Lampedusa (gro) The 20-square-kilometer islet lies 120 kilometers further south than Tunis, but belongs to the Sicilian province of Agrigento. For many refugees from Africa, Lampedusa is the first spot on earth where they set foot on European soil. From the plane, Lampedusa resembles a giant sandal that has lost its straps. Now that spring is approaching and the sea in the Great Syrian off Libya is less dangerous, smugglers will soon be booming again with their refugee booty. Not all refugees will arrive or be rescued. Last year, over 5000 children, women and men drowned in the Mediterranean during such crossings, more than ever before. But more than 100,000 refugees have also managed to reach the promised Europe via Lampedusa.
The island was already a thorn in the eye of Ghadaffi.
In 1986, Muammar al-Ghadaffi had two Soviet-designed Scud missiles fired toward Lampedusa in response to air strikes by the U.S. military. Fortunately, they did not quite make the long journey and plopped into the sea about 20 kilometers off the island. The missiles were aimed at what was then the CIA’s U.S. base in the far west of the island. The Lampedusans did not let themselves be frightened: A pizzeria was renamed “Ristorante ai missile di Ghaddafi” (“Pizzeria to Ghaddadfi’s missile”) and a hotelier at the old port named his guard dog Muammar. Since then, there has been a perfect surveillance system for the airspace. The current NATO military buildup has recently made the area between North Africa and Europe virtually impenetrable as far as surveillance is concerned. Added to this is the deployment of the navy under the direction of Frontex.
Where Budweiser once flowed in streams.
On its broad side, to the east, the 9-kilometer-long island, already part of the African continental shelf, measures a good 3 kilometers, enough space for an efficient runway that even jumbo jets can use. The airport was built in the 1960s with U.S. assistance. The CIA had a base on Lampedusa for more than 20 years, on the west side of the islet, where it is only a few 100 meters narrow. It was a station of the U.S. Coast Guard equipped with a lot of electronics, including a canteen, where chicken wings were guaranteed to be on the menu every day far from home and where Budweiser beer flowed daily. When advancing satellite technology made the base obsolete for the CIA in the 1980s, it was taken over by the Italian Air Force’s intelligence service. Now the base may become another refugee camp. The nearest African city, about 70 kilometers away, is Mahdia on the east coast of Tunisia. Libya is about three times that distance.
Millions for transport to Lampedusa.
According to consistent information from several sources, the price of an illegal crossing from Libya or Tunisia to Lampedusa is 1000 to 1500 euros. So human smuggling is a killing business. A “shipload” with 50 paying passengers brings more than 50,000 euros, the costs for the crossing (including barge or cutter) already deducted. With 10,000 refugees, that’s 10 million euros. The 4500 islanders are indeed hospitable people. However, they feel abandoned by their federal government and also by the European partner countries. On Lampedusa about 5000 refugees are currently camping, mostly in the open and insufficiently supplied with food. The problem is not new. Africans have been seeking the way to Europe for years, also via Lampedusa. There are thousands every year, even in calmer times.
Pacified with a verbal cornucopia.
The onward transport of refugees from Lampedusa to the mainland is well organized. However, there are always delays when the “hot spots” in Calabria or further north are overcrowded because the majority of EU countries refuse to fulfill promises and take in refugees. No wonder a pronounced European fatigue is spreading among traditionally European-minded Lampedusans. Five years ago, the protests became so violent that Silvio Berlusconi, who was still in power at the time, felt compelled to appease the islanders with promises. He traveled to Lampedusa himself and poured out a verbal cornucopia. He would nominate Lampedusa for the Nobel Peace Prize, Berlusconi said during his visit in 2011, and the island would also be granted extensive duty and tax exemption as soon as possible. The island is to be greened, and he personally would ensure with a film crew “that the beauties of this paradisiacal islet would be known throughout the world” . They were empty promises.
Bought another vacation home on the side.
That Berlusconi likes it on Lampedusa, however, can hardly be denied. On the sidelines of his stay at the time in March 2011, he, who among other things calls a grand vacation residence on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia his own, found the time to sign the purchase contract for a house that secures him another very sunny domicile: a chic villa not far from the sea beach on the south side of the island worth 1.5 million euros. His brother already has a stately home on Lampedusa: the villa that the singer Toto Modugno, who died in 1994, had built “black” (without official permission) in a nature reserve on the enchanting south coast of the island in the 80-ies.