France tries to deter last private migrant rescue ship
September 25, 2018
The French government has said it will not allow the Aquarius 2 migrant rescue ship to dock in Marseille. The ship has been repeatedly turned away by Italy and forced to stop in Malta and Spain in recent months.
Image: Maud Veith/SOS Méditerranée
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The French government wants the ship Aquarius 2 to take migrants picked up off the coast of Libya to seek "the nearest safe port" rather than continue its journey to the southern French port of Marseille.
The ship — run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF) — has 58 migrants on board. Currently near the Libyan coast, it is the last private rescue vessel operating along the trafficking route in the central Mediterranean.
France has repeatedly said that under international law, rescue ships saving people at sea must dock at the closest port. The United Nations says Libya — where armed militias have fought for influence and control since 2011, when an uprising evolved into a civil war — does not qualify as a safe place for rescued migrants.
Asked on Tuesday morning whether France was willing to allow the rescue ship to dock in Marseille and allow the dozens of migrants on board to disembark, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said "For the moment it's 'no.'"
European solution
France's government spokesman, Benjamin Griveaux, tweeted that the solution will come from "cooperation with our European partners."
SOS Mediterranee said on Monday its "only option" was to head to Marseille where the NGO is headquartered.
"We alerted other countries, but we find it hard to imagine that France would refuse, given the humanitarian situation," said the NGO's head of French operations, Francis Vallat.
“For the past two years, European leaders have claimed that people should not die at sea, but at the same time they have pursued dangerous and ill-informed policies that have brought the humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean and in Libya to new lows," said MSF’s head of emergencies, Karline Kleijer, in a statement.
This year, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), at least 1,730 migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to reach Europe.
NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean
The search-and-rescue ship Aquarius saved nearly 300 people in the Mediterranean Sea over Easter. European maritime authorities prevented the NGO workers from rescuing 80-90 men during one operation.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
First on site
At around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 31, the search-and-rescue vessel Aquarius, along with the Libyan coast guard, was alerted by the Italian Rescue Maritime Coordination Center (IMRCC) that a rubber boat was in distress in international waters. Aquarius is manned by rescue workers from SOS Mediteranee, medics from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and a nautical and technical crew.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
People in distress
Aquarius made first contact with the rubber boat in international waters at around 11:00 a.m. Soon after, the SOS head coordinator was informed by IMRCC that the Libyan coastguard would take charge of the rescue operation. As people in the overcrowded rubber boat, visibly in distress, waved frantically, Aquarius was instructed to standby and wait for further instructions.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Helping hand
Two hours later, and with no Libyan coastguard in sight, the Aquarius was able to convince the IMRCC and the Libyans to allow them to rescue children, women and families. They evacuated 39 vulnerable people. They had to leave the remaining 80-90 men on the rubber boat to the Libyan coastguard. The Aquarius has the capacity to carry 500 rescued people.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
All in it together
MSF nurse Sylvie was on board the Aquarius' fast-speed rescue boat, whose personnel identified medical and vulnerable cases later evacuated to the NGO ship. Over the course of three missions, the staff saved 292 people from more than 20 countries, the majority from sub-Saharan Africa. Besides showing signs of dehydration, exhaustion and weakness, some also displayed signs of physical abuse.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Having fun
As parents rested on the ship's deck, MSF logistician Francois took a moment to interact with the newly arrived children. Those rescued got a chance to bond with the ship's crew as well as to express themselves in safe and secure surroundings.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Doctor's orders
Dr. Dan from California gave each new arrival a check-up to see whether anyone was in need of urgent medical care. Once on land, those rescued are examined by local medical staff in Italy.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Holding tight in rough weather
As the vessel pitched and rolled in strong winds, SOS Mediteranee team member Theo cuddled a child rescued the day before. "As a seaman it's your duty to save anybody in distress," he said. "We all shed tears yesterday. I had a baby and children in my arms. We helped some women. What's the most important is to get all these out people out of the water, to save them and for them to survive."
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Thanking the Lord
As the Aquarius approached the Sicilian city of Messina, the designated Italian port of safety, many of the rescued women began singing French and English gospel songs praising the Lord and thanking him for safe passage across the Mediterranean Sea.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
On terra firma
Francois personally helped all 292 men, women and children disembark. "Emotionally it was really hard, because once the last guy stepped out on shore, it was over. I could just call everyone and say disembarkation successfully finished, and then I felt empty."
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Thank-you kiss
These lucky people made it to Europe. According to international NGOs figures, between 750,000 and 900,000 immigrants and asylum-seekers remain trapped in Libya, whose migrant detention centers the UN has called inhumane. Many see merely one way out: to attempt to cross one of the world's most deadly seas in rubber dinghies that can only be considered floating death traps.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
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Troubled waters
The future of the Aquarius rescue mission is uncertain after Panama said on Saturday it had begun procedures to remove the ship's registration after Italy complained that the vessel's captain failed to follow orders.
"We never did anything which was not authorized by Italian authorities," Vallet told reporters during a news conference on Monday. He asked European countries to "find a solution, whatever it is. We can't stop. We don't want to stop. We will only yield to force and constraint."
In June the Aquarius was forced to sail a further 700 nautical miles (1,296 kilometers) through the Mediterranean with more than 600 migrants on board to the Spanish port city of Valencia after it was denied a safe harbor by Italy and Malta.
Italy's populist interior minister Matteo Salvini, who campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform, accuses the Aquarius of offering a "taxi service" to Europe for migrants in Libya.
Salvini has made good on an election promise by forbidding NGO ships carrying refugees to dock in Italy's ports. Malta says it can't handle large numbers of migrants.
