Migrant influx to Europe hits 100,000 in 2017

More than 100,000 migrants have made the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe this year, the UN said Tuesday, amid mounting tensions among EU nations on how to tackle the crisis.

Nearly 2,250 people have died in 2017 attempting the sea crossing from North Africa, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) added.

Italy has taken in nearly 85 percent of the arrivals most of them sub-Saharan Africans crossing from Libya and has pleaded for help from other European Union nations, saying it is struggling to cope.

The reception of rescued migrants cannot be seen as an issue only for Italy, but a matter for Europe as a whole, IOM chief William Lacy Swing said, appealing for the rest of the EU to show more solidarity.

On Sunday, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti called on EU neighbors to open their ports to rescue ships picking up migrants in the Mediterranean, after issuing a drastic threat to close its own ports to the boats.

But France rejected that idea, with an aide to Minniti's counterpart Gerard Collomb telling AFP this would only encourage more migrants to set sail. EU interior ministers are due to meet in Estonia's capital Tallinn on Thursday to discuss the migrant crisis.


-AFP, Geneva