Tag: migrants

Aquarius migrant rescue ship quits after facing ‘sustained campaign’

The charity-run migrant rescue ship Aquarius will end its missions in the Mediterranean, with humanitarian group MSF blaming Italy and other European states for smearing and obstructing its work. The vessel, chartered by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has been stranded in Marseille, in the south of France, since October after Panama revoked the right to fly its flag following a request from Italy’s far-right, anti-establishment government. The ship became a symbol of the […]

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US shuts border post as migrants try to cross from Mexico

  by Yemeli Ortega with Sandy Huffaker in San Ysidro Agence France Presse TIJUANA, Mexico (AFP) — US officials briefly closed a border crossing in southern California on Sunday after hundreds of migrants, part of the “caravan” condemned by President Donald Trump, tried to breach a fence from the Mexican city of Tijuana, authorities announced. The dramatic shutdown took place only three days after Trump threatened to close the “whole border” with Mexico if “it […]

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Italy Senate passes government’s anti-migrant decree

  ROME, Italy (AFP) — The Italian Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for far-right leader Matteo Salvini’s tough anti-migrant and security decree to become law following a confidence vote. The populist government of Salvini’s League and Luigi Di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) won the vote with 163 senators for, 59 against and 19 abstentions, including five M5S members opposed to the stringent decree. The lower house of parliament now has until the […]

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A hundred dead after two migrant boats sank off Libya this month: MSF

PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 100 migrants, including at least 20 children, died when two boats sank off the coast of Libya early this month, according to Doctors without Borders (MSF), citing survivors. The witnesses told MSF that two inflatable boats had left the Libyan coast on September 1, each with 160 people on board, the medical charity said in a statement. The migrants were from Sudan, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Ghana, Libya, Algeria and […]

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Spanish rescue ship heads home after dramatic rescue

ITALY (AFP) – A Spanish NGO that saved a woman off Libya who was drifting on a deflated dinghy next to the bodies of a boy and another woman said Wednesday it is taking her to Spain for her safety. Proactiva Open Arms, whose two ships sail back and forth in the Mediterranean to rescue migrants in distress, said it had decided to return a day after saving the 40-year-old woman from Cameroon. In a […]

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19 drown, dozens missing as migrant boat sinks off Cyprus

  by Odul Asik Ulker Agence France Presse NICOSIA, Cyprus (AFP) — At least 19 migrants drowned and up to 30 were missing Wednesday after their boat sank in the Mediterranean off the north of Cyprus, local security forces said. The boat was carrying 150 people, reportedly Syrians, when it went down off the coast of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot-controlled portion of the island, which is only recognised by Ankara. More than 100 people were […]

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UN urges Libya not to detain rescued migrants

TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) – The head of the United Nations’ migration agency called Thursday on Libyan authorities not to detain migrants rescued or intercepted by the country’s coastguard. The International Organization for Migration’s William Lacy Swing said he had “suggested” to Libyan representatives that they and the IOM “try to break the link” between migrants being collected from the sea and put in detention. Migrants brought into Libya from the Mediterranean should instead be taken […]

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Social security chief says Italy needs more migrants

ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy needs more migrants in order to pay for the population’s pensions, the country’s social security chief said Wednesday, drawing the ire of far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini. If we halved migratory flows “in five years we would lose population equivalent to that of Turin”, Boeri said referring to the country’s important northern industrial hub. If immigration were reduced to zero we would lose “700,000 people under 34 years of age […]

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Malta detains second migrant rescue ship as hundreds die at sea

VALLETTA, Malta (AFP)–Malta on Monday stopped a second migrant rescue ship from leaving its port, as the UN refugee agency reported over 300 migrant deaths at sea in four days. German charity Sea-Watch said in a statement published on its website that the Sea-Watch 3 vessel had been “detained in Malta, without any legal grounds provided by authorities.” The decision by Malta to detain the ship comes just days after Lifeline, another charity boat, was impounded […]

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Merkel, rebel minister agree migrant deal to avert govt crisis

by Frank Zeller © Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached a deal Monday on migration with her rebellious interior minister, Horst Seehofer, defusing a bitter row that had threatened her government. Both sides hammered out “a truly good compromise … after a tough struggle and difficult days,” Merkel said, adding that it involved setting up holding and processing centres for asylum seekers near German borders. “We have reached an agreement […]

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Future of Merkel coalition in doubt as interior minister offers to resign

by Ralf Isermann with Tom Barfield in Frankfurt Agence France-Presse MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – German  Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition was facing  an uncertain future, as her hardline conservative interior minister Sunday offered his resignation after weeks of battling to change her mind on migrant policy. Horst Seehofer told fellow leaders of the conservative Bavarian CSU party he wants to resign as both party chief and interior minister, saying he had “no support,” sources at […]

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Q&A: Will Europe’s migrant deal end the crisis?

  by Katy Lee and Jacques Klopp Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — European leaders hailed a deal thrashed out in the small hours of Friday as a breakthrough in the acrimonious dispute over migrants — but does it really provide long-term solutions? Analysts say the agreement has provided face-saving measures for leaders where immigration has become hugely sensitive, particularly in Italy and Germany. But they warn key elements of the deal remain vague […]

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