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Europe
Italy, Malta in fresh stand-off over boat carrying 59 migrants
2018-07-01
[AlAhram] A rescue boat saved 59 migrants colonists at sea off Libya on Saturday and Italia immediately said it would not welcome them, setting up a fresh stand-off with Malta and adding to tensions among European governments over immigration.

The migrants colonists on board Open Arms, a boat run by the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms charity, include five women and four children, said Riccardo Gatti, head of the organization's Italian mission.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League Party, said there would be no exception to his policy of refusing to let humanitarian boats dock in Italia and added that Malta was the nearest port of call.

"They can forget about arriving in an Italian port," he tweeted.

Maltese Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia, shot back on Twitter that the rescue had taken place closer to the Italian island of Lampedusa than to Malta.

He told Salvini to "stop giving false information and involving Malta without any reason."

Gatti told Italian radio broadcaster Radio Radicale that the migrants colonists on board included Paleostinians, Syrians and Guineans and were all in good condition.

He later told Rooters that Open Arms had received no authorisation from any country to dock, and did not know where it would take the migrants colonists.

On Wednesday Malta let the German charity ship Lifeline dock in Valletta with 230 migrants colonists on board, after it was stuck at sea for almost a week following Italia's decision to close its ports to rescue vessels run by non-government organizations.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
 Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the gesture was a one-time "ad-hoc" resolution to the crisis and the following day Malta announced it would not allow any more charity boats to dock.

European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
 leaders on Friday came to a hard-fought agreement over migration that Salvini and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said was positive for Italia.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
 the agreement does not oblige other EU states to share the burden of sea rescues.

More than 650,000 migrants colonists have come ashore in Italia since 2014, mostly after being rescued at sea off the Libyan coast by private and public groups. Italia is sheltering about 170,000, but the number of arrivals has plummeted this year.

Despite the decline in arrivals, there are still daily stories of disasters as migrants colonists make the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe. The Libyan coastguard said around 100 were thought to have drowned off Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
 on Friday.

That tragedy raised the political temperature in Italia, where the government dismissed opposition accusations that it was responsible due to its crackdown on NGOs, and said the best way to save lives was by preventing departures from Libya.

"The fewer people set sail, the fewer die," Salvini said.
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  A single Fletcher Class?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2018-07-01 17:19  

#1  "The fewer people set sail, the fewer die," Salvini said.

This doesn't need a comment.
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-07-01 11:38  

00:00