AUTUMN TIDES

The news that there have been two major new migration tragedies in the Mediterranean is tonight breaking all over the world and one of these may, according to an IOM [International Organisation for Migration] spokesperson, be "the worst shipwreck in years", for this time we may not be dealing with an accident, but with cold-blooded murder. 

Neither incident occurred in Italian waters but both affect Italy, so I will report them here. I should emphasise that reports of the incidents differ in detail and that the sequence of events has yet to be confirmed .

In the more widely reported incident, which IOM believes happened on Wednesday but which UNHCR thinks happened on Friday, it is possible that up to 500 migrants died after people traffickers deliberately sank their boat off Malta when an argument broke out on board. According to two Palestinian survivors of the wreck who have been brought to Sicily, the migrants started their journey towards Europe from Egypt and were forced to change boats several times. Finally the traffickers,who were travelling in another boat, ordered the migrants to transfer to a vessel which they judged too small and when they refused, the traffickers rammed the migrant boat until it capsized. 

Nine survivors were rescued by Maltese and Greek ships but the other passengers, of Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian and Sudanese nationality, are feared dead.

The Italian police have begun an enquiry into the circumstances of the wreck.

In another incident which took place on Sunday, a boat carrying 250 migrants sank off Tanjaura, east of Tripoli. The British press are reporting that 26 survivors have been rescued by the Libyan Navy but La Repubblica puts the figure at 36. All these migrants are said to be from North Africa and many of them are women,  This rescue has proved difficult as the Libyan Navy say they do not have specialist boats for the task.

A further 18 people may have died in the wreck of another migrant boat which got into trouble in international waters 300 miles south-east of Malta on Friday night, bringing the total number of deaths in the Mediterranean  in the past few days to over 700 if the rammed boat story is confirmed.

UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, who has been visiting Maltese Naval Rescue HQ, said on Monday,

"We all need to wake up to the scale of this crisis. There is a direct link between the conflicts in Syria and elsewhere and the rise in deaths at sea in the Mediterranean. We have to understand what drives people to take the fearful step of risking their children's lives on crowded, unsafe vessels; it is the overwhelming desire to find refuge. It is also part of a bigger problem - the soaring numbers of people displaced by conflicts around the world today, which now stands at over 51 million. Unless we address the root causes of these conflicts, the numbers of refugees dying or unable to find protection will continue to rise."

The Italian Navy rescued 2,380 migrants in the Mediterranean during the weekend.

MIGRATION UPDATE - 9: A WELCOME VISITOR

Although Italy has been requesting EU help with regard to the migration situation on Lampedusa since the beginning of this year, it has taken a visit from Angelina Jolie, in her capacity as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, for the BBC to send out a journalist of the calibre of Zeinab Badawi and for the constant migrant arrivals on the island to make international headlines.

Visiting Lampedusa on Monday - World Refugee Day - Miss Jolie, accompanied by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, insisted, upon entering the Identification and Deportation Centre, on having her fingerprints taken, as all migrant arrivals there do.  In a speech she thanked Italy for keeping its borders open and the Lampedusani for their kindness towards the migrants.  Later, speaking to Badawi, Miss Jolie said that diversity, far from being a phenomenon to be feared, is a beautiful thing.

The "boat loads of sorrow", of course, continue to arrive and you may imagine the consternation of the Italian authorities last week when they realised that one of these was carrying a sheep.  At first the boat's passengers told the Italians that they had brought the animal along to assure a supply of milk for the children on board but later it emerged that it could have been made to travel in readiness for a celebratory meal or even as a joke.  Sadly the adventure was no joke for the animal, who was put down because Italian vets said they could not risk an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on the island.  The authorities identified, on the same boat, two Tunisians who had only been deported from Lampedusa the previous week and this reinforced the police officers' conclusion that the sheep had been transported as some sort of prank.   Are these young men foolhardy or daring and brave?  What do you think?

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, speaking at the same time as Angelina Jolie, drew huge applause from the crowd on Lampedusa when he mentioned his own hard line on immigration.  Now the Lampedusani await the promised boost to tourism that Mr Berlusconi has promised them as a result of his purchase of a villa on the island.  The Premier was unable to sign a contract for the purchase of his original choice of island home because the location of the house posed security problems but the Italian media is reporting that the purchase of a different villa will be concluded next week.

Meanwhile defecting Libyan army personnel have declared their intention of sailing for the island.

My own hope is that the Jolie visit to Lampedusa raises awareness and obtains worldwide media coverage for the migration crisis.

Porta d'Europa, Lampedusa

You can see part of Zeinab Badawi's interview with Angelina Jolie here.