AUTUMN TIDES 2016 - 2

With the eyes of the world very much on events in Calais this week, the plight of migrants attempting the Mediterranean crossing to reach Europe has once again been largely forgotten by the international media. Yet it goes on, changing weather conditions render it even more dangerous and someone, somewhere, it seems, always profits from tragedy.

On Wednesday - Thursday night 51 people died in the Sicilian Channel because, according to survivors, a rough sea had caused the inadequate dinghies they were travelling on to capsize. Of the 339 survivors brought to Augusta, 25 were women and 31 were unaccompanied minors. Some were taken to hospital with burns caused by leaking fuel and two suspected people traffickers have been arrested.

On Tuesday a Médecins sans Frontières boat saved 107 people from a dinghy off the Libyan coast but their operatives found the bodies of 29 people lying in a mixture of fuel and seawater on board. These poor souls had died from their burns, from suffocation or from drowning.

Calais is not the only place where there have been ugly scenes this week as residents of Goro [Ferrara] protested against the planned arrival at a hostel there of 12 migrants by setting up road blocks. [I should point out that many migrant hostels are overcrowded and short of resources in Italy.] As one of the women was pregnant, a decision was made to take the group elsewhere but Interior Minister Angelino Alfano was quick to point out that this incident is not representative of Italy. The country, he said, is characterised by the young people who go to the quayside at Lampedusa to help with new migrant arrivals or Dr Bartolo of Lampedusa [who works tirelessly for both the inhabitants of Lampedusa and the migrants who arrive there].

Prime Minister Renzi, meanwhile, has said that, though it is clear that Europe cannot open its doors to all, EU states that build walls to keep out migrants should expect no funding from Italy.  He said EU states should work together to solve the migration crisis rather than playing on hatred and intolerance.

Pope Francis, as usual, put it simply and succinctly but managed to show that he understands the reasons for hardening attitudes.  In St Peter's Square on Wednesday he said,

"Today, the context of economic crises unfortunately fosters the emergence of attitudes that are closed and unwelcoming. In some parts of the world, walls and barricades are being erected. Closure [of borders] is not a solution as it ends up encouraging trafficking. The only path towards a solution is that of solidarity.”

SORROW AND SOLIDARITY

As another night begins, I am sure that many of us are thinking of those affected by the earthquakes in Central Italy yesterday. We can only imagine the fear, following the quake of 24th August and there is devastating damage to buildings in those beautiful little towns.

The first, 5.4 quake struck at 19.10  Italian time on Wednesday and the second, a 5.9 quake, at 21.18. The epicentre of both was Visso [Macerato, Marche] but they were felt in Trentino, Friuli, Veneto, Rome and even Austria. Several buildings in Rome, including the Italian Foreign Office, were evacuated as a precaution and today it was reported that cracks had appeared in some. However, historic buildings such as the Colosseum have been declared undamaged and safe today.  All school buildings in Central Italy are being inspected.

In Amatrice - the town that was virtually wiped out in the 24th August quake - the last building standing in the centre, the four-storey palazzo rosso, succumbed to last night's quake.  

There have been at least 530 aftershocks and at 10.21 today there was a 4.4 quake at Castelsantangelo sul Nera [Macerata, Marche]. At 20.50 there was a 3.1 quake between the same town and Norcia.

Thankfully only four injured have been reported but sadly one elderly person died of a heart attack caused by the quake in Tolentino [Marche]. Reports last night that a child in Camerino [Macerata, Marche] was badly injured appear to have been unfounded. No one is thought to be trapped under the rubble but 2,000 - 3,000 people have been made homeless.

Premier Renzi, who visited the quake zone today, said in Camerino that Italy is stronger than any earthquake and urged Parliament to quickly pass the "earthquake decree" which would enable the necessary funds and resources to be provided more quickly in such cases.

I do hope that it will be some consolation to the people of Amatrice to know that Sicily has not forgotten them:  last Saturday the Rotary Club of Palazzolo Acreide "Valle dell'Anapo" organised an event called "I love Amatrice" to help those affected by the 24th August earthquake. In the town square, chefs gave their services free and cooked pasta all'Amatriciana and a range of pastries, using products donated by sponsors.  Wine was also donated and musicians happily gave their services free. A sum of €2,150 was raised to help the earthquake zones.  

MUCH ADO TO BRING ABOUT NOTHING

As the UN focuses on migration this week, first at Monday's Summit on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants and then during the General Debate of the 71st Session, one might have hoped for some collective action to offer a little hope to desperate people but I have to say, if I were a migrant seeking safety now, I would be more than disappointed.

Yesterday, while politicians measured their words and refugees continued to risk their lives on the high seas or to languish in camps, UNHCR announced that, as of that day, the number of migrants arriving on European shores since the beginning of 2016 had reached 300,000.  This is lower than the number of arrivals in the same period last year but more than in 2014.  Italy has seen virtually the same number of arrivals this year as last but more migrants are trying to stay in the country.

