THE ITALIAN government yesterday declared a nationwide state of emergency in order to deal with the Albanian boat people crisis.
It was a day marked by the dramatic rescue by Italian coastguard services of 290 Albanians caught in Force 7 gales on an ageing harbour tug in the Otranto strait between Italy and Albania.
But the mercy shown to the victims of the crisis was tempered by the tough new measures the Italian cabinet has introduced in an attempt to protect the eastern region from the effects of the refugee exodus.
Government decrees introduced at a cabinet meeting yesterday morning gave formal expression to what has been de facto policy since the Albanian crisis began to be felt in Italy last week, when a new wave of boat people made for the Puglia ports of Bari, Brindisi and Otranto in order to escape the violent unrest in Albania.
Italy will thus extend short term humanitarian protection and relief to the boat people but will grant them only a 60 day visa. After 60 days, all those who arrived in the last week are required to return to Albania unless they can prove that they will be "exposed to dangers" on their return.
The Italian authorities will continue to monitor closely all arrivals with a view to sifting out suspected criminal or mafia elements believed at large following the throwing open of Albanian jails in the disorder of last week.
Nearly 300 such "undesirables" were forcibly repatriated yesterday, transported under armed guard from Brindisi military airport to Tirana on board Italian air force helicopters.
Speaking to parliament yesterday morning, the Italian Interior Minister, Mr Giorgio Napolitano, said that so far 10,619 people had arrived in Italy. He said that 161 Albanian boats, perhaps more than 80 per cent of Albania's navy and merchant fleet, have been impounded in Puglia ports.
The fact that such a large number of Albanian boats are under sequestration in Italian waters constitutes, in itself, a reason to suggest that the influx of boat people will inevitably slow down over the next few days.
In the short term, the state of emergency is an answer to the increasingly desperate appeals of municipal and port authorities in Puglia since it enhances their decision making powers and gives them more immediate access to emergency funds.
The emergency measures, too, will ease the pressure on those same authorities from local residents concerned about the possible criminal activities of some of the Albanians, allegedly connected to organised crime in both Albania and Italy.
In the long term, the government measures are intended to contain the boat people problem so that it does not approach the levels of 1991, when nearly 50,000; Albanians landed in Puglia in the space of a few months, causing chaos in port towns almost entirely unprepared for such numbers.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, yesterday said the refugees were the concern of "not only Italy but all of Europe".
The Italian government has argued all along that it cannot be left to deal with the fallout of the Albanian crisis on its own.