Five European countries will take a share of the 141 people on board, rescued off Libya

The Aquarius migrant rescue ship has been allowed to dock in Malta after five EU countries agreed to take in its passengers, ending a standoff over who should accept the vessel.

The Aquarius had been drifting in the central Mediterranean since rescuing 141 people on Friday, after Italy refused to allow it to dock in its ports.



The passengers’ fate had been uncertain until Malta’s government announced on Tuesday that several EU member states had “agreed on a responsibility-sharing exercise” for the people on board, who are mostly from Eritrea and Somalia and include 67 unaccompanied children.



“Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so,” the Maltese government said in a statement. “Malta will serve as a logistical base and all of the reportedly 141 migrants on board will be distributed amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.”



The UK was not named in the statement, despite calls by the Italian government for Britain to take in the passengers because the Aquarius was sailing under the flag of the British territory of Gibraltar.

The Foreign Office had said it was “deeply concerned” about the passengers, without responding directly to the demand by Italy’s transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, that the UK should “assume its responsibility”.

Malta, which is the smallest member state of the EU, with a population smaller than the city of Leicester, said it had rescued an additional 114 people at sea on Monday. Of these, 54 will be taken in by Malta and 60 will be distributed among other EU states.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Few of the 67 unaccompanied minors rescued on Friday Photograph: Nicoló Lanfranchi for The Guardian

Aid workers on the Aquarius said on Tuesday they had heard “disturbing accounts of kidnapping and extortion” of child refugees in Libya. “I begged my captors to just kill me,” one teenager was reported to have told the charity Médecins Sans Frontières, which co-runs the ship with SOS Méditerranée.

The EU commissioner for migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, welcomed the decision of the Maltese government and praised France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg “for their solidarity”. But he added: “We cannot rely on ad-hoc arrangements, we need sustainable solutions. It is not the responsibility of one or a few member states only but of the European Union as a whole.”



The standoff over the Aquarius highlighted ongoing tensions in the EU over how to manage people fleeing conflict or persecution or seeking a new life in Europe. In June EU leaders promised to create “controlled centres” on EU soil to assess the asylum claims of people who had crossed the Mediterranean. No country has yet agreed to set up such processing centres.</s>The Latest: Malta to let rescue ship with 141 migrants dock

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on a ship carrying rescued migrants in the Mediterranean (all times local):

Malta says it will allow the private rescue ship Aquarius, with 141 migrants aboard, enter port as part of an EU deal.

The Maltese government said Tuesday that the migrants, who were rescued in the waters off Libya four days earlier, will be distributed among other European Union nations — France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain. Meanwhile, Malta will serve as a logistical base for Aquarius.

Malta in a statement calls the arrangement's a "concrete example of European leadership and solidarity."

The aid groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, with staff aboard the ship, had appealed to Italy and Malta for safe harbor.

Malta noted that it rescued 114 migrants at sea on Monday and that 60 of those will also be distributed among other EU nations. .

Two officials in France are urging national authorities to allow docking access to a boat carrying 141 migrants rescued last week in the Mediterranean Sea, stressing humanitarian concerns.

The ship, Aquarius, is operated by French groups. It is currently situated between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa, with Italy's new anti-migrant government refusing to let it dock.

Jean-Guy Talamoni, the president of Corsica's local assembly, told Europe-1 on Tuesday that, "it's an obligation to help people in danger."

The director of the port of Sete near Montpellier, Jean-Claude Gayssot, also said the evening before on BFM-TV that "there are emergency situations and you have to deal with them."

The boat needs the authorization of French authorities to enter any port. French President Emmanuel Macron has not yet commented.</s>VALLETTA (Reuters) - Malta on Tuesday said it agreed to let the Aquarius humanitarian ship dock in one of its ports and disembark 141 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya last week, ending a European standoff over who should accept the ship.

“Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so,” a government statement said.

“Malta will serve as a logistical base and all of the reportedly 141 migrants on board will be distributed amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain,” it said.

The government also pointed out that a further 114 migrants were rescued at sea and brought to Malta on Monday. Sixty of them will be distributed among other EU member states.</s>VALLETTA/MADRID (Reuters) - Five European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to take in 141 migrants on board the Mediterranean rescue ship Aquarius, prompting Malta to say it would allow the ship, already barred from three coastal states, to dock.

