Page 10 The Skanner July 5, 2017
News
Migrant Pressures Grow; Italy Presses EU Nations to do More
By Frances D’Emilio
Associated Press
ROME (AP) — Italy’s
leader pressed his Eu-
ropean Union allies
Thursday to take in
more migrants, saying
the relentless arrival of
tens of thousands on It-
aly’s shores is putting
his country under enor-
mous strain.
He spoke after 10,000
migrants were pulled
to safety from the Medi-
terranean Sea in the last
few days alone and were
heading to Italy.
With an election due
in less than a year, polit-
ical pressure is building
on Italian Premier Paolo
Gentiloni’s
center-left
government to push for
relief from fellow EU na-
tions.
“
ering blocking its ports
to non-Italian NGO ships
that pluck to safety mi-
grants from distressed
dinghies and other un-
seaworthy boats off the
Libyan coast.
While acknowledging
that European nations
take part in patrols to
deter smuggling in the
central Mediterranean,
Gentiloni said the job of
caring for the migrants
“remains in one country
only” — Italy.
On Sunday, Italy’s an-
ti-migrant
Northern
League Party teamed up
with the center-right op-
position forces led by for-
mer Premier Silvio Ber-
lusconi and triumphed
in several mayoral races.
The Democrats, Italy’s
main government party,
took an embarrassing
It’s a country under pres-
sure, and we ask the help of
our European allies
Flanked by EU national
leaders and EU officials
at a news conference in
Berlin, Gentiloni said the
growing number of ar-
rivals “puts our welcome
capability to a tough
test.”
Italy has already tak-
en in hundreds of thou-
sands of migrants in the
last few years.
Some estimates say
220,000 migrants could
land in Italy by the end of
2017.
In addition to those
who arrive, over 2,000
migrants have died try-
ing to cross the Mediter-
ranean this year, accord-
ing to the U.N.
“It’s a country under
pressure, and we ask the
help of our European
allies,” Gentiloni said,
when asked about re-
ports that Italy is consid-
drubbing.
Many Italian towns say
they just can’t handle
hosting hundreds of mi-
grants any more. Right-
wing parties remind
citizens that Italians
themselves are suffering
from high unemploy-
ment and a practically
flat economy.
In one port alone
Thursday, in Reggio Cal-
abria, 1,066 migrants dis-
embarked from the Save
the Children rescue ship
Vos Hestia.
Among them were 241
unaccompanied minors.
This ship’s rescued
migrants came from Er-
itrea, Bangladesh, Soma-
lia and several sub-Saha-
ran nations of Africa and
included a four-day-old
boy.
Six migrants had chick-
en pox and some 250
showed signs of scabies,
so officials set up pres-
surized showers.
From 2015 to 2016, the
number of unaccompa-
nied minors doubled to
more than 25,000, ac-
cording to the Interior
Ministry.
Populist leader Beppe
Grillo, founder of the
opposition 5-Star Move-
ment, slammed as a “sui-
cide pact” the accord that
lets the European sea
patrol off Libya bring all
the migrants they rescue
to Italy.
There’s also concern
that if Italy, a stalwart
supporter of the EU,
sours on Brussels be-
cause it feels abandoned
on the migrant issue, the
EU’s very survival itself
could be compromised.
“Either the Union can
shake itself up, or the
fear is that it can col-
lapse definitively,” said
Francesco Laforgia, a
left-leaning lawmaker.
“The situation is no
long sustainable,” Nico-
la Latorre, head of the
Senate’s defense com-
mission, told the Il Mes-
saggero daily. “Obvious-
ly saving human lives
remains a priority. But
it’s unthinkable that Italy
does it all by itself.”
That Italy is consid-
ering prohibiting some
NGO ships from bring-
ing migrants to south-
ern Italian ports reflects
growing frustration in
the country toward oth-
ers in the EU, said Eliza-
beth Collett, director of
MPI Europe, an indepen-
dent research institution
studying migration in
Europe.
“What they see is an
insufficient willingness
of other countries to step
up and help out,” Collett
said.