This is exactly what the Prime Minister of my own country wishes to see, for Mrs May made it quite clear, both in a speech on Monday and in her address to the General Assembly yesterday, that she believes that migrants should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, which is, of course, EU law under the Dublin Regulation.  But if that country is already saving thousands of lives in the Mediterranean and is being stretched to its limits to deal with the number of arrivals [and is doing so humanely]? What then, Mrs May? Our new Prime Minister seems to have no answer.  When she said yesterday that the UK was "committed to helping countries adapt to refugees' needs", I did not get the impression that she meant Italy and Greece, which bear the main burden of arrivals, but receiving countries bordering Syria. 

Few people would disagree with Mrs May's  affirmation that countries have the right to control their own borders or with what seems a genuine commitment to eradicating people trafficking and one of its consequences, which she rightly calls "modern slavery".  However, her strategy for doing so takes for granted that we are dealing with non-chaotic countries of departure, which we are not. I have yet to hear Mrs May or any other top-ranking politician praise Italy for its work in bringing people traffickers to justice. [A total of 148 alleged people traffickers have been arrested in the Province of Ragusa alone in 2016.]

The British Premier gave contradictory messages, on the one hand saying that there is nothing wrong with moving to seek a better life but on the other hand stating that governments need to distinguish between economic migrants and refugees more clearly and find "a better way of dealing with economic migration".  She did not say how they would do this and her speech was hardly reassuring, even to migrants-by-choice like myself, for strangely, in the middle of her address to the GA, came this:

"We must all commit to the return of our own nationals when they have no right to remain elsewhere."

This was surely a Brexit reference and if it was, it was inappropriate.  If this one sentence can make a legal migrant-by-choice uneasy, what impact would her other words have on someone desperately hoping to be granted asylum?

Meanwhile Mr Renzi, also on Monday, received the Global Citizen Award of the Atlantic Council from Mr Kerry and said,

"Italy saves lives in the Mediterranean becaue we can afford to lose some votes but we cannot afford to lose our humanity."

He also announced that Italy's humanitarian aid budget is to be increased by 30% and, with refreshing honesty, told journalists [outside the meeting] that there is no political will to solve the refugee crisis because the leaders of France and Germany have elections coming up and he himself could be swept away by the outcome of Italy's imminent referendum on constitutional reform. Nailed it, Mr Renzi!  

While the  politicians were arriving comfortably in their armoured cars, migrants were continuing to attempt the perilous Mediterranean journey in woefully overcrowded dinghies or even less seaworthy vessels. Here are just a few of the migration developments which have occurred while our politicians have been preparing or giving their speeches at the UN:

La Repubblica reported today that 128,479 migrants were saved in the Sicilian Channel between 1st January and 15th September and 958 of the boats which had been carrying them had come from Libya.  

At the weekend a 15-year-old became the youngest refugee to be killed trying to enter the UK illegally from Calais and on 6th September the body of a young male migrant who had entered France from Ventimiglia [where the French have closed the border] was found under a flyover on the French side.  No one knows what happened. 

This afternoon a  migrant boat sank off Rosetta in Egypt and so far 42 people are reported to have died. The Egyptian authorites have saved 155 people but no one knows how many were on board.

Need I go on?

There are, however, three positive outcomes from the UN sessions:  one is the summit held by President Obama at the UN yesterday, at which significant promises were made; another is that the International Organisation for Migration [IOM]  became, on Monday, formally linked to the UN as a "related organisation." This is important because it gives the UN a migration mandate. The third development is a promise to set in motion a Global Compact on safe migration upholding human rights. Let us hope that this is implemented soon.  Are we to see action or was it all much ado to bring about nothing?

You can read the full text of British Prime Minister Theresa May's address to the General Assembly of the UN here.

You can read the text of President Obama's speech at the 20th September Summit here.

Update: 22.9.16 at 14.41:

The latest estimate regarding the migrant boat which sank off Rosetta yesterday is that up to 600 people may have been on board. 163 migrants have now been rescued and 43 bodies have been recovered. The boat is now known to have been heading for Italy.

SICILY SCENE REVISITED - MIGRATION

In tonight's look back at Sicily Scene over the last ten years, which focuses on migration, I was going to say that I hoped I would never have to write about incidents like this and this again.  Yet, exactly one year after the "Hecatomb" tragedy, it is probable that another large-scale migrant disaster has occurred in the Mediterranean.

I say "probable" because there are conflicting reports over exactly what has happened and the numbers involved but what I can glean is this:  Three days ago four inadequate boats carrying up to 500 migrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia left Egypt for Italy and there has been no definite news of them since so they are believed to have capsized.  Relatives of some of the passengers have called Don Mussie Zerai of Habeshia because they had received calls from their loved ones aboard asking for help but there was no response when they tried to call them back. Then the BBC Arabic Service reported 400 passengers missing and 30 survivors but other news services are reporting 200 dead.  A man claiming to be a survivor said that 500 people were lost and that he was one of only 23 who survived.  UNHCR earlier put the number of survivors at 40.  UNHCR, the Italian Government, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Italian Coast Guard are all awaiting further information as I write. 

