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The number of irregular migrants arriving in Italy remains in an overall downward trend that began in the summer of 2017.

According to Frontex operational data so far this February, some 250 irregular migrants reached the Italian shores, a drop of 95% compared to the total for the first 12 days of February 2017. This brings the total for the first six weeks of this year to about half of the figure from the same period of 2017.

In all of 2017, the total number of irregular migrants reaching Italy fell 34% from the previous year to 119 000.

So far in 2018, the vast majority of the migrants arriving from Libya have departed from the western port city of Zuwarah following the trend initiated in late 2017.

One of the most important places in Libya along the route used by migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa is Bani Waled. Most of the migrants who arrived in Italy during this period claimed to have been transferred by people smugglers from Bani Waled to Zuwarah by terrain vehicles before the departure.