Mediterranean migrant route - Page 6

Spanish police say they have arrested 11 people suspected of forming part of a human trafficking ring transporting migrants across the Mediterranean Sea in small boats unfit for the open water.

Two migrants who were aboard a ship that saw rescued migrants threaten crew members have opened a case against Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini over tweets they claim could jeopardise their right to a fair trial.

The migrant transport vessel Sea Watch-3 has been granted permission to dock at the Italian port of Catania following an agreement between European Union member states to distribute the asylum seekers on board.

Almost a million illegal aliens are living in Libya and ready to leave for Europe, the country’s internationally-backed leader has said.

Italy has seen a radical drop in migrant arrivals in January under the migration policy of populist interior minister Matteo Salvini, down around 95 percent compared to January 2018.

Documentary filmmaker and political activist Lauren Southern has announced she will be holding a “crisis meeting” on migration after having interviewed part of a network of human traffickers in Morocco.

Populist Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has announced that law enforcement will be conducting an investigation into the Sea Watch migrant transport NGO whose vessel is moored off the coast of Syracuse with 47 migrants on board.

Only days after ending migrant transport operations, NGO SOS Méditerranée has announced they will be replacing their current vessel with a new one to resume operations in the New Year.

Illegal sea landings to Italy have dropped by 80 per cent in just one year after the country’s populist government enacted tough new immigration measures.

Libyan authorities forcibly removed dozens of migrants who had barricaded themselves in a container ship in the port city of Misrata for the past 10 days after being picked up at sea.

All of the countries of the North African region have rejected a proposal from the European Union to build migrant reception facilities in their countries.

Following the docking of the Aquarius in Marseilles, no migrant transport NGO vessels are currently operating in the Mediterranean as some face increasing legal pressure from European countries.

Newly released figures from Spanish police sources indicate that at least 50,000 sub-Saharan Africans are in Morocco waiting to head to Spain as Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has claimed Europe needs “new blood”.

The European Commission has proposed giving member states cash incentives for countries which agree to set up reception centres for migrants picked up in the Mediterranean sea.

Europe must turn back the boats, the Czech Republic has said, warning the current approach of resettling migrants across the continent is the “road to hell”, and making illegal immigration worse.

African migrants who thought they would be denied passage to Europe became violent and threatened to kill the crew of an Italian supply ship that had rescued them.

The European Union border agency Frontex has warned that a new wave of mass migration could be coming to Europe via the eastern and western Mediterranean, calling for transnational cooperation to stop it.

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s chancellor says European border guards should be allowed to go to north Africa to prevent migrants from setting off across the Mediterranean Sea in rickety boats.

Interpol has circulated a list of 50 suspected Islamic State militants currently in Italy who the agency believes may attempt to travel to other countries to commit acts of terror.

People smugglers in Morocco are now offering African migrants an “all-inclusive” smuggling package which includes a flight to Casablanca and passage to Spain. Despite the slowdown of the Libyan migrant route, people smugglers have continued to operate their businesses by

Libyan naval authorities have accused the migrant transport NGO Seawatch of interfering in one of their rescue operations and contributing to the death of five migrants.

Italian television programme Matrix has shown footage of what they claim is of members of the pro-migrant rescue NGO Save the Children cooperating with people traffickers.

Libyan warlord Ahmed Dabaschi is a former people smuggler who now prevents migrants from leaving Libya and some claim the Italian government has paid him to do it.

The number of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea has rapidly declined in the last few weeks and many are giving credit to efforts by the Libyan coastguard. Others have criticised their methods.

A new study has revealed that the vast majority of Germans do not see the migrants coming across the Mediterranean as legitimate refugees and want to see them deported back to North Africa.

The crew of the Golfo Azzurro, the migrant rescue vessel belonging to Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, was arrested by the Libyan coastguard and detained for several hours only a short time after claims they had turned off their transponders.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (AFP) – On board the Aquarius, one of the last NGO ships still operating off the coast of Libya, rescuers are worried they are not seeing any more boatloads of migrants at sea.

Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms has criticised the Libyan coastguard after they fired warning shots near one of their rescue vessels looking for migrants off the Libyan coast.

The Libyan coastguard claims that since Friday it has intercepted over one thousand migrants in various boats attempting to head for Europe and returned them to the Libyan mainland.

The migrant rescue NGO vessel “Golfo Azzurro” has been refused access to Italian ports on the island of Lampedusa, with some blaming “right-wing hackers” for ship confiscations and NGO members being investigated for people smuggling. The Golfo Azzurro, which belongs to

Several fishermen in the Tunisian port city of Zarzis have blocked the Defend Europe vessel, the “C-Star”, from refuelling claiming that the ship and its mission to watch over migrant rescue NGOs is “racist”.

Former European Union Parliament president and current leader of the German Social Democrats Martin Schulz has rejected proposals from members of his own party to create asylum centres in Libya. The migrant crisis has become the focus of the ongoing

Italian former prime minister Matteo Renzi has demanded penalties for NGOs shown to be cooperating with people smugglers after NGO Jugend Rettet had their ship confiscated by the government on suspicion of collusion with smugglers. The former Italian Prime Minister,

Several major migrant rescue NGOs working in the Mediterranean have refused to sign a proposed “code of conduct” developed by the Italian government which could limit their access to Italian ports.

European Union member states have agreed to pay 100 euros a week to new recruits in the Libyan coastguard to boost the number of officers to tackle people smuggling.

Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti plans to fly to Libya later this week where he is expected to meet with mayors of various Libyan cities to discuss bringing an end to people smuggling in the country.