ROME - Some 1,000 Tunisians have fled the chaos in their homeland and arrived by boat on a tiny Italian island, prompting Italy to demand Friday that the European Union take stronger action to prevent an uncontrolled wave of migrants from North Africa.
Since Jan. 16, about 1,600 Tunisians have landed in Italy, the UN refugee agency says, mostly on the island of Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland. Half of them arrived in recent days.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said he feared Tunisian terrorists were among those who escaped Tunisian prisons and fled during a month of nationwide anti-government protests that forced dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee on Jan. 14.
"There is the risk of a real and true humanitarian emergency," Maroni said Friday, adding he has asked the EU to take up the issue since it was affecting Europe's internal security.
The high numbers of late have been an anomaly, given the reduced flow of illegal immigrants after Italy's 2008 agreement with Libya to return would-be migrants without screening them first for asylum. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has condemned that policy as a violation of would-be migrants' rights to seek asylum and flee oppression, humanitarian crises and war.
The policy, nevertheless, has worked in reducing the number of boat arrivals in Italy: In 2008, before it went into effect, about 36,000 migrants arrived illegally; by 2009 the number had fallen to 9,500, and in 2010 to 4,300, UNHCR said.
Maroni said Friday the surge in Tunisian arrivals stemmed from the political unrest, as Tunisia was no longer honoring a bilateral agreement to manage immigration. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he would meet next week with new Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaies to discuss reactivating the immigration accords.
"It's a real alarm," Frattini said. "We are in the presence of a true migratory emergency and we don't believe that Italy is the only place where they'll arrive and remain."
He said Europe should start thinking in longer terms about a "Marshall Plan" for affected Mediterranean countries to stimulate their economies and provide opportunities for young people so they don't feel compelled to leave.
The UNHCR's Federico Fossi said UN refugee workers were arriving in Lampedusa on Friday to assess the situation. The island's immigration holding center has closed, so some migrants are being housed in hotels while others have been shipped to other centers.
