tunisians, were reported missing.

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Those events underscore a serious problem that European governments have tried, and so far failed, to solve. It is what to do about the flow of asylum seekers coming to Europe, mostly from Asia and Africa, many hundreds of whom have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean after being put into unseaworthy boats by human traffickers.

In recent weeks, European leaders have been sparring over a plan proposed by Germany's interior minister, Otto Schily, to stem the flow by building holding centers in North Africa and allowing only those whose asylum applications are approved there to proceed to Europe.

"It's an offer to help those who are in danger," Mr. Schily said, arguing...





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