UN figures indicate a big leap in the number of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean to the EU, with people increasingly willing to take the risk in winter as well as summertime.
Over 35,000 African migrants landed in Italy in 2008 compared to some 20,000 in 2007, according to fresh figures from the UN refugee centre, the UNHCR, cited by The Guardian on Tuesday (30 December).
"We can no longer consider summer the only season when people arrive. Now they are coming all year ...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.