66 migrants were rescued in international waters off Libya on Thursday during two separate operations carried out by the Italian navy and a charity ship, raising the likelihood of a new stand-off over which port will take them in.
The first group of 36 migrants was picked up by the navy’s Cigala Fulgosi patrol ship around 75 nautical miles off the Libyan coast as part of Italy’s “Mare Sicuro” (“Safe Seas”) operation.
A navy statement said those on board, including two women and eight minors, were in “mortal danger” as their makeshift craft had taken on water, adding that they had been rescued “in line with Italian and international law”.
In the evening, Italian charity rescue ship Mare Jonio said it saved 30 people, including five minors and a pregnant woman, about 40 nautical miles off the Libyan coast.
“We asked the Italian MRCC (Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) for a safe port,” the aid group SOS Mediterranee, which charters the Mare Jonio, tweeted.
Hard-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, currently campaigning for EU elections, warned he would not allow the migrants to be disembarked in Italy.
“A military ship which will have to assume its responsibility through its selected ministry is one thing, but a private vessel or one belonging to a social centre, like the Mare Jonio, is another,” a spokesman for Salvini said.
“For them, the ports will remain closed.”
Italy’s populist government has taken an increasingly hard line on migration, and Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party, last month signed a new directive banning charity vessels from rescuing migrants off Libya.
Charity ships have drawn fire from Rome by attempting on occasion to stop migrants being taken back to crisis-hit Libya, which human rights organisations say is not safe for repatriations.
After Italian concerns that recent violence in Libya will spark an exodus of people determined to seek safety in Europe, Salvini has warned Italian ports are closed to those attempting perilous Mediterranean crossings.
Last August, dozens of migrants aboard the Italian coastguard vessel Diciotti were stranded in a Sicilian port before Salvini allowed them to disembark saying several bishops had agreed to take them in.
An accord was reached with the Catholic Church to have Ireland and Albania take some of the migrants.
Salvini faced a judicial investigation into his role in the initial stand-off, but the Italian senate blocked a criminal case against him.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration meanwhile urged “international solidarity” to be shown to the 36 migrants, adding that returning the group to Libya in its current volatile state would violate international law.
Source: AFP
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