Feature: "I cannot say exactly when I left Eritrea, but surely more than 4 years ago"

Twenty-five-year old Agus from Eritrea had his few belongings packed since Thursday, the very day he arrived at the makeshift migrant camp the Italian Red Cross put up here on the side of Tiburtina train station.

He was just waiting for his wife and three-year-old daughter to join him from Sicily in south Italy, and they all would move to the station, take a night train, and try to continue their journey towards northern Europe.

On this same night, hopefully.

"We have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya," Agus told Xinhua, while resting inside a tent with other young Eritreans.

"My wife and daughter sailed on a different boat, and we got separated as we reached Sicily. This is why I have moved to Rome first."

As the World Refugee Day 2015 was being marked worldwide, would-be refugees who managed to reach Italy from North African coasts had very practical matters in mind.

Word of mouth among migrants always run fast, and Agus was well aware most countries sharing a frontier with Italy have recently tightened their borders, and stepped up controls on migrants.

By no means, this seemed to weaken his determination.

"I know it will be difficult... But what can I do? Italy is not the place where we want to live: the job situation is not good, and it is a problem to live here without money," he explained.

Earlier this week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) stated that people forcibly displaced in the world reached the unprecedented number of 59.5 million in 2014.

The European Union (EU) has been struggling to cope with migration, as tens of thousands of people kept crossing the Mediterranean to escape war and violence, or find better life conditions.

France, reinforced their border controls on migrants since Thursday last week. Austria, and Switzerland stepped up surveillance as well.

France also appealed on Italy to respect the so-called Dublin Regulation, which rules new migrants in the EU must register in the country where they arrive first.

The move angered Italian authorities, since the country has received some 57,000 people by sea so far this year, and over 170,000 in 2014.

Furthermore, Italy said most of them would avoid identification procedures in order to travel to other EU countries.

The tightening in border controls last week resulted in hundreds of migrants halting their journey around main train stations in Rome, Milan, and in the northern town of Ventimiglia near France.

The Red Cross and Rome's local authorities opened the new refugee camp near Tiburtina after some 800 people flooded the nearby Baobab Eritrean cultural center in less than 48 hours.

Yet, despite all troubles, the average length of stay at the Baobab center was three days and almost all the migrants kept heading to Germany, Switzerland, France, or other countries, volunteers said.

"None of them want to stay in Italy, and it seems very unlikely they will give up," Baobab coordinator Daniel Zagghay told Xinhua.

"The real border for these people is the Mediterranean: once they have managed to survive that journey, they feel like it is all downhill," he said.

After last week's peak, the figures in Rome slowly decreased between Wednesday and Friday.

The Baobab center returned to register 130 to 140 daily guests, although their number would exceed 250 when the soup kitchen was open. Some 150 people on average were also being hosted at the makeshift camp.

"The situation has calmed down, even though we remain in a state of alert," Rome Red Cross president Flavio Ronzi told Xinhua.

"From now on, we expect to receive 100 to 400 people per day. We cannot be more accurate: much depends on variable factors such as the number of boats reaching Italy in the summer," he added.

No official identification procedure was enforced in this emergency situation. In both places, migrants were free to get aid, rest for the time they needed, and get on the move again.

"Almost all the people here are from Eritrea and Somalia," Gaetano Pavia with the CRI Committee of Tiburtina told Xinhua.

"At the beginning, they refused to be moved in our makeshift camp for fear of being registered. Cultural mediators had to work hard to convince them they would not face any identification."

This was also Agus' fear. The young would-be refugee wanted to reach England with his family, to find a job and apply for asylum there.

He showed a calm determination, despite the many frontiers still to cross: a state of mind that might have something to do with his being on the road since very long.

"I cannot say exactly when I left Eritrea, but surely more than 4 years ago," Agus said.

"I fled to Sudan, and then to Egypt. I stayed in Israel for a while, but I found harsh conditions there."

Next step was reaching Turkey by plane, yet with no better results. Thus, he went back to Sudan and from there to Libya to get a boat to Europe.

"What will I do if they stop us at the borders? Just try again and again." Endit