TUNIS, Sept 13, 2012 (AFP)
TUNIS, Sept 13, 2012 (AFP)
Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem travelled to Rome on Thursday for talks on the problem of illegal migration across the Mediterranean, a week after dozens died when their boat sank off Italy’s coast.
Abdessalem was to meet his Italian counterpart Giulio Terzi and Interior Minister Annamaria Cancellieri, Tunisia’s TAP news agency reported.
He will also visit the Italian island of Lampedusa, the closest to the coast of north Africa and a favoured destination for illegal African migrants heading to Europe.
The trip comes less than a week after a boat loaded with migrants sank 12 nautical miles off Lampedusa, with just 56 of the 110 passengers rescued from the old 10-metre (33-foot) fishing vessel.
The survivors, apparently all Tunisians, were taken to a reception centre on the island.
The Islamist-led Tunisian government, which took two days to react to the disaster, has been heavily criticised for what the opposition described as a “failure of government policy.”
Each year, thousands of illegal migrants attempt the crossing of the Mediterranean in often overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels in a bid to reach the European Union.