This comes two days after Pope Francis shamed Europe's leaders by actually doing something to help desperate people and three days after Italy's Premier Renzi presented his country's "Migration Compact" plan to the EU Commission and Council.  It has been generally welcomed.  The Compact proposes much closer cooperation with migrants' countries of origin and with transit countries, backed up by the use of dedicated funds which could come from Eurobonds [though the German government does not like this idea, preferring to tax petrol to raise the money]. Under the plan member states would commit themselves to actively helping with border control, reducing migration flows and with repatriation and readmission of migrants.  In addition, they would step up the fight against human trafficking.  Premier Renzi has also expressed his displeasure at the Austrian plan to erect a barrier at the Brenner Pass, a thoroughfare which Italy regards as essential for its trade.

With the closure of the Greek-Balkan migrant route, Italy is again preparing itself for a migrant influx, particularly as summer fast approaches.  Up to 6,000 migrants used the Libya-Italy route last week and 10,000 are estimated to have entered the country in March.  Italy continues to save lives in the Mediterranean and to treat migrant arrivals with a humanity sadly lacking in other parts of Europe.

Migration has been a subject close to my heart for the past ten years and my first post on a migration tragedy was this one , from 2006. It is short but illustrates the fact that no one was taking notice then. Since that time the world has been forced to acknowledge the crisis but not in the way I would have hoped: I have always been pro-EU and am entitled to vote in the forthcoming referendum on Britain's continuing membership. I shall vote "in" but, given that 28 countries, some of which are among the richest in the world, can find neither the political will nor the compassion to work together on this humanitarian crisis, even I have to ask what this organisation is for.

I know how it feels to leave your country and it is difficult even when you choose to do so, love the new one and have been fortunate enough to take with you the people and things that give you solace. No one displaces himself, leaving everything behind, without a valid reason.

A reminder that you can find links to all my migration posts here.

MANNERS MAKETH ..... A KING

I rarely want to give a politician a Welsh cwtch [cuddle] but I did feel that poor Mr Renzi needed one today.  Having welcomed King Harald V of Norway to Rome, Mr Renzi either automatically or in a state of some nervousness offered his hand, only to have the gesture spurned by the King.  The reason is thought to be that protocol requires royals to offer their hand first.  

Video via La Repubblica

Well, protocol or no protocol, I know who I think was ruder! What about you?

It is even rarer for me to defend the royalty of my own country - I am not known for my monarchist sympathies - but I have to say I cannot imagine Elizabeth II being so impolite. When Mr Berlusconi put his hand on her shoulder a few years ago - definitely a breach of protocol - did she go off in a huff or refuse to speak to him? She did not. She just carried on with the job, as she always does.

I think Mr Renzi is to be congratulated for recovering himself so quickly.  As for His Majesty, a little humility would go a long way.

SUMMER TIDES, 2015 - 2

First France closed its border with Italy at Ventimiglia, an act which led to migrants protesting - and living - on the rocks there and to Italian police forcibly removing some of them.  Then Hungary closed its border with Serbia and announced its intention to suspend the so-called "Dublin rules", under which migrants arriving in the EU have to be processed and apply for asylum in their first country of arrival. Meanwhile you will all have seen the shocking pictures from Calais of hundreds of migrants trying to board UK-bound lorries in any way they can. Not a good week in which to be a migrant, then - or a lorry driver. Whilst I accept that it must be very frightening indeed to be driving towards the Port of Calais in any kind of vehicle at the moment, it remains true that desperate people will resort to desperate measures and people who have been treated brutally will themselves become brutal.

The world's media focus may have temporarily shifted from the sea to the land drama but migrants continue to die in the Mediterranean: On Thursday the Port of Pozzallo again saw the sad sight of a body being carried ashore, this time from a Panamanian ship which had rescued 292 migrants. The dead man is reported to have been from Gambia and it has now been confirmed that he died from gunshot wounds.  A man who had travelled with him and who was injured told Italian police that the shots had been fired by Libyan militia who had boarded the migrant boat. This has not yet been confirmed.

Yesterday morning a Swedish patrol boat brought 497 migrants who had been rescued in three operations to the Port of Catania. The patrol boat was also carrying the body of a woman and one of her fellow-passengers had been injured.

My own country, of which I am ashamed in this matter, has not only refused to take a migrant quota but has made it known that HMS Enterprise, the replacement ship for HMS Bulwark in the Mediterranean, will concentrate on intercepting people traffickers rather than search and rescue missions. I do not mean to imply that it would not participate in rescue missions if necessary but surely saving lives should be the priority?  And does the Royal Navy really think it can do what the Italians, who have a good record in bringing people traffickers to justice, cannot? That is, at the very least, arrogant.

