UK warns 500,000 migrants could try Mediterranean crossing

[Lite Beer]

UK warns 500,000 migrants could try Mediterranean crossing
FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Naval vessels from Italy, Britain, Ireland and other countries steamed toward the waters off Libya on Saturday to rescue the latest wave of migrants from smugglers' boats. British authorities warned that up to 500,000 people could attempt the perilous crossing this summer.

Capt. Nick Cooke-Priest, on the British warship HMS Bulwark, told reporters aboard: "Indications are there that there are 450,000 to 500,000 migrants in Libya who are waiting at the border" for voyage from the North African country's Mediterranean coast in hopes of reaching Italian shores.

Also aboard the Bulwark, part of a multi-nation patrol and rescue force, was British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon. "We could see hundreds of thousands trying to cross this summer," Fallon told reporters who asked about the captain's half-million figure.

During Saturday, a total of 3,480 migrants had been safely rescued in 15 separate operations, the Italian coast guard said. Calls for help went out via satellite phone earlier in the day from the smugglers boats, which included six rubber dinghies and nine fishing boats, all some 45 miles (72 kilometers) off the Libyan shoreline, the coast guard statement said.

Pitching in to save the migrants were Italian coast guard, navy and border police boats and aircraft, a tug boat, two German military ships, the Hessen and the Berlin, and an Irish naval ship LE Eithne.

One Italian navy ship, the Vega, rescued hundreds of migrants from five boats alone on Saturday. Another Italian naval vessel, the Driade, rescued 560 migrants, while the LE Eithne, rescued 310 people, a day after it saved 113 migrants.

Fallon said Europe needed to "pool intelligence, get after the gangs themselves" which are based in Libya and organize the smuggling.

"We can try to cut off their financing. People are making money out of misery, and we can do more there track down the money."

About 170,000 migrants were rescued at sea last year by Italy. If the British estimates prove true, this year's arrivals could far outstrip last year's.

Italian authorities investigating the Libya-based smuggling operations say reliable intelligence is hard to come by, given that Western diplomats have long left Libya, wracked by violence following the 2011 demise of the Moammar Gadhafi regime. Rival governments command different parts of the country, and tribal and militia clashes aggravate the chaos.

Italy has pressed European partners to do more to help it rescue and shelter masses of migrants fleeing poverty, persecution and conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

So far this year, tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Italy, with many rescued by vessels from Ireland, Malta, Britain and elsewhere. Italy's coast guard frequently dispatches nearby cargo ships to go to the rescue. Humanitarian organizations also help with rescues at sea, which often occur when smugglers set sail in a dozen or more boats when seas are calm.

Earlier Saturday, police in Sicily detained a suspected migrant smuggler who they said had tried a new tactic of putting only a few passengers aboard a small boat in a bid to land undetected on Italian shores. Ragusa police said a Tunisian man was detained for investigation of smuggling after 12 fellow Tunisians aboard a wooden boat told authorities he promised to sail them to an isolated beach near Trapani, western Sicily, at night so they could slip away undetected. Instead, police say the suspect bungled the route and was spotted by an Italian naval vessel.

Separately, a Gambian skipper suspected of smuggling 116 African migrants was detained by Italian police.

___

Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report from London.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-07

[soihok]

It is bound to happen.

Land of milk and honey awaits.

[ezzra]

And most of then are Muslims... good luck to you Europe countries, whom have embraced open doors,

willy nilly policies to Muslims to just come in and completely de-interreges and de-assimilate\with the local population it's culture and customs..... No good deed goes un-punished....

[Usernames]

Camp of the Saints.

[noitom]

The Thais seem to have more than they are capable of handling with their own boat immigrant human trafficking an death camps in the Thai south. Why is the Thai press so concerned with Mediterranean immigrants?

[thaibeachlovers]

500,000 is a lie. Try 5 million waiting to come.

For the life of me, why is Britain sending it's navy to help when they have already said they won't take any at all?

If anyone needs convincing it's a farce- why are they not trying to go to Saudi, a Muslim country with huge amounts of money to spare?

Edited June 7, 2015 by thaibeachlovers

[thaibeachlovers]

The Thais seem to have more than they are capable of handling with their own boat immigrant human trafficking an death camps in the Thai south. Why is the Thai press so concerned with Mediterranean immigrants?

