Migrant Arrivals in Malta Lowest in 5 Years

Di-ve.com reports that migrant arrivals in Malta in 2009 were the lowest since 2004.

“Sources close to Frontex … believe that a number of factors helped …  Frontex’s Nautilus patrols, the strengthening of border controls in the Central Mediterranean and tighter inland measures in member states certainly discouraged movement of migrants. … The agreement between Italy and Libya for migrants to be returned to Libya also had an impact but …there are also agreements in place with Algeria and Tunisia, while Libya also reached an agreement with Niger, which is another popular transit country for migrants heading towards Europe. There has been a shift towards the eastern Mediterranean, with Turkey and the Aegean islands seeing numbers increase, the sources said.”

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