The National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul North, Hon. Ousman Sillah on a seven nation European tour has been holding talks with the Consul General of The Gambia, Prof. Francesco Christina di Santannera, at the Gambia Consulate General in the northern city of Milan.
The Banjul North lawmaker’s one hour discussion with the Consul General centered on the issue of Gambians in Italy regarding their status and welfare.
He was informed than about 50,000 Gambians are no now in Italy and around 11,000 have regularised their stay there with secure jobs, family and homes. According to reports reaching this paper there are 39,000 Gambians without papers.
According to Hon. Sillah, the meeting was very informative and useful to him in his work as an elected representative of the people. Hon Sillah also met some Gambians who narrated their residential status and other issues. During his stay in Milan Hon. Sillah visited the Milan Central Train Station where he met more Gambian migrants who are based there.
He found more than fifty young Gambians hanging out in the open and in the cold. Hon. Sillah described the situation he found the young people as pathetic and an emergency that requires urgent attention. In his discussion with the young Gambians, it was revealed that some of them do not have shelter and that the support they use to get from the state has been stopped by the new Italian government.
The Banjul North NAM on Saturday had a meeting with the larger Gambian community at Cascina Casottello, Via Fabio Massimo 19, Milano.He later held a meeting with different non-governmental organisations dealing with migration and medical emergencies at Bloom in Via Curiel 39 Mezzago MB