Rafik Abdessalem to visit Lampedusa

Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem will visit the island of Lampedusa Friday, where last week a vessel carrying Tunisian nationals was shipwrecked close to the southern Italian island. Abdessalem on Wednesday met with his Italian counterpart, Giulio Terzi, in Rome. He will stop in Lampedusa during his return trip from Italy. The Tunisian government official is scheduled to meet with the mayor of the island, Giusi Nicolini. Nicolini on Wednesday met with a Tunisian delegation that was made up of diplomats and of presidential staff. They were carrying with them a list of 36 names of possible shipwreck victims. Abdessalem will also visit a processing center where 56 survivors of the incident are currently being housed. "I share the preoccupation of the Tunisian government and their attempts to seek to understand what actually happened, and that the search for the victim must continue along with the repatriation of the bodies", said Nicolini. "It is not acceptable that in order to emigrate today, in 2012, one must take to the sea in a clandestine manner and risk ones life. "Italy and Tunisia must ensure that this macabre and unjustifiable ritual ends for good".