Italy To Deport Ghanaians "From Dafur Region"

Rome - The Italian government considers 37 African castaways who were landed in Sicily after three weeks at sea to be illegal immigrants and is preparing to deport them, the Italian Council for Refugees (ICR) said on Wednesday.

The 37 castaways claimed to be fleeing from the war-torn Darfur region in Sudan. But authorities insist that 30 come from Ghana, six from Nigeria and one from Niger, and have no connection with Sudan.

"This seems to be the information we are getting," said Christofer Hein, director of the ICO, a non-governmental group involved in asylum issues.

"The fact that they are still being held suggests that Italian authorities don't see them as asylum seekers but as illegal refugees," he said.

The refugee commission of the interior ministry was to examine the castaways' request for political asylum on Wednesday, while Italian judicial officials were to rule on Wednesday on the fate of a German relief worker, the ship's captain and his first officer who were all arrested when the German humanitarian ship Cap Anamur docked in southern Sicily on Monday.

The issue has caused a diplomatic tussle between Rome and Berlin, which has demanded the three be released.

"Pack of lies"

The 37 castaways, now in a refugee centre in Agrigento, claimed to be fleeing from the war-torn Darfur region in Sudan. But the ICR said authorities insist that 30 come from Ghana, six from Nigeria and one from Niger, and have no connection with Sudan.

Interior ministry officials have said they were told a "pack of lies" by Cap Anamur that helped force Italy's into accepting the Africans under the glare of the international media.

On Tuesday, German Co-operation Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul demanded that Cap Anamur director Elias Bierdel, ship skipper Stefan Schmidt and first officer Vladimir Dhchkevitch, all be released from preventive detention in Agrigento.

The three are accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigrants but have not yet been formally charged. The offence is punishable here by up to 12 years in jail and a fine of ?15 000 for each immigrant they brought into the country.

German government spokesperson Bela And raised the issue again on Wednesday at a Berlin press conference after a cabinet meeting.

"We hope that the members of the crew will be released quickly," she said without elaborating.

Italy insists the case for political asylum should be heard under European Union regulations in Malta, which was the ship's first port of call after picking up the Africans. The European Union introduced the law to prevent refugees shopping around from capital to capital in a search for asylum.

Italy has toughened up immigration laws to curb landings of Arab and African migrants along its long, exposed coasts.