At Thursday night's Council of Europe dinner Premier Renzi has, rightly in my opinion, lambasted EU countries which have refused to take a migrant quota [a share of 40,000 migrants who have arrived in Greece and Italy] and has said,

"If you cannot reach agreement on 40,000 migrants you are not worthy of calling yourselves European. If this is your idea of Europe you can keep it.  Either show some solidarity or stop wasting our time."

Exactly.

Update: 26.6.15 at 13.23:
It seems that, after a long night, agreement has been reached on migrant quotas. Mr Renzi has called the agreement "modest" and the UK has, shamefully, opted out.

SOME PROPOSALS AND A REFUSAL

Well, the world is certainly paying attention, the European Commission has this week published its proposals regarding migration in the Mediterranean and the British Navy has been involved in a large-scale migrant rescue operation. But are we any nearer to the coordinated approach that the situation requires? Yes, in that at least there are some proposals on the table, no in that they are inadequate and no because Britain and Hungary are refusing to take a migrant quota.

Other proposals set out by the Commission are to destroy the people traffickers' trade and to face up to the factors - such as terrible conditions not only in countries of origin but also in countries of initial asylum and transit countries - which push people into the smugglers' hands in the first place. In addition, an updated policy on legal migration into Europe is envisaged.

Whilst UNHCR has welcomed the proposals, Oxfam has been cautious, pointing out that the plan for the resettlement in Europe of only 20,000 migrants initially is woefully inadequate and that attacking smugglers' boats before they leave Libya could expose migrants to further danger. 

There has been much debate in the media about the possibility of military action in Libya itself but this was ruled out by Mr Renzi some weeks ago. The Italian Foreign Minister has today said that neither the EU nor the UN anticipates any military action within Libya.

The irony of migrants being saved by the British Navy while the British government refuses to offer them asylum is not lost on the Italian press. British Home Secretary Theresa May says that to take the migrants would be to encourage people traffickers, whose trade in human life, like all of us, she deplores. But where is your humanity, Mrs May?  Of the 617 migrants rescued by the British Navy on Thursday and who landed in Catania today, 48 were women, some of whom, it is thought, had been subjected to rape and other forms of horrific violence on their long and perilous journey. What would you expect them to do? Mrs May does say that countries such as Britain should work with migrants' countries of origin towards a situation in which people do not feel that they have to leave but how do you work with a state in chaos? What happens to people while politicians talk about talking? History, I think, will judge the hard-line European states harshly on this issue. 

I will end tonight with this quote from the European Commission's press release:

"The plight of thousands of migrants putting their lives in peril to cross the Mediterranean has shocked and it has become clear that no Member State can or should be left alone to address huge migratory pressures."

"READY FOR LIFE"

There were those, as Mr Renzi said at the opening of Expo 2015 today, who thought that Italy would never be able to get it ready in time. Yet it did, and now, as the Premier also said, it has the six months of Expo in which to prove itself worthy of the responsibility.

The prelude to today's opening of the exhibition site was last night's televised concert from Milan. The undoubted stars were Andrea Bocelli and Lang Lang who, along with Simone Piazzola, Maria Luigia Borsi, German soprano Diana Damrau and the company of La Scala, performed against the fabulous backdrop of the city's illuminated cathedral. I must say I thought that Miss Damrau should have been advised against wearing a [presumably real] fur stole and perhaps she was, but otherwise it was an uplifting and dignified show, reminding me of why I still love Italy.

As always, in this country, there are contradictions - the wonderful and the absurd: I read recently, for instance, that the organisers of Expo were finding it difficult to find the employees they needed because young people had decided they didn't like the shifts [presumably the idea of working through the lunchtime and the summer]. In a country where it is notoriously difficult for young people to find any work at all, this just makes me want to cry or scream - I'm not sure which.

The wonderful, the absurd - and the ugly, of which we have seen plenty today in the form of "Black Block" protestors who have devastated Milan, damaging property, setting cars on fire and terrifying locals and visitors alike. The good news is that the Milanese have not caved in and by mid-afternoon the Italian media were carrying photos of bar and shop owners clearing up the mess in the streets themselves.

Sicily, I'm happy to report, is being well-represented at Expo, as the region was chosen to coordinate the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster, the largest of the themed pavilions, in which 12 countries are participating. The Cluster focuses on biodiversity and the Mediterranean diet. Sicily also, of course, features in the Italian pavilion, where a Sicilian square has been created. Two Sicilian "guest stars" at Expo are the "Dee di Aidone" or "Aidone godesses", acroliths of Demeter and Persephone which have travelled from the Aidone Museum [to which they were returned by the Bayley Museum of Virginia University in 2009]. I hope the ladies enjoy their trip!

