Egypt, Italy provide anti–illegal immigration program in Africa

CAIRO – 15 September 2017: The Police Research Center of the Egyptian Police Academy will launch a training program for 360 senior police members from 22 African nationalities on combating illegal immigration and organized crime, in accordance with a cooperation protocol between Egypt and Italy.

The program coincides with the revival of Egyptian-Italian diplomatic ties as the Italian ambassador to Egypt, Giampaolo Cantini, has taken office on Thursday, replacing Maurizio Massari, who was recalled in spring 2016 in relation to the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian postgraduate student who was murdered in Egypt last year.

Egyptian, Italian and European security trainers will oversee holding a number of workshops aimed at exchanging experiences and unifying methods of combating criminal phenomena in the Mediterranean.

According to sources, Italy chose Egypt to take over the responsibility of training African security agencies to combat organized crime and illegal immigration due to its confidence in the Egyptian police force. They pointed out that Egypt has one of the largest police academies in the world, as well as a successful research center that has contributed greatly to improving the security system in many African countries.

Italy is counting heavily on Egypt in carrying out this important task to protect the continent from the dangers of organized crime and illegal immigration, especially after the Egyptian Ministry of Interior has established a specialized sector to fight organized crime and illegal immigration.

The Italian side and the European Union (EU) announced they will finance these workshops in line with their efforts to combating crime and preventing illegal immigration of young Africans to Europe.

Egypt’s Interior Minister Assistant, Ahmed Al-Omry, and the Director of the Central Department of Migration and Border Police in the Italian Ministry of Interior, Massimo Bonitembe, signed a security cooperation protocol where the Egyptian police research center will undertake the implementation of security training programs funded by Italy and EU.

The crisis of illegal immigrants — which has increased recently because of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East — became an explicit threat to European countries. Italy has always been the door illegal immigrants have used to enter Europe.