Slovenia will accept up to 10 refugees from Malta as part of an EU project aimed at helping the country, the Slovenian government has announced.

Slovenia had been among the countries which last year backed the European Commission's pilot project for the resettlement of migrants from Malta.

"Malta's project is about expressing solidarity with an EU Member State which has been under pressure due to a massive influx of refugees," Slovenian Home Affairs Minister Katarina Kresal had said at the time.

Fifty-two refugees from Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia left Malta earlier this week to begin a new life in the United States. The US has taken 486 refugees from Malta in two years.

France recently committed itself to take 92 refugees from Malta. It took a group of 95 last year.

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