First group of migrants heading to Albania

(ANSA) - ROMA, OCT 14 - The first group of migrants were heading to Albania Monday to be processed in Italian-run centres set up in the Balkan country which have been criticised by rights groups as externalising the migrant issue and creating a 'new Guantanamo" but praised by other EU countries and the UK as a possible model. The Navy ship Libra is heading to Albania, ANSA sources said, to take the first group of migrants to the centers set up in Albania to subject them to "accelerated border procedures". The people to be transferred, rescued at sea, have been screened on board to verify that they meet the required requirements: originating from safe countries, male, not vulnerable. The initiative is being managed by the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Last week, the centers in Schengjin and Gjiader became operational and will have to accommodate the transferred migrants. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said last week the centres "are similar to those in Italy" with "light detention" regimes. "There is no barbed wire, there is health care," he said. "Everyone can apply for international protection (at them) and obtain it within days". British Prime Minister Keir Starmer voiced special interest in the scheme, and other moves that have brought migration to Italy down this year, on a visit to Rome last month. (ANSA).