Catania, Italy, Nov 8 (AFP\/APP):Hundreds of migrants aboard rescue ships waited Tuesday at a Sicilian port for permission to come ashore, as another charity vessel gave up hope of a welcome in Italy and appealed to France for safe harbour.<\/p>\n
Nearly 500 migrants are in limbo after being rescued by three different charity ships during their perilous crossing from North Africa to Italy’s shores. <\/p>\n
Two of the ships — the Geo Barents and Humanity 1 — docked at the weekend at Sicily’s eastern port of Catania, disembarking about 500 of the most vulnerable migrants.<\/p>\n
But Italian authorities told them to keep approximately 250 others and head back to sea.<\/p>\n
After appealing to Italy since October 27 for a secure port, a third ship, the Ocean Viking, said Tuesday it was leaving Sicilian waters and heading towards France with 234 migrants onboard.<\/p>\n
“Facing the silence of Italy and the exceptionality of the situation, the Ocean Viking has now escalated her request for a Place of Safety in France,” said the group, run by European charity SOS Mediterranee under a Norwegian flag.<\/p>\n
“We expect the Ocean Viking to arrive in international waters close to Corsica the 10th of November,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The handling of the migrant ships is a first test for Italy’s new far-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has vowed to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who land on the country’s shores every year. <\/p>\n
Earlier Tuesday, a fourth boat successfully disembarked all its 89 migrants at the port of Reggio Calabria at the toe of Italy.<\/p>\n
The migrants from the Rise Above, operated by German humanitarian group Mission Lifeline, were “almost all minors”, a government source explained to AFP. <\/p>\n
– ‘Selective and discriminatory’ –
\nRights groups have challenged an Italian decree that permitted the Geo Barents and Humanity 1 — operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Humanity, respectively — to dock only for the time it took to help emergency migrant cases, calling it illegal.<\/p>\n
SOS Mediterranee said on Tuesday the choice of which migrants to allow to disembark those ships was “selective and discriminatory”. <\/p>\n
The psychological strain of waiting was taking its toll on the remaining migrants, MSF’s chief of mission, Juan Matias Gil, told reporters at the Catania port.<\/p>\n
“No one can deal with this, at any level,” Gil said. “They can really feel it and their anxiety grows every day.”<\/p>\n
On Monday, migrants held an impromptu protest from the stern of the Geo Barents, holding up signs and chanting “Help us”!<\/p>\n
Two Syrians who subsequently jumped into the water before being pulled out spent the night on the dock.<\/p>\n
“They spent the entire night in the open on the pier refusing water and food this morning,” said MSF in a statement. <\/p>\n
– Exhaustion and worse –
\nMigrants allowed to disembark from the Rise Above Tuesday were suffering from seasickness and exhaustion, Mission Lifeline said, while six people had been evacuated earlier after being deemed medical emergencies. <\/p>\n
Ships chartered by non-government organisations regularly pick up migrants from overcrowded boats seeking to cross from North Africa to Europe.<\/p>\n
However, their passengers accounted for only 14 percent of the more than 87,000 people who have landed in Italy so far this year, according to the interior ministry.<\/p>\n
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Monday the government is acting “with humanity but firmly based on our principles”.<\/p>\n
Piantedosi said he was working at a national and European Union level to reduce the burden on Italy after years of complaints from Rome that the bloc was not doing enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Catania, Italy, Nov 8 (AFP\/APP):Hundreds of migrants aboard rescue ships waited Tuesday at a Sicilian port for permission to come ashore, as another charity vessel gave up hope of a welcome in Italy and appealed to France for safe harbour. Nearly 500 migrants are in […]<\/p>\n
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