Illegal crossings into Cyprus rose three-fold in the first three months of 2022 compared to the same period the previous year and accounted for 5,100 of 7,005 such cases for the entire Eastern Mediterranean route, the EU’s border agency Frontex said on Tuesday.
In the month of March, the total number of migrants detected also doubled to nearly 3,250, it added. The main nationalities detected were Nigerians and Congolese.
The latest Frontex report was released on Tuesday and coincided with the extraordinary meeting at the presidential palace in Nicosia, focused on the “high priority issue” of migration.
“Refugees fleeing Ukraine and entering the EU through border crossing points are not part of the figures of illegal entries detected,” the report stated.
Further details from the meeting are expected later in the day. President Nicos Anastasiades summoned the foreign, interior, justice, and defence ministers, as well as the attorney-general, the police and national guard chiefs to the meeting.
The government has sought to address the migration issue which has in recent years exposed the peculiarity of Cyprus’ divide, as the interior ministry states that about 75 per cent of illegal crossings take place through the buffer zone.
That has led the state to install razor wire fence along vast stretches of the Green Line – set to span 11km, with plans for it to cover Astromeritis, Peristerona and Akaki all the way to the defunct Nicosia airport.
Last week, the Cyprus Mail reported that metal gates are being installed along key points of that razor wire fencing which has been erected – as the government hopes the barrier will act as a deterrent to irregular migrants.
Elsewhere, the government last year signed an agreement to procure modern technology systems from Israel for surveillance along the buffer zone.
The system will operate 24 hours a day, with cameras installed at several points along the buffer zone, it was reported at the time. The project is costed at €27.5m.
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