Migrants evade Libyan coast guard to reach Europe

ON THE OPEN ARM (AP) – The February storm is unforgivable and violently shakes the humanitarian rescue vessel as it tries to revive a faulty engine and rescue African migrants drifting in the Mediterranean after landing on Libyan islands selfless boats fled.

They must not only brave winds of 70 km / h and waves of 4 meters, but also win the race against the Libyan coastguard, which is trained and equipped by Europe to keep migrants away from its shores.

In recent days, Libyans have thwarted eight rescue efforts by the Open Arms, a Spanish NGO vessel that is harassing and threatening its crew in the international waters of the central Mediterranean, where 160 people have died so far this year.

The latest tragedy occurred on February 20 when a rubber dinghy with 120 people began to take in water and waited for hours until a merchant ship arrived in the area to help. Forty-one people drowned, including three children and four women, the UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, said.

Those rescued at sea are not necessarily safe. According to the IOM, from January 1 to February 22, nearly 3,600 people, including dozens of women and children, were intercepted and forcibly returned to Libya.

There they are placed in bad detention centers and subjected to abuse, torture, extortion and rape.

About 2,530 people have left for Europe after leaving Libya so far this year.

Among them is the three-month-old Moise, whose plump cheeks barely protruded under the oversized life jacket that rescuers tied to him as they transferred the baby and his Cameroonian mother to safety aboard the Open Arms lifeboat.

A day later, rescuers pulled 5-year-old Timi out of a rubber dinghy under the intimidating gaze of the Libyan coast guard a few meters away. Together with her mother, she undertook the daring journey to Europe through the Libyan desert half a year ago to flee female genital mutilation in her native Ivory Coast, where, according to UNICEF, 55% of young girls are affected.

Despite nausea and vomiting caused by the harsh seas, the prospect of a safer future in Europe, coupled with warm blankets, helped Timi fall asleep on the overcrowded deck of the Open Arms ship.

It would take another three days of stormy navigation for the 146 people rescued by the group on its 80th mission in the central Mediterranean to reach a safe haven on Sicily.

But before they can embark on the challenging process of starting a new life on European soil, they must board another ship and undergo a 14-day quarantine, a precautionary measure instituted by the Italian government to spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Until then, they can only dream of a better life.

___ Renata Brito reported from Barcelona, ​​Spain.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration