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Tunisia Ready to Cooperate on Immigration

   VOA News  February 14, 2011
   A Carabinieri police officer walks past Tunisian migrants as they wait
   to board a ship towards Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, where they will be
   taken for document checks, in Lampedusa, Italy, February 14, 2011

Photo: AP

   A Carabinieri police officer walks past Tunisian migrants as they wait
   to board a ship towards Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, where they will be
   taken for document checks, in Lampedusa, Italy, February 14, 2011

   Tunisian  troops are patrolling fishing ports in an effort to halt the
   flow  of  illegal  immigrants  to  Europe,  after rejecting an Italian
   request  to deploy police to the North African country where a popular
   uprising ousted the president and set off a mass exodus.
   In  a  statement  Monday,  Tunisia's Foreign Ministry said it respects
   human  rights  and  is ready to work toward addressing the crisis, but
   will not allow any interference in its internal affairs.
   The  Italian  government  made  the  request  after  more  than  4,000
   Tunisians  landed  on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in the past