The boat, run by the Franco-German charity SOS Méditerranée and Doctors without Borders (MSF), has already been at the centre of a continent-wide tug-of-war over how to cope with the arrival of seaborne migrants.

The decision ended a four-day standoff in which Spain, Tunisia and Malta also refused the ship entry.

The latest migrants had been rescued from boats off Libya, and Malta had initially argued that they should be taken to Libya, Tunisia or the Italian island of Lampedusa, all closer to the rescue points.

"Following discussions between France and Malta, a number of European Union member states, with the support of the European Commission, agreed on a responsibility-sharing exercise regarding the rescued migrants," the Maltese government said.

All 141 migrants would be distributed among France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain, it said, noting that a further 114 migrants rescued at sea had been brought to Malta on Monday. Sixty of these will also be distributed among other EU member states.

Spain will take 60 of the migrants, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted. Portugal said it would take 30 from the Aquarius and other boats that had arrived in Malta.

Spain took in 629 mainly sub-Saharan Africans from the same rescue boat in June, and Sanchez said this had helped pave the way to the latest deal, which Malta called "a concrete example of European leadership and solidarity".

The latest row over where in Europe to land migrants fleeing war and poverty shows how little political progress has been made since EU leaders brokered a convoluted deal on migration in June that appeared designed to appease divergent views rather than provide concrete solutions to the crisis.

Frédéric Penard, director of operations at SOS Méditerranée, told a news conference: "Maybe European states have finally understood that this concerns our common border at the south of Europe, that this is a problem for the 28 member states, and that we can't avoid responsibility and should work together."

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>Malta said on Tuesday it would allow the Mediterranean rescue ship Aquarius, which has been barred for four days from several coastal states, to dock after five European Union countries agreed to take in the 141 migrants on board.

The boat, run by the Franco-German charity SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF), had been at the center of the latest continent-wide tug-of-war over how to cope with the arrival of seaborne migrants.

The migrants rescued off the coast of Libya together with some others who arrived in Malta separately will be distributed among France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain, according to Spanish deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo, who said the final number of people involved came to 255.

She also said Italy would take some of the migrants in, but Italy's far right interior minister and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini said on Twitter that Rome would not take any of them.

"The NGO ship Aquarius will go to Malta and the migrants on board will be distributed between Spain, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Germany. As promised, not in Italy. We've already done enough," Salvini said on Twitter.

The row over the Aquarius illustrates again how politically fraught the issue remains despite the deal on migration that EU leaders agreed on at a summit in June.

The charities gave a cautious welcome to the deal, saying EU states now needed to agree on a more permanent mechanism that would avoid seeing rescue ships stranded at sea for days.

"Maybe European states have finally understood that this concerns our common border at the south of Europe, that this is a problem for the 28 member states, and that we can't avoid responsibility and should work together," Frederic Penard, director of operations at SOS Mediterranee, told a news conference.

The migrants on the Aquarius were rescued from boats off Libya. Malta had initially argued they should be taken to Libya, Tunisia or the Italian island of Lampedusa, all closer to the rescue points.

"The decision was made in a context of humanitarian emergency and highlights the importance of having a lasting and sustainable mechanism to avoid the repetition of crises," French President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a statement.

According to the Spain's Calvo, Spain will take 60 migrants, France another 60, Germany 50, Portugal 30, Luxembourg five, and 50 will remain in Malta.

Protracted feuds between EU states over how to handle the influx of migrants have thrown the issue back onto the European agenda, despite the fact that overall Mediterranean arrivals have dropped sharply since peaking at around 1 million in 2015.

EU border agency Frontex said on Monday it had counted 73,500 "irregular border crossings" into the bloc so far this year via the sea and the Western Balkans route, more than 40 percent fewer than in the first seven months of 2017.

Spain took in 629 mainly sub-Saharan Africans from the same rescue boat in June, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this had helped pave the way to Tuesday's deal, which Malta called "a concrete example of European leadership and solidarity."</s>Malta to let rescue boat dock with 141 migrants aboard

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Malta on Tuesday agreed to let a private rescue ship dock on the island, with the 141 migrants it is carrying to be distributed among five fellow European Union nations in what was described as a "responsibility-sharing exercise."

