First migrants arrive in Albania under contested Italy deal
The Peninsula
Sh ngjin, Albania: The first migrants sent by Rome to Albania under a controversial deal that is being closely watched in Europe arrived on Wednesday,...
Shëngjin, Albania: The first migrants sent by Rome to Albania under a controversial deal that is being closely watched in Europe arrived on Wednesday, though two who claimed to be minors had then to be sent to Italy.
The 16 men from Bangladesh and Egypt disembarked from an Italian navy vessel in the port of Shengjin three days after they were intercepted in the Mediterranean. The men were escorted in small groups to the gates of a new processing centre where their asylum requests will be handled.
Two of the men from Bangladesh claimed to be minors, a category classed as vulnerable under Italian law, which meant they could not be kept in the Albanian centres and were being sent to Italy instead, a government source in Rome told AFP.
Italy's far-right Prime Minister Georgia Meloni vowed to cut the number of people crossing from North Africa when she took office in 2022.
Rome has boasted that the Albania deal is attracting interest within the European Union and EU leaders were to discuss the offshore processing centres at a summit this week.