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Date: | Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:25:23 EDT |
Content-Type: | multipart/alternative |
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Italy takes in stranded migrants
Media reports said the migrants were likely to be taken to southern Sicily
Italian authorities have begun bringing ashore 140 migrants who were
stranded on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea, ending a four-day stand-off with
Malta.
A Turkish cargo vessel rescued the migrants on Thursday from two boats off
the Italian island of Lampedusa.
But Italy maintained they were rescued in an area which fell under Malta's
responsibility.
Italy's government said the decision on Sunday to accept the refugees had
been taken for "humanitarian reasons".
Each year, thousands of African migrants try to enter the European Union
illegally by sea via Italy. Often their boats capsize or get stranded, and
nearby fishing boats, cargo vessels or military ships rescue them.
EU intervention
On Monday morning, the first group of about 30 migrants were escorted off
the MV Pinar at Porto Empedocle in southern Sicily and put onto buses for
processing.
The migrants were picked up off Italy's coast by the MV Pinar on Thursday
A group of 20 migrants with health problems were evacuated to Lampedusa on
Sunday. The remaining refugees were to be brought ashore later on Monday.
Italy's foreign ministry said it had agreed to take them in after the
intervention of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who spoke
with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his Maltese counterpart, Lawrence
Gonzi.
The decision was made "exclusively in consideration of the painful
humanitarian emergency aboard the cargo ship" and Italy's acceptance of the
migrants "must not in any way be understood as a precedent nor as a recognition
of Malta's reasons" for refusing them, the ministry said in a statement.
"Malta should have taken them in," Italian Foreign Minister Franco
Frattini told state television.
"[Its] government has not complied with a European request from Commission
President Barroso to respect the rules of search and rescue at sea."
Malta had insisted that the MV Pinar take the migrants to Lampedusa, where
Italy has a detention centre for asylum seekers and illegal migrants,
because it was the nearest port to where the stricken boats were found.
During the stand-off, the MV Pinar was anchored about 40km (25 miles)
south-west of the small island.
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