Germany accepts 40 refugees rescued in Mediterranean
After several days of the Alan Kurdi ship adrift in the Mediterranean with 65 rescued African refugees, Malta took them in. Germany's interior minister announced that it would accept some of the refugees.
The long journey of the German ship Alan Kurdi ended with 65 African refugees. A Maltese navy ship picked up the stranded and displaced refugees from the Alan Kurdi and transferred them to land to be distributed among European countries.
The Alan Kurdi, a German NGO that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean, rescued 65 migrants from a boat off the coast of Libya on Friday, July 5.
The Alan Kurdi was stranded in international waters with homeless refugees and was planning to dock at the nearest European port, the Italian port of Lampedusa. However, Matteo Salvini, the Italian Interior Minister, who holds far-right and populist positions, strongly opposed the Alan Kurdi's docking and banned the Alan Kurdi from docking at the port of Lampedusa.
After Italy objected, the ship was forced to change its course to Malta. However, the Maltese government also objected to the Alan Kurdi's docking.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that his country decided to accept the refugees after negotiations with the German government and the European Union Commission.
The foreign ministers of Italy and Malta issued a statement calling for the creation of a mechanism at the European Union level that would regularly deal with the refugee issue.
The aid group Sea Watch has also criticized the lack of a comprehensive and permanent agreement at the level of EU member states.
According to information obtained by the Funke Mediengruppe media group, German Interior Minister Seehofer has said that Germany will accept 40 refugees from the Alan Kurdi ship who have currently been transferred to a Maltese military ship.
The dispute between Germany and Italy
Government circles in Berlin announced that German Interior Minister Seehofer has asked his Italian counterpart Matteo Salvini to lift the ban on aid ships docking in Italian ports.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has stressed that rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean is a humanitarian duty that should not be questioned.
Source: DW