One rescue group, SOS
CIRO FUSCO/ANSA VIA AP
Leader asks other countries to admit more refugees
Migrants wait to disembark from the Spanish ship ‘Rio Segura’ in the harbor of Salerno, Italy, Thursday,
June 29, 2017. Over 1200 migrants, including children, were rescued while attempting to cross the
Mediterranean. The European Union’s foreign minister says the bloc supports Italy’s stance that it can no
longer handle the flood of migrants alone, and she insists other EU countries share the burden.
Mediterranee, expressed
understanding, saying It-
aly has been “at the front
line of this humanitarian
tragedy for too long.”
Still, their statement
said: “NGOs are not the
cause, nor the solution,
to this humanitarian cri-
sis but a response to the
failure of the European
Union to find a common
approach to the tragedy.”
Earlier Thursday, EU
foreign policy chief Fed-
erica Mogherini insisted
that other EU countries
share the burden of car-
ing for migrants. But
previous plans hatched
in Brussels to make oth-
er EU countries take in a
fixed number of migrants
from Italy and Greece
have largely stalled.
Several central and
eastern European EU
members — including
large countries like Hun-
gary and Poland — have
flat out refused to take
in a quota of the asy-
lum-seekers.
French President Em-
manuel Macron, in Ber-
lin along with Gentilo-
ni, insisted that France
would do its part as far as
those deserving asylum.
But Macron noted that
more than 80 percent of
the people flowing into
Italy from across the sea
have been described as
economic migrants.
“How to explain to our
fellow citizens, to our
middle classes, that sud-
denly there is no limit
anymore?” the French
leader asked.
AP reporter Geir Moul-
son contributed from Ber-
lin.
World cont’d from pg 12
South Korea and Japan responded
to the provocation by requesting an
emergency session of the U.N. Secu-
rity Council, scheduled Wednesday
afternoon.
Iraqi Commander Says
300 IS Fighters Holed Up
in Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Some 300 Islam-
ic State fighters remain in the small
patch of territory still controlled by
the group in Mosul’s Old City, a senior
Iraqi commander said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridi of Iraq’s spe-
cial forces told The Associated Press
that the militants’ hold on Mosul has
shrunk to a 500 square meter (600
sq. yard) area. A large number of ci-
vilians are believed to be trapped in
the IS-run enclave, with around 1,500
fleeing with every 100-meter (yard)
advance by Iraqi forces.
Iraqi forces moved to besiege the
Old City before launching their attack
in order to prevent IS fighters from
fleeing to neighboring Syria, but
al-Aridi said hundreds of militants
still managed to escape from the Old
City alone.
“They just shave their beards and
walk out,” al-Aridi said. “Just yester-
day we captured two among a group
of women and children.”
Late Tuesday, Iraq’s Prime Minis-
ter Haider al-Abadi congratulated
the armed forces on a “big victory” in
Mosul, despite ongoing clashes. The
prime minister declared an end to the
extremist group’s self-styled Islamic
caliphate in June.
Arab Nations Say They
Have Qatar’s Response to
Their Demands
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)
— A quartet of Arab nations said early
Wednesday they had received Qatar’s
response to their demands for end-
ing a diplomatic crisis gripping the
Persian Gulf, just ahead of a planned
meeting in Cairo.
Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates said in a
joint statement they would respond
“in a timely manner.” The countries
did not elaborate on what steps they
could take, though a major credit rat-
ing agency warned it had changed
Qatar’s economic outlook to negative
over the turmoil.
The countries cut ties to the FIFA
2022 World Cup host early last month
over its alleged support for extrem-
ist groups and ties with Iran. Qatar
denies supporting extremists and
has defended its warm relations with
Iran; the two countries share a mas-
sive undersea natural gas field.
The nations issued a 13-point list of
demands on June 22, giving Qatar 10
days to comply. They later extended
the deadline by another 48 hours at
the request of Kuwait, which has act-
ed as a mediator to resolve the crisis.
That deadline expired early Wednes-
day morning.
Later Wednesday, foreign ministers
from the four Arab countries met in
Cairo to discuss their next move. Late
Tuesday, Egypt’s state-run news agen-
cy reported intelligence agency chiefs
from those countries had met in Cai-
ro, likely discussing the crisis.