Nicosia, Cyprus | AFP | Wednesday 11/18/2015 - 18:03 GMT
Over half of the 115 Middle East migrants who came ashore at a British military base on Cyprus have asked for asylum on the island but the rest will be deported, British officials said Wednesday.
"We continue to work with the Republic of Cyprus and over half of the migrants have claimed asylum," a British Forces Cyprus spokesperson told AFP.
"We are now in the process of organising the removal of those who have not claimed asylum to a third party safe country," added the spokesperson who would not elaborate.
The 29 children, 19 women and 67 men landed at Akrotiri Royal Air Force Base in two fishing boats on October 21 and were later moved to Dhekelia, the largest of Britain's two military bases on the Mediterranean resort island.
Britain retained sovereignty over both base areas when Cyprus won independence in 1960.
But "the UK government will not allow a new migrant route to open up to the UK," the British official said.
"For those who have claimed asylum their cases will be considered by Republic of Cyprus authorities on behalf of the Sovereign Base Areas."
The mostly Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese migrants -- who were originally heading for mainland Greece not Cyprus -- have been handed a "notification of intention to deport".
Each individual can legally challenge the deportation process.
A handful of the 115 migrants have requested to be voluntarily repatriated to Lebanon rather than stay at the camp which saw disturbances earlier this month due to frustrations over their fate.
The British defence ministry said in October that the migrants should be handed over to Cyprus in line with a 2003 agreement for them to "take responsibility in circumstances like this".
Cyprus says it is not responsible for those migrants who do not claim asylum.
Before that deal was signed, migrants landing on the bases had been left in legal limbo.
In 1998, a ramshackle fishing boat crammed with 75 migrants landed at Akrotiri.
Seventeen years on, some of them are still living on the Dhekelia base, after repeated appeals for asylum in Britain were turned down.
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