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Italian ship takes migrants to Albania for asylum processing

MILAN (AP) – An Italian naval ship carrying migrants was en route to Albania to have asylum applications processed under a five-year deal to handle asylum claims outside the European Union’s borders that has already hit a legal roadblock.

An Italian Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed that the naval ship Libra was heading to the Balkan nation, but declined to say how many migrants were aboard and when it would arrive.

The Italian daily La Repubblica reported that out of 1,200 migrant arrivals on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa over the last two days, just eight male adults travelling without families met the criteria for being screened in Albania, including that they come from countries deemed “safe” for repatriation.

The ship, which can carry 200 people besides crew, is expected in the Albanian port of Shengjin early today.

It is only the second transfer since two centres started operating last month. The first batch of migrants had to be returned to Italy, after a court in Rome ruled that their countries of origin were not safe enough for them to be sent back.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni envisioned the two centres holding up to 3,000 migrants a month as a way to help Italy manage migrant arrivals on its southern shores, but human rights activists have criticised the deal as setting a dangerous precedent.

Meloni, who heads Italy’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II, slammed the October 18 Rome court ruling, and said that deeming countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe means that virtually all migrants would be barred from the Albania programme, making it unworkable.

People gather on the beach as a migrant centre is seen in the foreground in the port of Shengjin, Albania. PHOTO: AP
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