Now I want to tell you about a great gesture of solidarity that has already come out of Expo and it is this: following last week's tragic events in Nepal, Nepalese workers on their country's pavilion understandably wanted to go home. Everyone was sympethetic when they did so and their pavilion was finished, voluntarily, by other foreign workers in their spare time and by Italian Expo employees from Bergamo and Brescia.

Finally, there couldn't have been a dry eye in the house this morning when the children in this video clip changed the line, "We are ready for death" in Italy's national anthem to "We are ready for life", a sentiment also expressed in Mr Renzi's speech

Thank you, Corriere della Sera:

AFTERMATH 2015

Three days on from the worst migrant tragedy that the Mediterranean has seen, the main facts of the disaster are being reported in every media outlet and language but perhaps I can add some detail and reaction from here, including my own:

The images of the survivors landing at Catania last night are heartbreaking and many Sicilians who were present have commented on the sadness in their eyes. The bodies that have so far been recovered have been taken to Malta and, although the numbers are not yet official, it is thought that the final toll will be around 825. Some of these were women and children who were locked in the hold. Shocking accounts are emerging of survivors who had to cling to corpses in order to avoid drowning.

As was reported on Sunday, one of the causes of the tragedy was that many of the migrants rushed to one side of the boat when they saw one of two merchant ships approaching the area.  The other cause, according to survivors, was that one of the people traffickers, the "captain" of the boat, was steering carelessly, causing a collision with the nearer merchant vessel.  It is not clear which event happened first. This man and another people trafficker from the boat have now been arrested and are under investigation for aiding illegal immigration and for multiple homocide.

Here in Sicily opinion is divided between those who feel that the Italian Coast Guard and Navy should not be going so close to the Libyan coast to save migrant boats in trouble and those who feel that Mare Nostrum, or an operation like it, should be restored. Everyone, however, has expressed profound sorrow for the migrants. Premier Renzi said on Sunday that Italy cannot remain indifferent to boats in difficulty in an age of global communication and has today called for the entire international community to act against the people traffickers who, in the words of President Mattarella, are causing the slaughter of innocents. Mr Renzi has also today ruled out military operations within Libya.

Meanwhile the boats keep coming and you will have read of the deaths off Rhodes yesterday and possibly of two other rescues in which Italy has been involved in the last 24 hours. We have also learnt that richer Syrians have been paying up to €8,500 each for a safe passage to Italy and yesterday a yacht carrying 98 such migrants was rescued when its engine failed off Siracusa. The passengers, among whom there were many families with young children, have been brought to Pozzallo.  Well, if you or I were in Nazi Germany or today's Syria and our family's lives were threatened, wouldn't we do it if we had the means? I will say again that for me, the logic is simple: if we agree that the régimes in question are awful, then we cannot blame people for trying to escape from them, in whatever way they can.

You may read for yourselves the European Commission's ten-point plan on migration:  yes, destroy the smugglers' boats before they leave but what about the people who are in fear of their lives? Then there is the point about reinforcing joint operations "but within the Frontex mandate".  We shall see but it still seems to be more about protecting borders than people to me. An "EU resettlement project" sounds good, until you read the part about "offering a number of places to persons in need of protection." What number? I am always suspicious when statistics are mentioned before humanity.  

Humanitarian organisations are calling for a European or UN Mare Nostrum operation and Cécile Kyenge, among others, is suggesting that this should be Italian-led.

Finally, an extraordinary European Council has been called for Thursday to discuss the situation. How many people will die before that?

Image:  Cécile Kyenge facebook page

SPRING TIDES 2015 - 2

As some of you will know, I have been writing about the migrant situation in the Mediterranean since 2006 and during all these years, having documented tragedy after tragedy on this blog, I have been asking myself just what it would take for the rest of the world to take notice. Today we have the answer: a sensational incident that feeds current prejudices has prompted Sky to send Enda Brady to Sicily and UK online newspaper editions to report the events further up the page - for a while.

What appears to have happened is this: About 105 migrants, most of whom were from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, were travelling on a boat which left Libya on 14th April. A few miles from the Libyan coast, a fight broke out and some Ghanaian and Nigerian passengers, who were in the minority, were threatened by a group of 15 other migrants.  The group of 15, who were Muslim. said they would throw the Christian migrants into the sea and they subsequently threw 12 of the Christians overboard. Others survived only because they formed a human chain, according to eye witnesses. The group of 15 have been arrested by Palermo police and, although the incident occurred in international waters, the Italian authorities have the right to carry out the investigation and to pursue the matter as the perpetrators are now in Italy and because of the gravity of the crime.

Another incident that is being widely reported is the explosion of a domestic gas cylinder in a house in Libya where migrants were being kept prior to making the crossing. Five people, including a baby, died on the spot. Horrifyingly, 18 other migrants who were seriously burned were forced onto a dinghy bound for Italy and one woman died during the crossing. The migrants were rescued by the Italians and brought to Lampedusa, from where those with the most serious burns were transferred to burns units in Catania and Palermo.

