Italy orders ‘voracious’ foreign charities to stop rescuing African migrants – even as boats with 1,000 aboard send distress signals
Italy told NGOs to leave the rescues to Libya’s coastguard, which later picked up 948 survivors. But at least 10 died
Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday became the first member of the country’s new populist government to visit Libya amid a worsening migrant crisis gripping Western Europe.
“Mission Libya, we’ve left!”, he said, posting a selfie on board the military plane to Libya.
Salvini’s departure came after he urged “voracious” foreign charities on Sunday to stop rescuing migrants off the North African nation, even as one group said 1,000 people were on boats in distress in the Mediterranean.
With Italy – long the frontline in Europe’s migration crisis – vowing a new hardline stance, Salvini told the aid groups to back off and let the Libyan coastguard take care of rescue operations.
The migrants in question appear to have been picked up by the Libyans later in the day – 948 African migrants on inflatable boats were rescued in several operations. But 10 bodies were also recovered, officials and a witness at a naval base said.
