INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lampedusa has seen an influx of migrants with 7,000 people arriving in two days, prompting its mayor and the United Nations refugee agency
around 5,000 people off the island in the last 28 hours.Many of the latest people to arrive have fled political instability in Tunisia
In previous years, most came from Libya and had been rescued by NGO charity vessels and Italian rescuers rather than reaching the island,
according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
The group now fears numbers will rise even further following the catastrophic floods in Libya.On Wednesday, Germany said it informed Italy
migrants were arriving at the French and Italian border.Many of those arriving in Lampedusa, and who are transferred to the Italian
mainland, try to cross the Ventimiglia border into the French seaside town of Menton.Darmanin who was speaking from Menton on Tuesday, said
Italian border here want to go to Great Britain, which is also an incentive to negotiate with our British friends and in particular develop
operators and volunteers of the Italian Red Cross are doing beyond the impossible to ensure basic necessities
Yesterday, 5,000 lunch meals and 5,000 dinner meals were produced
However, Flavio Di Giacomo, from IOM, said the number of arrivals in Lampedusa now was much higher than before.A lack of Libyan Coast Guard
presence due to the floods, and the high number of migrants in Libya (a transit country for migration to Europe) kept in detention centers
negotiate with Tunisia.In July, Meloni, along with EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen, traveled to Tunisia with a promise of investment funds as
an incentive to stop the boats, including 105 million euros ($111 million) dedicated to stop smugglers, but the EU this week largely stalled
the plan in Brussels.Meloni, under pressure from within her own coalition on migrant numbers, has not commented directly on Lampedusa, but