In yet another tragedy, a group of migrants rescued and taken to Trapani yesterday said that 41 people had drowned during their crossing. The people trafficker involved has been arrested.

It is now estimated that 10,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between last Friday and this Tuesday alone. As you will have gathered from the incidents I have mentioned above, the situation is daily becoming more dangerous, not only for the migrants but for all involved in the rescues. Reports today of an Italian fishing boat being seized by Libyan security forces will add to growing unease here. 

The world may now be noticing but the world continues to fail Italy, which is largely shouldering the burden alone. Dimitris Avramopoulos, who a few days ago was advocating a coherent and long-term approach, has today warned that the EU does not have a magic wand. No one has, but surely the situation is now so serious that it is a matter for a wider body than the EU. Someone else seems to think so and that person is President Obama, who, in a meeting with Premier Renzi today, has said that the US will work more closely with Italy "to encourage cooperation on threats coming from Libya." 

A RESCUE AND SOME THOUGHTS

Italian naval, Coast Guard, Guardia di Finanza and merchant vessels succeeded in rescuing over 2,100 migrants in the Mediterranean on Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday. The migrants were rescued from 13 dinghies that had sailed from Libya and the news that Italian coast guards were threatened by gunmen during the operation has made world headlines:  it seems that four armed men on a speedboat threatened the coast guards, who go out to rescue operations unarmed, and ordered them to leave the migrant boat they were dealing with alone once it had been emptied of its human cargo. In the interest of saving human life, the coast guards did so.

The rescued migrants have been taken to safety on Lampedusa and in Pozzallo, where one of them, a young man with gunshot wounds, said that people traffickers had caused his injuries whilst forcing him onto a departing boat.  

There have been many calls since Monday for migrant departures from Libya to be stopped but no one knows how this could be done. One suggestion is that blocking the departures would be a by-product of any Italian military action in Libya but Prime Minister Renzi has firmly said that such an intervention would be a matter for the UN.  I must say that I perceive a lack of logic in the West's attitude to the crisis: if we are all agreed upon the horror and barbarity of certain régimes and organisations, then how can we blame people for trying to escape them?

Fear is also raising its head here as rumours of  missiles in Libya being pointed at Sicily spread and I was glad to read some sense in an interview in today's Giornale di Sicilia with Andrea Margelletti, president of the Centro Studi Internazionali-Ce.S.I. and a former adviser at the Ministry of Defence, who says that these missiles do not exist. I would add that everyone seems to have forgotten that Sicily has Sigonella!

Another worry that is receiving a lot of press coverage is that there might be extremists among the migrants attempting the dangerous crossing. It would be naive to think that this is impossible but the British experience shows that extremism is more likely to flourish amongst those who find no hope in the West, whether they were born here or have immigrated. The table in this article would appear to show that Italy has a good record in looking after migrant arrivals, but the figures are misleading and probably reflect the fact that few migrants wish to stay in Southern Europe. I will end by quoting Andrea Margelletti again:

"They [the migrants] come ashore in their underwear. What harm can they do?"

THE ITALY WE LOVE

It is good to be able to end the week on a positive note and to be able to say , "Well done, Italy."

I'm sure that many of you, like me, were in tears when you saw the arrival of Meriam Ibrahim and her family in Rome yesterday. What a moment that must have been for Meriam, after having been imprisoned, forced to give birth in chains and threatened not once, but twice with execution.

Of course there has been an international campaign to free her and many countries have played their part but Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli was instrumental in securing permission for Meriam to leave Sudan this time. He accompanied the family on their flight to Rome on an Italian government plane and it gladdened the heart to see him carrying 18-month-old Martin down the steps as Meriam carried baby Maya. Prime Minister Renzi made time to be there, as did his wife and Italy's Foreign Minister, Federica Mogherini. An airport policeman gave Meriam's husband a reassuring pat on the shoulder and other officials played with Martin. Then, as the world has seen, the family were taken to meet Pope Francis.

This is the Italy we all love - not the Italy that talks about harsher and harsher immigration laws, that taxes the entrepreneurs it so desperately needs out of existence or the Italy of the 7,850 amendments. Yesterday we saw the kind, compassionate, humane country that can move mountains when it wants to.

To Italy I would like to suggest that we see more of the same and to Meriam and her family I wish a safe onward journey to the United States and a happy life, free of chains at last.

Corriere della Sera - l'arrivo di Meriam a Roma

SUMMER TIDES - 5

The saddest news I have to report tonight is that, when the migrant boat involved in last week's tragedy was finally brought to Pozzallo, 45, not 27 or 30, bodies were found, jammed into the hold.  Four men have beern arrested by Sicilian police on suspicion of people trafficking.  Last Wednesday the front page of La Sicilia carried the headline "Mare Mortum".

