Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and his Tunisian counterpart Rafik Belhay Kacem agreed during talks in Tunis on Tuesday to work more closely in a bid to stem the flow of illegal immigration to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
The majority of Italy's illegal immigrants arrive on the island, which is closer to the north African coast than the Italian mainland, and a recent swell in arrivals has exacerbated the problem.
Maroni is seeking to repatriate at least 1,300 Tunisians who landed on Lampedusa over the last few weeks, creating an overcrowding problem in the island's temporary holding centre (CPA).
Two agreements signed in 1998 and in 2003 envisage the repatriation procedure but Italian officials said details of the operation must be worked out with Tunisia.
Meanwhile, some 1,500 Lampedusa islanders took part in a demonstration to protest against Maroni's plan to build a new identification and expulsion centre (CIE) for illegal immigrants.
The islanders are against the plan, saying it further damages Lampedusa's tourism industry while Mayor Bernardino says that Maroni's decision to open the CIE is ''inhumane'' and risks turning Lampedusa into ''the Mediterranean Alcatraz''.
The minister says the creation of the centre, at a disused military base in an isolated area of the island, is necessary in light of his commitment to repatriate all illegal immigrants who arrive by boat on Lampedusa's shores.
In the past, immigrants have been transferred to the Italian mainland when the island's 850-bed (CPA) has reached its capacity, but the number of immigrants in the centre has swelled to over 1,800 recently.
The chronic overcrowding has drawn criticism from United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, which last week reiterated ''growing concerns'' over the situation.
But Maroni says he plans to stick to a December pledge to keep immigrants on the island until they can be identified and repatriated. The new CIE centre will speed up the process, he says.
A report by Save the Children released on Tuesday expressed its concern over minors held at Lampedusa's CPA.
It said many children were being forced to sleep outdoors under makeshift shelters and had inadequate health assistance.
According to United Nations Refugee Agency figures, some 36,000 people landed on Italian coasts last year - a 75% increase compared to 2007 figures.
The statistics reveal that Italy took more than half of the 67,000 immigrants who arrived by sea in Europe last year.
