Italy has transferred 1,716 North African migrants - most of them Tunisian - to a temporary camp site in its south-eastern Puglia region.

Italy has transferred 1,716 North African migrants - most of them Tunisian - to a temporary camp site in its south-eastern Puglia region.

The migrants arrived by ship on Thursday from Lampedusa, a tiny island packed with thousands fleeing poverty and unrest in Tunisia.

A "tent city" has been set up to accommodate them in Manduria, a town in the southern heel of Italy.

Overcrowding has created unhygienic conditions on Lampedusa, officials say.

Italy's Il Giornale newspaper says Rome is planning to repatriate 100 Tunisians every day.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will visit Tunis on Monday to discuss the migrant influx with the authorities.

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