In shift, Tunisians top migrant groups reaching Italy by sea

More boats carrying Tunisian asylum-seekers reached a tiny sourn Italian island Monday, part of a steady stream this year from ecomically struggling rth African country that is sorely testing Italy’s small town mayors’ ability to safely quarantine m amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Tunisian migrants are w biggest single national group reaching Italy by sea, and in a sign of concern Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese flew to Tunis on Monday for a meeting with her Tunisian counterpart.

Hours earlier, two vessels carrying a total 18 Tunisians arrived at Lampedusa, a tourist destination about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Tunisia and 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Sicily.

One held 11 people, wearing sunglasses and shorts, carrying knapsacks and water bottles and a poodle on a leash, Italy’s ANSA news ncy said. It said ir boat was intercepted by Italian coast guard, which transferred m to a rubber dinghy to take m ashore.

second boat reached a reef near a popular Lampedusa swimming beach, where an Italian border police boat spotted seven occupants just as y set foot on land, ANSA said.

In first six months of this year, 9,725 migrants — including some 1,500 Tunisians — have reached Italy by sea, according to U.N. refugee ncy figures, compared to 11,471 in all of 2019. That’s a fraction of nearly 120,000 people rescued at sea from Libyan-based traffickers’ flimsy boats and brought to Italy in 2017, or more than 181,000 who arrived in peak year, 2016.

Tunisia is in deep ecomic and social crisis worsened by pandemic and ensuing lockdown. In June, hundreds of unemployed Tunisians from around country tried to march on parliament to demand a law guaranteeing jobs, and skirmished with police who blocked ir way.

Unemployment was a key driver of protests that overthrew Tunisia’s autocratic president and unleashed Arab Spring uprisings in 2011..

In Italy, need to test migrants for coronavirus and quarantine m has complicated logistics in small port cities or in sourn towns where migrants are frequently transferred.

Near Sicilian town of Caltanissetta on Sunday, some 180 migrants supposed to be in precautionary quarantine fled ir residence, although by Monday at least 125 of m had been found near town. Italian news reports said.

Caltanissetta Mayor Roberto Gambi said ne of m had tested positive for coronavirus. Still, he said he was writing to Minister Lamorgese about a situation described as unmanable.