Italy: showdown between the government and Sicily over the reception of migrants

Sebastiano “Nello” Musumeci on November 6, 2017 in Catania. Carmelo Lenzo / AFP

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2 min

Elected in the ranks of the right in 2017, Nello Musumeci, governor of Sicily, asks that all the reception centers for migrants in the region be emptied. He went so far as to sign an order for it. The Italian government is trying to ease the controversy by transferring some people who have tested positive for the coronavirus and by strengthening security on the island of Lampedusa. But tensions persist.

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With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir

Since the start of 2020, 17,264 migrants have arrived in Sicily, in particular in Lampedusa, compared to 4,664 in 2019 over the same period. Most of them come from Tunisia and disembark in small groups. Sebastiano “Nello” Musumeci, governor of the region, signed an order requiring the transfer of migrants from reception centers on the island to other structures on the peninsula.

The man elected at the end of 2017 after an alliance between the right and the extreme right knew that it could only be a symbolic act, the Ministry of the Interior being the only one able to take such a decision.

Nello Musumeci does not disarm

But the initiative of Nello Musumeci, much publicized, begins to produce its effects. In Pozzallo, 62 migrants infected with Covid-19 were transferred to another region. In Lampedusa, where the hot spot is regularly overcrowded, the government has sent military reinforcements to control the situation.

The standoff between the governor of Sicily and Rome continues nonetheless. Nello Musumeci believes that his region "  can no longer be the lazaretto of Italy  ". In fact, among the 7,000 migrants who arrived in recent weeks, according to health authorities, only 3% have been infected with the coronavirus.

► Read also: Migrants stranded at sea: the Italian Senate lifts Matteo Salvini's immunity

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  • Italy
  • Immigration

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