The migrants were plucked to safety by the aid boat Aquarius in two separate operations in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya on Friday. The boat was reported to be about 50 kilometers (35 miles) from Malta on Tuesday afternoon when the deal was announced.

"Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so," the Maltese government said in a statement.

It said that Malta will serve as a logistical base and that all the migrants aboard will be distributed among France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.

Previously this summer Malta had allowed another private aid group's rescue vessel to dock, also on condition other nations take the migrants, although in that case Malta also agreed to take some.

Malta also noted that on Monday it had rescued 114 persons at sea, with 60 of them destined to go to other EU nations as part of cooperation in the bloc.

Aquarius had been waiting for safe harbor after appealing to Italy and Malta. Italy's new populist government is refusing to allow any private rescue ships to dock, saying the country has done more than its share by allowing some 600,000 rescued migrants to disembark in previous years.

Malta said the dilemma over the fate of the migrants saved by Aquarius was resolved following French-Maltese discussions, and the agreement "with the support of the European Commission" to participate in a "responsibility-sharing exercise."

Italy's ruling coalition, which includes an anti-migrant party, has been lobbying for just such cooperation since it took power in June.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, thanking Malta "for its humanitarian gesture" and saying France offers its full solidarity. "There's no alternative to cooperation," Macron said.

Portugal, which will take 30 of those aboard Aquarius, was the first country to say it could take in some of the migrants, after officials in Mediterranean areas of France made impassioned pleas to their government to allow the boat to dock there. Spain has agreed to take 60.

Operating Aquarius are two French aid groups, SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, who said that many aboard are weak and malnourished. Many rescued migrants say they receive scanty rations while detained, often for months, in Libya, awaiting opportunity to depart aboard human traffickers' unseaworthy boats. Sixty-seven of those rescued are unaccompanied minors.

"Simply, there's a necessity today to get help to this ship," Jean-Guy Talamoni, president of Corsica's local assembly, told BFM-TV. "It's time (Europe) wakes up and that everyone takes their share of responsibility. In the meantime, there are emergency situations, and you have to deal with them."

In the coastal town of Sete near Montpellier in southern France, the port director also said he was ready to accept the Aquarius.

Arrivals into Europe of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa numbered just over 61,500 through Aug. 12, with 1,524 deaths reported, the U.N. migration agency said Tuesday.

That compares with more than 118,000 arrivals through the same period last year, and 265,640 in 2016.

Many migrants this year have headed to Spain, on what is known as the Western Mediterranean route, with 25,101 arrivals there, the agency said. Italy received 19,231, the second-highest number.

Quim Torra, the president of Spain's Catalan region, offered three Catalan ports as safe harbor for the ship — setting himself apart from the Spanish government, which has remained silent on the vessel's fate.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government has come under political pressure over its migrant policy after it initially offered a generous welcome to asylum-seekers and refugees.

It is the second time this summer that Aquarius has been caught up in the anti-migrant policies of EU nations. In a previous rescue mission, Spain allowed it to dock in Barcelona with some 630 migrants aboard.

Torra's regional administration is in a standoff with the central government over demands for Catalan independence and has been keen to score political points against Sanchez.

Hatton reported from Lisbon. Thomas Adamson and Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris; Frances D'Emilio from Rome; and Lorne Cook from Brussels.</s>Malta to let rescue boat dock with 141 migrants aboard

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Malta on Tuesday agreed to let a private rescue ship dock on the island, with the 141 migrants it is carrying to be distributed among five fellow European Union nations in what was described as a "responsibility-sharing exercise."

The migrants were plucked to safety by the aid boat Aquarius in two separate operations in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya on Friday. The boat was reported to be about 50 kilometers (35 miles) from Malta on Tuesday afternoon when the deal was announced.

"Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so," the Maltese government said in a statement.

It said that Malta will serve as a logistical base and that all the migrants aboard will be distributed among France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.

Previously this summer Malta had allowed another private aid group's rescue vessel to dock, also on condition other nations take the migrants, although in that case Malta also agreed to take some.

Malta also noted that on Monday it had rescued 114 persons at sea, with 60 of them destined to go to other EU nations as part of cooperation in the bloc.

Aquarius had been waiting for safe harbor after appealing to Italy and Malta.

