A file photo shows migrants sit on a Cyprus marine police boat as they’re brought to a harbor after being rescued from their own vessel off the Mediterranean island nation’s southeastern coast, of Protaras, Cyprus, Jan. 14, 2020. (AP)
Feb 13, 2024. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Cyprus said
on Tuesday it was in discussions with Lebanon over the return of 116
Syrian migrants rescued off its coast after Beirut refused to accept them
back.
The migrants were rescued in international waters 30 nautical miles off Cyprus at the weekend after departing Lebanon by boat, Cypriot officials said.
Cyprus, the
European Union’s easternmost member, has for years had an agreement in place
with Lebanon for the return of irregular migrants.
Migrants,
asylum seekers and refugees who leave Lebanon by boat are generally seeking a
better life in Europe, and often head for the Mediterranean island, less than
200 kilometers (125 miles) away.
Cypriot
Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the rescue of the 116 migrants from
war-torn Syria was launched on Sunday after the Lebanese authorities raised the
alarm.
The
following day, three Cypriot police and national guard vessels escorted them
back to Lebanon, but they were denied entry, said Ioannou.
“Unfortunately,
the authorities of Lebanon did not accept the return of those on board the
Lebanese vessel,” he said.
The
minister said “Lebanon has a very big problem” with migration and stressed the
issue would be handled politically.
Cypriot
authorities did not immediately confirm where the migrants were now.
Ioannou
said he did not know why the migrants were not allowed to disembark, adding
however that there was “continuous communication” with the authorities of
Lebanon.
Last year,
the UN refugee agency expressed concern over the return of more than 100 Syrian
migrants to Lebanon, saying they had not been screened to assess whether they
needed legal protection, or might be deported to their homeland.
Nicosia -
which has seen an influx of irregular Syrian migrants arriving from Lebanon
since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October - insists the returns are legal
under the bilateral agreement with Beirut.
Cyprus said
the war, which has triggered a flare-up on the Israel-Lebanon border, weakened
the efforts of Beirut to monitor its territorial waters and prevent the
departure of migrant vessels.
“The
situation in Lebanon itself is difficult at the moment,” said Ioannou.
Cyprus is a
“frontline country” on the eastern Mediterranean migrant route, with
asylum-seekers comprising over five percent of the 915,000 population in the
government-controlled parts of the island -- a record figure across the EU.
Al Arabiya
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