Probably to show the local population what happens when governments go out and rescue unlimited numbers of illegal economic migrants.

Edited June 7, 2015 by thaibeachlovers

[thaibeachlovers]

Italy has pressed European partners to do more to help it rescue and shelter masses of migrants fleeing poverty, persecution and conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Why? Does it consider them to be as gullible as they are by taking the illegal economic migrants to Italy instead of back to Libya?

The next elections in Italy are going to be verrrrrry interesting.

Edited June 7, 2015 by thaibeachlovers

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply removed.

[Assurancetourix]

Camp of the Saints.

The Camp of the Saints (Le Camp des saints) is a 1973 French apocalyptic novel by Jean Raspail. The novel depicts a hypothetical setting whereby Third World mass immigration to France and the West leads to the destruction of Western civilization. Almost forty years after publication the book returned to the bestseller list in 2011.

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Camp_of_the_Saints}

[elwood]

The Thais seem to have more than they are capable of handling with their own boat immigrant human trafficking an death camps in the Thai south. Why is the Thai press so concerned with Mediterranean immigrants?

Amazing how some people cannot resist a Thai bash, however irrelevant.

This is an AP report posted in Thai Visa World News section by er...a Thai Visa moderator, probably an expat.

Nothing to do with Thai newspapers.

[Robby nz]

Well UK and France were in there wanting the oil and helping to drive Gaddafi out so they should be prepared to accept the consequences.

[GoodThaiGirl]

Well UK and France were in there wanting the oil and helping to drive Gaddafi out so they should be prepared to accept the consequences.

mainly french but they are not lybians..they should put an exclusion zone around africa and keep them there..europe is so diluted you become a stranger in your own town..then they start demanding everything there own way..enough is enough..what about the europeans human rights

[simple1]

Though some people on this forum couldn't careless about Muslim deaths at sea, UK & other countries navies are working in a search & rescue mode to minimise casualties. The boat people currently cannot be returned to Libya as it doesn't have a functioning national government, nor do many of the originating countries.

Last year UNHCR claimed a large number of the boat people originated from Eritrea and Syria. Syria is a failed state, Eritrea to all intents is also a failed state. In addition UNHCR claims tens of thousands attempting to get across the Mediterranean from Africa are Christians; I assume posters would care about Christians fleeing from persecution and threat of death from Islamic extremists.

in contradiction to all ethical / moral standards in the past few years Saudi Arabia has deported hundreds of thousands of workers / refugees back to dysfunctional countries such as Somalia. KSA has not signed and ratified the relevant UN Conventions, but it does support 70,000 Syrian refugees within KSA; obviously a drop in the ocean in comparison to other regional countries. Back in 2013 KSA provided US$10 billion to Jordan to assist the Jordanians in caring for 700k+ refugees; don't know about Saudi funding for other Muslim countries dealing with massive numbers of refugees.

NATO countries are currently refusing to engage on the ground in Africa to interdict human trafficking / people smuggling organisations (many of which pay off Islamic extremist groups) stabilise governments and so on.

All in all a hugely complex scenario with no immediate solutions from the international community

[orosee]

Though some people on this forum couldn't careless about Muslim deaths at sea, UK & other countries navies are working in a search & rescue mode to minimise casualties. The boat people currently cannot be returned to Libya as it doesn't have a functioning national government, nor do many of the originating countries.

Last year UNHCR claimed a large number of the boat people originated from Eritrea and Syria. Syria is a failed state, Eritrea to all intents is also a failed state. In addition UNHCR claims tens of thousands attempting to get across the Mediterranean from Africa are Christians; I assume posters would care about Christians fleeing from persecution and threat of death from Islamic extremists.

in contradiction to all ethical / moral standards in the past few years Saudi Arabia has deported hundreds of thousands of workers / refugees back to dysfunctional countries such as Somalia. KSA has not signed and ratified the relevant UN Conventions, but it does support 70,000 Syrian refugees within KSA; obviously a drop in the ocean in comparison to other regional countries. Back in 2013 KSA provided US$10 billion to Jordan to assist the Jordanians in caring for 700k+ refugees; don't know about Saudi funding for other Muslim countries dealing with massive numbers of refugees.

NATO countries are currently refusing to engage on the ground in Africa to interdict human trafficking / people smuggling organisations (many of which pay off Islamic extremist groups) stabilise governments and so on.