Italy's new populist government is refusing to allow any private rescue ships to dock, saying the country has done more than its share by allowing some 600,000 rescued migrants to disembark in previous years.

Malta said the dilemma over the fate of the migrants saved by Aquarius was resolved following French-Maltese discussions, and the agreement took shape "with the support of the European Commission" to participate in a "responsibility-sharing exercise."

Italy's ruling coalition, which includes an anti-migrant party, has been lobbying for just such cooperation since it took power in June.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, thanking Malta "for its humanitarian gesture" and saying France offers its full solidarity. "There's no alternative to cooperation," Macron said.

France will take 60 of the migrants, including some from the group rescued by Malta on Monday.

Portugal, which will take 30 from those aboard Aquarius and the other boats, was the first country to say it could take in some of the migrants. Spain agreed to take 60.

Germany said it would take up to 50 of the rescued migrants being brought to Malta.

Operating Aquarius are two French aid groups, SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, who said that many aboard are weak and malnourished. Many rescued migrants say they receive scanty rations while detained, often for months, in Libya, awaiting opportunity to depart aboard human traffickers' unseaworthy boats. Sixty-seven of those rescued are unaccompanied minors.

Many aboard Aquarius are originally from Eritrea and Somalia.

Sophie Beau, vice President of SOS Mediterranee's international network, told reporters that both her group and Doctors Without Borders have been warning European authorities for two months of the need for a mechanism to avoid standoffs at sea.

The top EU migration official, Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, while commending the latest countries to offer to take some of those rescue vessels reaching Malta, he warned that: "We cannot rely on ad-hoc arrangements." Calling for "sustainable solutions," he added that it wasn't the "responsibility of one or a few member states only, but of the European Union as a whole."

France's offer Tuesday followed pleas from authorities in Corsica and other French areas on the Mediterranean to help Aquarius.

Among them was Jean-Guy Talamoni, president of Corsica's local assembly. "It's time (Europe) wakes up and that everyone takes their share of responsibility," he told BFM-TV. "In the meantime, there are emergency situations, and you have to deal with them."

Earlier in the summer, Malta agreed to give safe harbor to a German aid group's vessel Lifeline, but only after agreement that the 234 rescued migrants aboard would be distributed among Italy, Malta and seven other countries. So far 117 of the asylum-seekers have left Malta.

Lifeline's German captain of the Lifeline has pleaded innocent in a Maltese court to charges he entered the island nation's waters illegally and without proper registration.

Many of the migrants are fleeing poverty in Africa and Asia and are eventually denied asylum, unlike those escaping wars or persecution.

Arrivals into Europe of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa numbered just over 61,500 through Aug. 12, with 1,524 deaths reported, the U.N. migration agency said Tuesday.

That compares with more than 118,000 arrivals through the same period last year, and 265,640 in 2016.

Many migrants this year have headed to Spain, on what is known as the Western Mediterranean route, with 25,101 arrivals there, the agency said. Italy received 19,231, the second-highest number.

Quim Torra, the president of Spain's Catalan region, offered three Catalan ports as safe harbor for the ship.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government has come under political pressure over its migrant policy after it initially offered a generous welcome to asylum-seekers and refugees.

In June, Spain allowed the Aquarius to dock at Valencia's port after the rescue vessel, with 629 migrants aboard, was denied safe harbor by Italy and Malta.

Hatton reported from Lisbon. Thomas Adamson and Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris; Frances D'Emilio from Rome; and Lorne Cook from Brussels.</s>Aquarius leaving the harbour of Marseille, southeastern France, on August 1, 2018. BORIS HORVAT / AFP

Spain and Portugal on Tuesday offered to take in most of the 141 migrants on board the Aquarius after it was given permission to dock in Malta, resolving a new standoff over the rescue ship.

Madrid said it would accept 60 people, while Portugal offered to welcome 30, with the remainder distributed between France, Germany and Luxembourg, government sources in Malta and Spain said.

The boat was initially refused entry by Italy and Malta after rescuing the migrants in two separate missions off the Libyan coast on Friday.

The Aquarius, which hit the headlines in June after being stranded with 630 migrants on board, causing a major diplomatic row, resumed its rescue operations off Libya last week.

Spain's new Socialist government helped resolve the first standoff by allowing the boat to dock in Valencia and was again at the forefront of the solution on Tuesday.

