Migration Crisis: France agrees to remove 20 people from Malta's banned vessel | World | New



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In a tweet published today, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that France, along with Germany and other European partners, had agreed to host Migrants by "solidarity", to allow them to land Alan Kurdi, the name of a young child who died tragically crossing the Mediterranean from Syria – in the nearest port, Valletta Malta. The intervention of Mr. Castaner will likely be an attempt to break the stalemate with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who had previously stated that his country was refusing to allow the ship's access to the port, claiming that the NGO should have headed for Tunisia, the nearest security port. the place of rescue. Italy has also refused entry. Mr Muscat added: "We can not send other countries the message that they can do what they want and abandon the problem in Malta.

"It's not fair to point the finger at Malta and say we're not doing our homework.

"Malta has not created this situation and we are now being asked to solve it.

"We are always ready to help but we can not expect to carry all the weight."

The German aid group Sea-Eye rescued 64 migrants off the Libyan coast on 3 April.

Libya, where thousands of African and Syrian migrants and refugees are stranded in Tripoli as the battle for the city draws closer, is the main embarkation point for migrants attempting the perilous journey from the sea to Europe.

Two of the 12 women aboard the ship were landed this week by Maltese patrol boats for health reasons. One of them, a 23-year-old pregnant Nigerian, was taken away Wednesday night as a result of an epileptic seizure, Sea-Eye said.

The charity said in a statement: "Alan Kurdi urgently needs a political, humanitarian and swift solution for 62 refugees and 17 crew members, whose families are also worried."

Italy has closed its ports to humanitarian ships since last June, when the far-right League formed a coalition government with the 5-star Anti-Settlement Movement.

Last week, the head of the league and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini asked Berlin to badume responsibility for the boat.

EU states have disagreed on migration since a sharp increase in the number of arrivals in the Mediterranean took the block by surprise in 2015, stretching social and security services and fueling the support from right-wing, nationalist and populist groups.

According to UN data, the number of arrivals by sea has risen from over a million during the peak year to 140,000 people in 2018.

However, political tensions around migration are still alive before the elections to the European Parliament next month.

Last month, human rights groups criticized the EU for giving up its humanitarian responsibilities after the member states decided to withdraw their vessels patrolling the Mediterranean for migrants.

Sea-Eye President Gorden Isler said, "We must end this, it is unacceptable that one person after the other must get sick in order to finally leave the ship."

On Friday, Italy offered to open its ports to two women and their children, but these refused to be separated from their husbands and remained on board.

New arrivals in Italy have collapsed since Salvini took office in June, with only 551 migrants arriving this year, according to official data, down 92% from the same period in 2018 and 98% in 2017.

The vast majority of them come from Libya, whose fall in a civil war after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 allowed smugglers to operate with impunity.

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