All in all a hugely complex scenario with no immediate solutions from the international community

The first/only intelligent contribution here and then you get sandwiched between a racist and a moron. Ah, ThaiVisa...

[Shaunduhpostman]

I saw somewhere that there are now 4 million displaced from Syria alone. You have to wonder if some of those attempting to cross from Libya aren't from the Syrian crisis.

[simple1]

I saw somewhere that there are now 4 million displaced from Syria alone. You have to wonder if some of those attempting to cross from Libya aren't from the Syrian crisis.

Also millions of Syrians are IDPs. There are many Syrians trying to get across the Mediterranean, according to the media report below 250k are in Egypt.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/18/desperate-syrian-refugees-europe-mediterranean

Quote from a UNHCR report…

In the first seven months of 2014, more than 87,000 people arrived in Italy by sea, mainly from Eritrea and the Syrian Arab Republic

[Chicog]

Yes, Syrians are ending up on Greek islands spoiling Britons holidays by looking at them eating in restaurants apparently.

[Shiver]

Is this news reported in the countries where these people are coming from?

I don't know what they pay for passage on the boat, but presume the exploitation is to within an inch of their abilities, or maybe more if they borrow from families with a promise to send home money.

If they can be shown what the boats, conditions, risk of loss of life, and no chance of getting into another country, then maybe it will save some lives and a lot of pain. I know this will be a complicated issue with different motivating factors for people wanting to take the risks (economic, persecution or both), but if there is a zero tolerance policy at the receiving end, then it was never an option at all if they're well informed.

How about rounding up the exploiters and redistributing their ill gotten gains back to the survivors once repatriated? It's not going to fix everything, but it would be a good example to both sides.

[istinspring]

EU is responsible for this shit in the Northern Africa, politicians with armies of advisers were well informed about the consequences. But "Arab Spring", "Twitter Revolts" of course for the "Freedom and Democracy", now enjoy your migrants.

Edited June 7, 2015 by istinspring

[Scott]

Numerous off-topic, inflammatory and troll posts along with replies have been removed.

[boomerangutang]

and over 80,000 on Greek islands, awaiting transfer to ......?

If ever there was tangible proof of the consequences of runaway population explosion, this is it. Look at every source country:

>>> no birth control, and no abortions allowed

>>> no tube tying operations provided by gov't

>>> Religious taboo against birth control

>>> Their religion advocates having as many babies as possible

>>> husbands have zero sense of responsibility

>>> rape is common

>>> girls are offered for marriage at pre-teen age

>>> females get little or no eductation, and are treated as chattel

>>> natural resources reduced to sand dunes

>>> water wells dry or salted-up

>>> soil depleted or eroded away

>>> kids indoctrinated with all the ignorant ideas of their parents

[rijit]

EU is responsible for this shit in the Northern Africa, politicians with armies of advisers were well informed about the consequences. But "Arab Spring", "Twitter Revolts" of course for the "Freedom and Democracy", now enjoy your migrants.

one things for sure they are not heading for russia.

[Asheron]

Lets take an "average" somalian "refugee"...

How come instead of traveling a few hundred kilometers (i don't know the distance but yeah...) north to "Somaliland" they absolutely want to or have to come to northern Europe which is several thousand kilometers away from their own country? Could it be that a single mother of three children get more benefits and other "aid" per month than a "normal" man or woman working in Sweden gets after taxes? Naahh.... no way that could be it...

How come four persons took a taxi, yes a taxi, from Italy to Sweden so they can stay in Sweden instead of Italy[1]? Could it be that if you get "asylum" status and study SFI (swedish for immigrants) you basicly have lifetime money coming each month to your bank account? Because if you never pass the tests in SFI (even deliberately) you can still start the same beginners course next term until you get pension.

About 50-55% of immigrants have a job after about a decade in Sweden. Just this single fact merits that the only thing we should do with the "Mediterranean issue" is to help people so they do not drown, transport them to secured facilities in southren Europe where they wait to get deported to their home country or where ever they came from.

[1] http://www.dt.se/dalarna/alvdalen/forsta-flyktingarna-pa-plats

[Usernames]

Lets take an "average" somalian "refugee"...

How come instead of traveling a few hundred kilometers (i don't know the distance but yeah...) north to "Somaliland" they absolutely want to or have to come to northern Europe which is several thousand kilometers away from their own country? Could it be that a single mother of three children get more benefits and other "aid" per month than a "normal" man or woman working in Sweden gets after taxes? Naahh.... no way that could be it...

