Over 400 migrants of North African origin arrived in Lampedusa, sparking fears a new influx of refugees may be imminent on the southern Italian island. Almost 350 of the migrants arrived together in one large boat with the rest arriving in smaller vessels and later being picked up by the Italian coastguard. A joint operation by the European Union s border agency, Frontex, began on February 20 to try to stem the influx of Tunisian migrants to Lampedusa and up until Wednesday morning it had been six days since any boats had arrived on the Italian coastline. Italian authorities are concerned that instability in Libya could spark a new flow of migrants which would be difficult to stem. Rome, formerly Libya s closest ally in Europe, signed a friendship and co-operation treaty with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2008 that included joint operations between Italian and Libyan coastguard forces to stem the influx of illegal immigration into Italy. But with recent events in Libya it is clear that patrolling of waters along the Libyan coastline is no longer taking place. It was unclear what nationality the migrants were who arrived on Wednesday. They were to be taken away and processed before probably being moved to a detention centre in Sicily.
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