From words to deeds (unfortunately). The new interior minister Matteo Salvini had promised battle on the front of the landings, and so it already is: la ship Aquarius, with 629 migrants on board (among them are 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and 7 pregnant women), it was not authorized to land in Italy. In any port. Salvini wrote a letter to the authorities of Malta ("He is in Europe like us, with the same rights and duties", the leader of the League had already said in recent days) asking for the Aquarius ship to land in Valletta: "It is that is the safest port".
The Maltese authorities had the Seefuchs ship, with 126 migrants on board, was already prevented from entering the port the day before yesterday: the unit, belonging to a Dutch NGO, was in difficulty due to bad sea conditions, but Malta - the unit commander reported to the Italian police - only offered assistance at sea, without authorizing entry into the port. Thus the Italian Coast Guard intervened and the ship was finally brought to Pozzallo, where she arrived on Saturday morning.
This is just the latest episode of a long dispute between Italy and Malta, whose behavior was stigmatized by Salvini himself the other day: Valletta "cannot always say no to any request for intervention", said the minister, who on Saturday reiterated the line of firmness assuring that "it will not be repeated another summer with landings, landings and landings”.
The ship Aquarius of Sos Mediterranee, with staff from Doctors Without Bordersmeanwhile, is en route to an as yet unassigned port of safety. Among them are 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and 7 pregnant women. A total of six rescue operations were carried out. Particularly difficult was that of people on a rubber dinghy that capsized causing 40 migrants to end up in the sea.
"Over 750 dead in the Mediterranean in 2018: saving lives at sea must remain an absolute priority of every government": he asks Carlotta Sami, the UNHR spokeswoman for refugees for southern Europe after learning of the letter from Minister Matteo Salvini to the authorities of Malta.
