After Italy and Malta had turned away the migrant ship carrying 629 refugees from Africa who were pulled out of the sea over the weekend, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered to allow it into the Spanish port of Valencia on Monday.
Prime Minister Sanchez said his country would accept the refugee ship, Aquarius, in order to avoid a humanitarian disaster.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had refused to allow the ship to dock in Italy on Sunday, a move condemned by both the EU and the UN.
“Saving lives at sea is a duty, but turning Italy into a big refugee camp is not,” Salvini, who is the leader of the Italian anti-immigration League (Lega) party, wrote on Monday on his Facebook profile.
Malta had refused the ship over the weekend as well.
“We are talking about people… The priority of Italian and Maltese governments must be to make sure they receive the necessary treatment,” European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said at a press conference.
He called on all those involved in the matter to contribute to a swift solution so that the people aboard the Aquarius could safely disembark as soon as possible.
“Bigger questions, such as who has the responsibility and how to best share it among countries, should be resolved later,” UNHCR, UN refugee agency, official Vincent Cochetel said.
The ship, carrying 123 unaccompanied minors, eleven other children and seven pregnant women, has enough supplies for one more day, said SOS Mediterranee, which is in charge of the Aquarius along with Doctors Without Borders.
The migrants on board the Aquarius are mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. They were rescued in six separate operations off the Libyan coast, said SOS Mediterranee.
“The people are anxious, their supplies are running low and they need help quickly,” UNHCR said and called on the two countries’ governments to stop the political conflict.
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