How come four persons took a taxi, yes a taxi, from Italy to Sweden so they can stay in Sweden instead of Italy[1]? Could it be that if you get "asylum" status and study SFI (swedish for immigrants) you basicly have lifetime money coming each month to your bank account? Because if you never pass the tests in SFI (even deliberately) you can still start the same beginners course next term until you get pension.

About 50-55% of immigrants have a job after about a decade in Sweden. Just this single fact merits that the only thing we should do with the "Mediterranean issue" is to help people so they do not drown, transport them to secured facilities in southren Europe where they wait to get deported to their home country or where ever they came from.

[1] http://www.dt.se/dalarna/alvdalen/forsta-flyktingarna-pa-plats

This will never happen, because your political leaders, like those in the US, have decided you have too much. And they intend to take it away from you and render "economic justice" until you have just as little or even less than the most squalid peasant in Somalia. The political leaders, of course, will not suffer from these same deprivations, because they are better than average folks and need to be enshrined on their feudal thrones, while everyone around them prostrates themselves in eternal thanks for their wisdom.

[istinspring]

EU is responsible for this shit in the Northern Africa, politicians with armies of advisers were well informed about the consequences. But "Arab Spring", "Twitter Revolts" of course for the "Freedom and Democracy", now enjoy your migrants.

one things for sure they are not heading for russia.

Very good, btw Russia already adsorbed more than million of migrants/refugees from another one EU "mistake". Northern Africa just perfect example of irresponsibility of your politicians. Let me guess appropriate idiom for this case - "Elephant in the room"

[boomerangutang]

EU is responsible for this shit in the Northern Africa, politicians with armies of advisers were well informed about the consequences. But "Arab Spring", "Twitter Revolts" of course for the "Freedom and Democracy", now enjoy your migrants.

one things for sure they are not heading for russia.

Yes, it's interesting to note where they're NOT heading. They're not heading to:

>>> Saudi Arabia, even though most of the migrants are Muslims.

>>> Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan

>>> other 'dune countries', with a few exception, even though they're fellow Muslims

>>> Not to Russia, and also not to Eastern European countries, at least not en masse.

- some are headed to Turkey and Jordan, but those are mostly Syrians and mostly because those border crossings are relatively close by.

Before Syria imploded, Assad was traveling around to many countries, always smiling, shaking hands, exchanging back-slaps with every European and N.American leader he met. If you'd asked any of those western leaders (a few years ago) whether Syria was in deep shit, they would have all smiled and said something like: "No. Assad is our friend. Syria is doing fine. Not to worry." ....and, of course, they would all have been terribly wrong.

Which begs the question: which dune states are right at the precipice of being miserably failed state like Syria? Already, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Ethiopia and to some extent Egypt have become failed states recently. Which countries will be next? Which countries are western leaders wrong about (thinking they're doing fine)? My guess, for upcoming failed states are, in order of decreptitude. . . . .

Algeria

Tunisia

Lebanon

Bangladesh

Bahrain

Pakistan

Iran

Morocco

Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Picture them as white teeth in a big Muslim smile, but upon closer inspection, they're riven by inner tooth decay. With each new failed state, millions of migrants disperse. And it's no secret where they want to go: western Europe. Brace yourself Europeans, the storm hasn't yet come to your doorstep. You've only seen a few showers preceding the deluge.

[thaibeachlovers]

Well UK and France were in there wanting the oil and helping to drive Gaddafi out so they should be prepared to accept the consequences.

Perhaps you haven't noticed but it's not so much Libyans wanting to cross the Med, but people from other countries transitting through Libya.

[PETERTHEEATER]

UK warns 500,000 migrants could try Mediterranean crossing

Wow! I didn't realise that the new government's policies were so unpopular. That will be Bradford emptied then. Where are they headed? Bangladesh?

[boomerangutang]

Actually, there is a British guy driving around solo in the Algerian desert. He's taking photos of rock formations and other natural phenomena, as a hobbyist. So, in a sense, it is a two-way avenue. I once got in trouble for playing music at a couple of clubs in Mexico. The Mexican authorities said I was working there illegally. They were right. You could have called me a 'wetback' - but going south instead of north. We had a good chuckle, and I drove 2000 miles back to my home in California.