Italy, Greece to help evacuations from Libya-Tunisia border

Mar 3, 2011, 16:51 GMT

Rome/Athens - Ships and planes from Italy and Greece are to assist in repatriating tens of thousands of Egyptians stranded on Tunisia's border with Libya.

Italy also intends to send a ship with medical and food supplies to the Libyan city of Benghazi which is currently controlled by forces attempting to oust leader Moamer Gaddafi.

'We have information that thousands have been injured (in the fighting) some of them seriously,' Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, said speaking at a news conference in Rome.

The Italian mission to Tunisia will begin within the next 48 hours with the dispatching of ships carrying supplies to set up a refugee camp in Ras Ejder, a Tunisian coastal town near the Libyan border, Frattini said. The facility would be run together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), he said.

'The mission follows a request by Tunisian and Egyptian authorities. At the moment there are 77,000 people (refugees from Libya) in Tunisia 70 per cent of whom are Egyptian,' Frattini said.

The Italian government has so far allocated 5 million euros (6.9 million dollars) to finance the mission which will mostly involve military ships but also a tourist ferry boat.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, speaking at the same news conference, said Italy is also offering police personnel to 'help control' Tunisia's ports from where thousands of people are attempting to reach Italian shores - a major concern for Italian authorities.

Meanwhile in Athens, Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Greece will send several ferries in the next few days to the region to help with the repatriation of tens of thousands of Egyptians stranded on Tunisia's border with Libya.

He said the ships, which are being sent at the request of the Egyptian government, will be accompanied by frigates from the Greek Navy.

Since Wednesday over 550 Tunisians have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, signalling a new flow of would-be immigrants from Tunisia that began late February with the arrival of more than 5,000 people.

Italian officials have warned that the disturbances in North Africa - including in Egypt and Tunisia - could trigger an exodus of hundreds of thousands of immigrants towards europe.

In Paris, officials said the first of several French transport planes set aside to help evacuate the refugees left Tunisia for Cairo Thursday afternoon, with 168 Egyptians onboard. France has set aside several planes and a ship for the evacuation of up to 5,000 refugees over the coming week.

In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the government had sent a plane to the Tunisian island of Djerba near the Libyan border. The aircraft was due to evacuate 4,000 Egyptian refugees to Cairo on three daily flights over a week's time.

Another plane was due to leave for Benghazi in order to open a humanitarian corridor. The two aircraft transported 35 tons of aid materials, such as medicines, tents and blankets.

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