On Sunday night around 100 migrants, including women and children, arrived on Ispica beach. It was the usual story: an inadequate boat carrying them had managed to elude patrols, brought them within sight of the beach, forced them into the water and then made a fast getaway.  Let us hope that no one drowned.

It is estimated that 2,600 migrants were saved by the Italian Navy and other Mare Nostrum operatives over the weekend. Premier Renzi has again said that the operation must continue but with EU support:

"It is not possible, in 2014, to let a ship full of children sink because we don't know whose jurisdiction it is in.  We save them."

The week has seen several protests in Sicily by both residents and migrants: The inhabitants of Siculiana [Agrigento] protested against the sheer numbers of migrants arriving in their small town but things seem to have calmed down for the moment now that the Mayor has had a meeting with Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who listened to her concerns. Mr Alfano promised that the number of arrivals in the town would be carefully regulated and gave assurances regarding public health. He also said that the EU at last appears to be realising that Italy, and especially Sicily, cannot take sole responsibility for the migrants after they have been rescued.

Yesterday in Caltagirone, where 110 unaccompanied migrant minors have been living in overcrowded and quite insanitary conditions, the situation exploded. The young migrants destroyed furniture and broke glass in their centre, then set up street blocks nearby. Who can blame them? They say they cannot maintain personal hygiene in these conditions, that they do not have enough drinking water [temperatures in Sicily are reaching 40 C now ] and that their meals are served cold. They also say they do not have enough clothing and are not given any spending money - to which, as asylum seekers, they are entitled - or phone cards. They only want to be listened to but at the moment have no access to anyone who might understand their problems.

As I write, Sicily waits: a Libyan politician said last week that at least 3 million migrants are preparing to leave Libya in an attempt to reach Italian shores during the summer.

SUMMER TIDES - 4: A TRAGEDY

This is being reported by the world's media this morning but I'll try to give you the view from here:

In one of several migrant rescue operations carried out by the Italian Navy last night, 27 - 30 migrants were found dead in the hold of a fishing boat carrying up to 600 people, including two pregnant women. It is thought that the migrants died of asphyxiation. By the time the naval ship Grecale arrived on the scene, there was nothing the personnel could do for these poor souls and, because of the position in the boat that the bodies were in, only two were transferred to the larger ship. The boat, carrying the living and the dead, is being towed to Pozzallo as I write. 

La Repubblica is reporting that 919 migrants have arrived in Pozzallo overnight and many more in other Sicilian ports. Over this weekend alone, 5,000 migrants were rescued at sea in the Mare Nostrum operation and it is estimated that 60,000 have arrived in Sicily since the beginning of this year. The possibility of 100,000 arrivals by the end of the year has not been ruled out.

The Mayor of Pozzallo, Luigi Ammatuna, a man who has always expressed sympathy for and solidarity with the migrants, has said that the situation has become unmanageable, as the town's Cpa [centre for migrant arrivals] is full and the administration is having to rely on other institutions to accommodate them. Even the cemetery is full and there are now only two mortuary cold chambers available. The Prefect of Ragusa has promised that a plan will be put into operation to relieve the pressure on Pozzallo.

Lega Nord Federal secretary Matteo Salvini has said this morning that Premier Renzi and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano have "blood on their hands" because the Mare Nostrum operation is encouraging migrants to leave Africa.

Italy's calls for international help in the migration crisis continue to fall on largely deaf ears. Frontex [the European Border Agency] is to be strengthened but there has been no new EU agreement on asylum, as requested by Italy. The Italian government believes that the Dublin Regulation, under which the country of arrival is responsible for any asylum application by a migrant, puts too much pressure on border areas. Italy has also suggested that migrants be processed whilst still in Africa.

As politicians score points, let us remember the migrants who lost their lives last night whilst in search only of the rights and comforts that most of us enjoy without question.

Update at 15.09: A video just published by La Repubblica shows that the 600 migrants were jammed into a space of 30 metres on the fishing boat.

SPRING TIDES - 7

Yet another tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean as I write this evening and it comes only a day after 40 migrants were drowned off the Libyan coast. The facts about today's sad events are not yet clear but this is what we know so far:

At about 1pm Italian time today, the Italian Coast Guard picked up an SOS call from a migrant boat in trouble.  The boat was 100 miles south of Lampedusa and actually nearer the Libyan coast than that of Italy. Italian Coast Guard boats, merchant and naval ships and a Guardia di Finanza vessel were scrambled to the scene and saved 200 migrants. Seventeen bodies have also been recovered but it is feared that there may be many more, as it is possible that there were up to 400 people on the boat.

Once again Italian politicians have spoken to EU officials in the strongest terms and this time, it seems, they are listening: Cecilia Malmström has said she is shocked and has called upon all member states to consider how they can help. Prime Minister Renzi is to visit Sicily on Wednesday and he, too, is expected to reiterate calls for urgent EU help.