"Spain has coordinated a pioneering agreement with six countries to share the hosting of the people on the Aquarius... Spain will take 60 people," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter.

Malta confirmed afterwards it would allow the ship to dock to disembark its passengers, many of whom are unaccompanied children from violence-wracked Somalia and repressive Eritrea.

"Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so," said a government statement posted on Twitter.

 

 European attitudes hardening

After elections in March that brought a populist, anti-immigrant government to power in Italy, new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini began turning away rescue ships operated by foreign NGOs.

For years, Italy had pleaded with its EU partners for help with a massive influx of arrivals that has seen 700,000 people land in the country since 2013, most of whom had made the short but treacherous sea crossing from Libya.

On Saturday, Salvini said the Aquarius would "never see an Italian port" again, accusing it of encouraging smugglers and migrants to take to the water in the knowledge that they will be rescued.

The Italian coast guard continues to rescue migrants, however.

Malta's government had initially defended its decision to turn the Aquarius away, saying it was "neither the coordinating nor the competent authority for such a rescue" and had "no legal obligation" to provide a place of safety.

The government of Gibraltar also announced late Monday that the ship would no longer be allowed to operate under its maritime flag; it was registered on the British overseas territory in 2009.

The increasingly hostile stance reflects hardening public opinion in Europe towards migrants following the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war or poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

The Aquarius has become a symbol of the unwillingness of many European countries to accept more newcomers, with Italy siding with conservative governments in eastern Europe intent on keeping out migrants.

France's President Emmanuel Macron was criticised by leftwing opponents in June for failing to offer the migrants safe haven, despite it being the next closest location to the boat after Italy and Malta.

France ended up taking in 78 of the migrants after they landed in Spain.

French public opinion was against accepting the Aquarius during the first crisis and the rightwing Republicans party and far-right National Rally both argued on Tuesday against allowing the boat to dock.

A spokesman for the National Rally suggested the ship should head for a port in Tunisia.</s>Migrants on board the MV Aquarius, in the Mediterranean Sea, between Malta and Linosa

"Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so," a government statement said.

"Malta will serve as a logistical base and all of the reportedly 141 migrants on board will be distributed amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain," it said.

The government also pointed out that a further 114 migrants were rescued at sea and brought to Malta on Monday. Sixty of them will be distributed among other EU member states.</s>THE MALTESE GOVERNMENT has said it will allow the rescue ship Aquarius, which is stranded for the second time in the Mediterranean, to dock in Valletta.

The government said the decision was made following discussion between a number of states which agreed on a responsibility sharing exercise regarding the rescued migrants on board the Aquarius.

The government of Malta said in a statement that it will be making a concession allowing the vessel to dock “despite having no legal obligation to do so”.

“Malta will serve as a logistical base and all of the reportedly 141 migrants will be distributed among France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain,” The government said in a statement.

In a statement on Twitter, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Spain will take in 60 of the 141 migrants as part of the agreement with other European nations.

“Spain has coordinated a pioneering agreement with six countries to distribute the reception of the people of the Aquarius. Spain will receive 60 people,” he wrote on Twitter.

This is the second time that the Aquarius has been stranded in the Mediterranean, back in June the ship, was offered safe haven by Spain’s new Socialist government after being turned away by Italy and Malta with 630 people on board.

Speaking to AFP on Monday, a Spanish government source said Madrid did not intend to repeat the gesture by allowing the Aquarius to dock in the eastern port of Valencia, saying it was “not the safest port” for the ship.

While the overall numbers of migrants reaching Europe by sea is down from the peak in 2015, Spain has seen a steady increase in sea arrivals that began more than a year ago and has surged in recent months.

The country has overtaken Italy as a destination for migrants arriving by sea after a crackdown by Libyan authorities made it more difficult for migrants to reach Italian shores.

Over 25,000 people have arrived by sea in Spain so far this year, nearly three times more than the same period last year, International Organization for Migration figures show.

Since taking in the Aquarius in June, Spain has opened its ports three more times to NGO ships carrying migrants rescued off Libya.
Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Luxembourg agree to take in 141 migrants, 67 of them unaccompanied children, who were rescued on Friday by the MV Aquarius; Malta allows the ship to dock.