Italy’s Ambassador to Algeria, Giampaolo Cantini, held a press conference this week and said that the number of harragas, irregular migrants, who were found attempting to enter Italy from Algeria dropped from 1599 in 2008 to 804 in 2009. The press coverage described the reduction as a 70% reduction, but given the cited numbers, it seems the drop is about 50%. Cantini noted that not a single migrant departing Algeria for Italy has been detected since 30 April 2010.
Cantini attributed the reduction to the increased level of bilateral cooperation between Italy and Algeria on the migration issue and the increased surveillance of the Algerian coast by Algerian authorities.
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MIGRANTS AT SEA 