Michaelides secures immigrant pledge from Lebanon

LEBANON agreed yesterday to try to stop illegal immigrants setting off from its shores bound for Cyprus, an issue that has recently strained ties between the two countries.

“We had an agreement. I am sure we will not have this problem repeated again,” visiting Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides told the Reuters news agency in Beirut after meeting Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss and Interior Minister Michel al-Murr.

“It is important for us to maintain good ties with Lebanon. Illegal immigration could harm or even destroy relations between the two countries, ” he added.

Murr said both sides had agreed on a “working agenda” to solve the problem, but gave no details.

Cyprus tried earlier this month to send back to 28 illegal immigrants who were dumped from a fishing boat near Cape Greco.

The government says the boat sailed from the Lebanese port of Tripoli, but Lebanon refused to take them back, arguing there was no proof they had come from there.

Lebanon eventually agreed to readmit six of the immigrants who carried Egyptian passports with valid Lebanese entry permits. Cyprus jailed the remaining 23, mainly from Iraq. Others were from the Palestinian territory, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Burundi.

The immigrants said they paid up to $2,000 each to go to Greece but ended up in Cyprus.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.