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.


**************Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the
web. Get the Radio Toolbar!
(http://toolbar.aol.com/aolradio/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000003)

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