Overwhelmed by a massive influx of recent migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean from Africa, Italian authorities are calling for a UN intervention to help resolve the crisis. Since Sept. 12, more than 7,000 migrants have arrived on the small Italian island of Lampedusa which has just one emergency migrant shelter that can accommodate only about 450 people. Despite attempts by Italian officials to alleviate the severely overcrowded conditions by transporting migrants to the mainland as quickly as possible—almost 5,000 in a 28-hour period—the situation remains dire.
According to official Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency, the Italian government will demand some type of mandate at the ongoing UN General Assembly meeting (Sept. 5-26) regarding the migrant crisis. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani at an event in Rome today is quoted as saying: “We will talk about the problem, which is caused by the situation in Africa, during the UN General Assembly [debate] which will take place next week in New York…. The situation in Africa is not explosive, it has already exploded.”
Tajani went on, stating that “Measures are needed to stop migratory flows” and called for “repatriations of people who do not have the right to remain in Europe.” Fellow Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini (Lega) called the migrant surge an “act of war” and said: “The diplomatic path is essential to follow, but the entire government is working day and night and I do not rule out any kind of intervention.”
By the logic of the EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, perhaps the Italian government will invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty to defend the European “garden” against the aggressors from the African “jungle.”
