On Wednesday, Italian security sources announced that about 260 illegal migrants were disembarked on the island of Lampedusa, during seven ship docking operations.
The sources added that the Italian Coast Guards intercepted two boats coming from Libya, carrying 175 migrants on board. They indicated that all the migrants were transferred to the Imbriacula region, to undergo medical tests for COVID-19. The Italians added that the migrants will then be taken to the floating quarantine ship, off Lampedusa.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on Saturday evening that Germany, France, Portugal, and Luxembourg would each take their share of migrants, along with Italy.
Libya has emerged as a major transit point for migrants, and refugees fleeing to Europe. Most migrants make the perilous journey in ill-equipped, and unsafe rubber boats. The IOM claimed in March that the estimated death toll among migrants, had passed the “grim milestone” of 20,000 deaths, since 2014.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, major maritime rescue charities, such as Ocean Viking and Sea-Watch, have suspended rescue operations. Travel disruptions have also forced the UN refugee and migration agencies to halt their resettlement flights.
In recent years, the European Union has partnered with the Libyan Coast Guard and other forces, to halt the flow of migrants. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of brutal armed groups, or confined in squalid and overcrowded detention centres that lack adequate food and water.
The EU agreed earlier this year to end an anti-migrant smuggler operation, involving only surveillance aircraft. It has instead deployed military ships to concentrate on upholding a widely flouted UN arms embargo that is considered key to winding down Libya’s relentless war.