Silvio Berlusconi and the cleansing of the island of Lampedusa.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011. Island of Lampedusa (Province of Agrigento, Sicily, Italy). Silvio Berlusconi pledge to “liberate” in “48-60 hours” the tiny island from the refugees who fled North Africa, whilst he buys a property in Lampedusa, mixing business with pleasure.

Berlusconi's show begins

A jubilant crowd was waiting for the Prime Minister's show yesterday in Lampedusa (a minuscule island that lies much closer to Tunisia's shores than Sicily).

Berlusconi with Lampedusa Mayor on stage

The trouble there is that almost 20,000 migrants (mostly from Tunisia and Libya) have landed along the beaches of the 20 sq Km (8 sq miles, twice as big as London's Richmond Park) Lampedusa island since the beginning of the year (and many more are expected, as troubles in north Africa are still there), so the inhabitants got in the desperate need of a real decision-maker who's going to fix it snappy. Not just the usual funny Berlusconi.

Migrants and soldiers

And they got it. Mr Berlusconi has made one of his famous vows: in two – maximum 2.5 – days Lampedusa “will be liberated” and thousands of North Africans will find their way home, with the help of an Italian assault ship and five ferries. To better underline his commitment, he announced to each and everyone that he became a villager of the island, since – to mix business with pleasure – he just bought a new dwelling there: Villa Due Palme (Two Palms). A new villa to be added to Berlusconi's estates.

Berlusconi's Villa Due Palme (Two Palms)

While many of the Berlusconi fan applauds to his macho intents, Lampedusa Mayor – Mr De Rubeis – declared that he believed “the 60 per cent of what Berlusconi has said”, on a popular radio programme called “La Zanzara” (The Mosquito), broadcast by Radio24 Channel.

Will the energetic politician keep his promise or will it end up with a blunder, as apparently it happened with Silvio's previous engagement about cleaning-up the streets of Naples? Wait (60 hours) and see.

Video from our YouTube Channel: Berluschannel