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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-ITALY-SPAIN
Spain offers to take Open Arms migrant vessel
MADRID, Aug 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Spain on Sunday offered to take in the
charity vessel Proactiva Open Arms with more than 100 migrants on board,
slamming Italy’s “inconceivable” refusal to allow it to dock.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez “today ordered the port of Algeciras to be
ready to receive the boat Open Arms,” which is currently in limbo off the
Italian island of Lampedusa, his office said in a statement.
It cited the “urgent situation” on the vessel and the “inconceivable
decision by the Italian authorities… to close all its ports” to the
migrants.
Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also deputy
prime minister, has refused to allow migrant rescue vessels to dock as part
of his hardline policies.
The Open Arms standoff with Italian authorities was the latest between
Rome and charity vessels rescuing migrants — mainly sub-Saharan Africans —
making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
The Open Arms organisation said Madrid had taken the decision because of
the “untenable” situation for the 105 migrants still aboard, including two
children.
“Spanish ports are not the closest or the safest for Open Arms… but for
now Spain is the only country willing to accept it,” the organisation said.
Salvini, who leads the anti-immigrant League party, has taken a hardline
against rescued migrants coming to Italy which he says bears an unfair burden
as the first port of call.
France said on Sunday it would take 40 of the migrants on board the Open
Arms as long as they meet the criteria to be treated as refugees.
“France commits to meet its promise to take 40 of the people,” the
interior ministry said.
– EU splits –
EU states disagree on how to handle the migrants crossing the
Mediterranean and some like Italy are taking a tougher position, turning away
rescue ships as they seek to dock to drop off rescued people.
Spain’s foreign ministry on Sunday called again on Italian authorities to
allow the migrants entry, guaranteeing that other EU states would take them
in once they reach land.
“The Italian government can be assured that when they disembark, the 107
migrants will be shared” among countries willing to take them — France,
Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Spain, it said.
Italy’s government on Saturday reluctantly agreed to let 27 migrant
children from the Open Arms disembark but it required that the rest stay
aboard.
The Open Arms has been anchored since Thursday within swimming distance of
Lampedusa and crew say the situation on board is critical after two weeks at
sea.
Open Arms founder Oscar Camps on Sunday published a video showing four
migrants jumping off the ship in a desperate bid to swim ashore before they
were stopped and brought back.
The UN migrant agency (IOM) says at least 840 people have gone missing so
far this year trying to cross from Libya to Europe.
Only a few civilian rescue vessels such as the Open Arms and the Ocean
Viking are still operating in the Mediterranean as they say they face
increasingly hostile reactions at European ports.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2020HRS