There were officially more than 228,000 Moroccan citizens legally residing in Italy at the end of 2003. It is the biggest expatriate community from the entire African continent established in Italy, according to a Caritas survey released this week in Rome. In all, there are some 516,000 Africans residing there.
The Moroccan population in Italy surpasses by far that of Tunisia, the second largest source from Africa but with just 60,572. Another group from North Africa, Egypt is third in the rank with 44,798 expatriates.
Among the other communities, the Moroccans are ranked third behind the Romanians with 239,000 and the Albanians with 233,616, in a country that is home of an estimated 2.6 million foreigners.
Considered a major political issue, immigration has been on the agenda of the Berlusconi government, which extradited some 105,739 undocumented immigrants just this year alone. The Berlusconi government has been promoting the idea of the establishment of refugee camps in Africa proper, which has received a great deal of opposition from North African governments, while Tripoli has been sending mix signals about its position.
© The North Africa Journal 2004
