2,000 Tunisian migrants have been transferred to camps on the Italian mainland after landing at the holiday isle of Lampedusa.
The 5,000 residents of the island have strongly objected to having to deal with the influx of the 20,000 mainly Tunisian refugees who have arrived.
The Tunisian refugee problem became worse when the country’s dictator was deposed in an uprising in January.
On Monday Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi flew to Tunisia to meet the caretaker prime minister, Beji Kaid Essebsi, and interim President Fouad Mebazaa to talk about the problem.
During the talks, the Italian PM asked the Tunisians to do more to prevent people heading for Lampedusa.
Around 500 new migrants arrived over the weekend, mostly young men who had paid around 1,000 euros to people smugglers.