NICOSIA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus has decided to apply stricter measures aimed at containing the increased inflow of migrants and refugees coming mostly from Syria, an official statement said on Wednesday.
A special committee of four ministers discussed the issue following a spike in arrivals of refugees, mostly in small boats that sail either from Turkey, or more recently Lebanon.
A total of about 150 refugees arrived in the past 10 days in what the government said was a significant spike in irregular immigration.
Cyprus, an island with a population of about a million, is already dealing with over 15,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Syria, with about 5,000 asylum applications still pending.
Syrians are at the forefront of irregular arrivals to Cyprus, followed by Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indians, Iraqis and Egyptians.
Interior minister Constantinos Petrides said foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides will discuss the issue with EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, and Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship.
"There will be a round of meetings with our European counterparts, especially from Mediterranean countries, which face the same problem, so as to better coordinate actions at a European level," the minister said.
Press reports said Cyprus would seek to forge a readmission agreement with neighboring Lebanon.
The meeting decided that surveillance would also be stepped up at certain locations of the buffer zone, which irregular immigrants use to jump over into government controlled areas.
The Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot communities have been divided since 1974 with a buffer zone in between. The buffer zone is under the control of a UN peace keeping force. Enditem
