Why are migrants to Europe fleeing from and through Tunisia?
An ailing economy and tough border measures elsewhere along Africa’s north coast are to blame
Editor’s note (September 18th 2023): This article has been updated since publication.
THE ITALIAN island of Lampedusa is home to around 6,000 people. In the past week most of the 14,000 migrants who reached Italy have arrived on its shores. Hundreds more have died trying to make it there by sea in the past year, including a newborn baby whose body was recovered on September 16th. The following day Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, visited the island with Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister. Mrs von der Leyen promised a “co-ordinated response” by the EU to the surge in arrivals on Lampedusa.
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