NGO’s monitoring this traffic say 22 boats carrying 1500 people cast off from Libya this week.

The tough, anti-migrant line of right-winger Matteo Salvini is thing of the past in Italy.

The migrants housed in appalling  conditions in Libya – anywhere between half a million and  800 000 of them – are taking advantage of this.

NGO organisations Sea Watch and Open Arms say this week they’ve rescued 237 people from the unseaworthy boats that people traffickers pack the desperate migrants into.

This year, at least 1000 people intercepted at sea have been returned to Libya – against the express wishes of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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The wind picks up on the sea these late summer evenings, whipping up the waves. If one hopes  to navigate the Mediterranean with any safety in a small boat, it had best be before winter turns the water colder and rougher.

So this is a crucial time for those fleeing conflict and persecution back home – or simply wishing to feed a family – by crossing the Mediterranean and finding shelter in Europe.

Indeed it is crunch time for refugees everywhere as the spotlight is turned on them by the United Nations General Assembly starting in New York.

The bigoted Matteo Salvini , who aligned himself with United States President Donald Trump in making cruelty a policy for deterring migrants, has disappeared for now as Italy’s Interior Minister. 

The full effect of this has yet to be revealed.

But for now captains of rescue ships do not risk imprisonment by taking aboard those cynically thrown to their fate by people smugglers. 

Some relief then for those taking this route to Europe. Their numbers have dramatically diminished:About a tenth of the number crossing  three year ago. But the Mediterranean  claims proportionately more of their lives.

Thanks to the efforts of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, fewer of them will be taken to Libya where they face detention in appalling conditions or worse.

The country rendered ungovernable after the fall of Muammar Gadaffi is no longer an easy option for European countries trying to reduce the migrant wave.

This does not mean European countries will take appreciably more people from Africa and the Middle East.

No more than the United States will welcome those from Central and South American countries seeking safer, better lives.

Indeed, South Africa will not be able to take in all those Africans coming  across the Limpopo and the Kruger National Park.

One must hope an international understanding can be reached that there is a universal responsibility to provide a refuge.

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This despite a decree from outgoing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini barring the Eleonore from Italian waters.

The rescue ship had been stranded at sea for more than a week, putting the migrants at risk.

It is not clear what will happen to them once they have disembarked at Sicily or indeed what the police will do with the ship.

The action comes as anti-immigrant right winger Matteo Salvini prepares to leave office as Interior Minister having lost his job by overplayed his hand in  a domestic power push that has left him in position that many braving the hazardous Mediterranean crossing  might envy: high and dry.

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The organization, that’s rescued more than 80 000 migrants at sea, says it fears it will see needless deaths go unwitnessed.

The Medicines Sans Frontiers rescue ship Aquarius is in Marseilles, having been de-registered in September.

MSF blames European countries for sabotaging those trying to save lives.

It particularly rounds on Italy’s righting Interior Minister Matteo Salvini who’s accused them of collaborating with human traffickers and running a taxi service for migrants to Italian ports.

MSF fears that ending its rescue service for migrants mainly from Libya will result in many more deaths at sea. 

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Observers say the clashes egos between these two former colonial powers is compounding the troubles of the North African country.

ends intro

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Defence Minister Elizabetta Trenta and Foreign Minister Enzo Milanesi all condemn French meddling in Libya.

They say President Emmanuel Macron is dangerously rushing Libya’s disparate factions into an election this year.

They also maintain that former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who pushed NATO to overthrow  the dictator Muammar Gadaffi in 2011, is partly to blame for the breakup of Libya.

Italy opposed that NATO action. 

As the former colonial ruler of Libya, it fears France – and particularly its oil giant TOTAL – is trying to supplant Italy’s influence in the country.

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The migrants will be transferred from the rescue ship Aquarius to the Italian vessels that will maker the 1400 km trip to Valencia.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has rounded on Italy’s new home affairs minister Matteo Salvini for breaking international law and creating the stalemate that left the rescued migrants stranded at sea.

Spain’s new socialist premier Pedro Sanchez says the migrants may land in Spain after they were barred by Italy and Malta.

European authorities are calling for a more coordinated response to dealing with maritime rescue operations to avoid future crisis that left seven pregnant women, 11 children and 127 unaccompanied minors among the 629 migrants saved by SOS Mediterranee in serious danger. 

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The unprecedented decision to bar the MV Aquarius from Italian harbours was taken by new Italian right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini in line with an election pledge to take a tough line on migration. He demanded that Malta must accept the migrants instead.

New Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has  phoned Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat about the issue.

Muscat says Malta’s  refusing to allow the ship in because, in terms of international law, the migrants should been taken to the nearest port to their rescue, which is not Malta.

Malta says the German charity SOS Méditerranée picked up the migrants in Libyan waters, which means they fall under Italy’s jurisdiction.

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