Libya's Interior Minister has told the EU that his country will help migrants to leave it illegally if the organisation does not help Libya to patrol its borders and today a Libyan naval spokesman said that the nation does not have the means to help in this latest rescue operation. Meanwhile Giovanni Pinto, Italy's Director of Immigration, has asserted that more and more inadequate boats are leaving Libya carrying migrants because the people traffickers know that Italian vessels will go as near as they legally can to the Libyan coast to save their passengers.

Italian newspapers are today carrying a video shot by a Syrian migrant on his sea crossing. He had sailed with 232 others and spent 11 days at sea without food or water. Now in Pozzallo, the man handed the video over to the Italian authorities who used it to help them identify and arrest two alleged people traffickers.

Poor Italy - whatever she does in this situation she seems to be doing it alone and whatever she does she is criticised.

Tonight's online edition of La Repubblica has a list of migrant tragedies in the Sicilian Channel from 1996 - 2013.

SPRING TIDES - 3

Looking at the situation from Italy, it often seems that the rest of the world notices the migration crisis only when there is a tragedy but today the sheer numbers of people who have had to be rescued, mostly in the Sicilian channel, have made international headlines. The figure this afternoon was estimated at 4,000 since Monday and Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said that 15,000 have been rescued since the beginning of this year.

Over 1,000 of the migrants rescued on Monday have been brought to the Sicilian ports of Augusta and Pozzallo and a naval vessel carrying a further 300 is tonight heading for the Port of Catania. Sadly, this ship is also transporting a dead body found on one of the inadequate boats which got into trouble at sea. 

Mr Alfano has repeated his earlier claim that 300,000 - 600,000 people are currently preparing to risk the voyage from North Africa so no let-up is expected during the summer months. Whether or not this figure is correct, Mr Alfano has, with justification, again lamented the fact that there has been little help from the rest of the EU. 

At the end of March José Angel Oropeza, Director of the International Organisation for Migration's Italy and Malta Coordinating Office, advocated the setting up of "migrant stations" along the routes from Africa so that people can receive assistance and information on how to reach Europe legally. In Italy, it is being said in some quarters that Operazione Mare Nostrum is encouraging people trafficking but how can a humane country which, whatever its problems, is the fourth largest economy in Europe and ninth in the world, leave people to die in its waters?  Dr Christopher Hein of the Italian Council for Refugees says the mission must continue and that legal and safe channels for migration must be opened. 

Meanwhile, with Italy's reception centres bursting at the seams, many of the migrants rescued so far this week are being taken to private accommodation such as hotels. The cost of such measures has already scandalised some Northern League politicians, who recently challenged Prime Minister Renzi and Mr Alfano to put migrants up in their own homes. [I think they should do just that, not only to call their opponents' bluff but also to show humanity.]  Silvia Canciani of Asgi points out that many of the problems which ensue once the migrants are brought to safety in Italy are caused by the country's outdated system for dealing with asylum-seekers.

Update at 12.47 pm., 10.4.14:

A friend told me this morning that she had seen, in Modica, a large group of migrants, some without shoes, who had obviously run away from a reception centre. They were just walking in the middle of the road, presumably with little idea of where they were but trying to continue what they hope will be a journey to Northern Europe.

Interior Minister Alfano has said,

"At the moment Italy is the reception centre of the world. Our ships are going as far as 30 miles off the Libyan coast in order to stop the Mediterranean from becoming a cemetery, to prevent people from dying in their thousands. This is a job we are willing to do, but we ask not to have to do it alone."

OF AGE, SENATORS AND HASHTAGS

Italy's new Premier Matteo Renzi is a man who likes to make an impression and he certainly did that in the country's Senate yesterday when, a few minutes into the speech in which he asked for the chamber's confidence, he admitted,

"Non ho l'età" - "I'm not old enough."

You have to be 40 to be elected to the Senate, you see and Mr Renzi is a mere stripling of 39 - old enough, therefore, to lead his country but too young for its upper chamber. Yes, I know this is absurd, but pazienza - we are in Italy! Those of you who are as old as I am may remember that the line is the title of the Italian song which won both Sanremo and the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, when it was sung by Gigliola Cinquetti.  

The joke, along with the rest of Mr Renzi's speech, went down quite well with young people, although some expressed concern on twitter that he doesn't know any more modern songs. And I take my twitter hat off to the tweeter who first came up with the idea of changing the hashtag #nonholeta to #nonholetta - "I don't have Letta"!

Gigliola Cinquetti, now aged 66, said she was pleased that the song had been quoted and hoped it was an omen for an efficient government.

For me the masterstroke of Mr Renzi's speech was the assertion that he hoped he would be the last Prime Minister who would have to ask the Senate for a vote of confidence - a reference to reforms of the parliamentary system that he wishes to bring in. He also said that education will be a priority. I do not wish to be cynical but where have I heard that before?

Gigliola Cinquetti - Non ho l'età