Despite Giorgia Meloni’s electoral promises, the Central Mediterranean saw a considerable increase in irregular migration in 2023, with the highest figures since statistics began in 2009. This is the observation made by the director of the Frontex agency, the European border and coast guard agency, this Saturday, May 13, 2023.
According to Hans Leijtens, the new head of the European agency Frontex, smugglers of the Libyan and Tunisian coasts have a new business model much more aggressive. The director of the Frontex agency highlights a general decrease in the prices charged to migrants to cross the Mediterranean. This decrease is linked to competition between smuggling networks.
In at least one case reported by Frontex, a boat with migrants on board was sunk by a competing smuggling network, according to our Brussels correspondent, Pierre Benazet. The first quarter of 2023 is the deadliest since 2017 with 441 deaths, according to UN figures.
The Central Mediterranean represents 40,000 irregular entries since the beginning of 2023, with more than half of the total for the European Union. This increase is particularly noticeable from the Tunisian coast: 1 100% more than last year at the same time. Part of the reason for this is that the drop in fares is driving the number of departures.
Italy fears a record year
Since the beginning of the year, the Italian Government has registered four times more people than last year at the same time. With the summer, the Meloni government fears a situation comparable to what we experienced in 2016, the year of all records. The countries from which the most numerous people arrive are Ivory Coast, Ghana and Egypt, according to the nationalities declared. There are also more and more Tunisians and Pakistanis. And Italy fears the future effects of the war in Sudan, explains our correspondent in Rome, Anne Treca.
According to Hans Leijtens, smugglers are now building a new type of boat: metal skiffs built in less than a day on the beaches for less than 1,000 euros per unit. In Sfax, in eastern Tunisia, there was an increase in these boats at sea during patrols with the National Maritime Guard in March 2023. This Friday, May 12, the authorities announced that they had seized metal boats in an olive grove, hidden, waiting for a crossing, reports our correspondent in Tunis, Lilia Blaise.
Very dangerous boats
These makeshift boats are faster than the wooden boats of fishermen, but very fragile, because poorly welded and unreliable in case of bad weather. They easily take on water and are the cause of the many shipwrecks of recent months. As evidenced by the influx of bodies at the morgue of Sfax, at the end of April, it hosted nearly 200 corpses for a capacity of 45 places.
Burial is also a problem because of the lack of space in cemeteries. Faced with this tragic record, the Coast Guard continued to intercept ships and carry out rescues, but they could not detain the survivors, who, once back in port, would try the crossing again. Since the beginning of 2023, 14,000 interceptions have taken place, five times more than in 2022.
