Migrants evade the Libyan Coast Guard to reach Europe

ON BOARD OF THE OPEN ARMS (AP) – The February storm is unforgiving, violently shaking the ship of humanitarian rescuers as they try to reactivate a faulty engine and save African migrants adrift in the Mediterranean Sea after fleeing Libya in unsafe ships.

Not only do they have to face winds of 70 km / h and 4-meter waves, but they also have to win the race against the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been trained and equipped by Europe to keep migrants off its shores.

In recent days, Libyans had thwarted eight rescue attempts by Open Arms, a Spanish NGO ship, which was harassing and threatening its crew in the international waters of the central Mediterranean, killing 160 people. so far this year.

The latest tragedy took place on February 20, when a rubber boat carrying 120 people began to fetch water and waited hours until a commercial boat arrived in the area to help it. Forty-one people drowned, including three children and four women, according to the UN Migration Agency, the International Organization for Migration.

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

There, they are placed in topical detention centers and are subject to abuse, torture, extortion and rape.

Some 2,530 people have arrived in Europe after leaving Libya so far this year.

Among them is three-month-old Moise, whose plump cheeks barely protruded from under the large life jacket the rescuers tied to him as they carried the baby and his Cameroonian mother aboard the rescue boat Open Arms.

A day later, lifeguards pulled five-year-old Timi from a rubber sailboat under the intimidating gaze of Libya’s Coast Guard just a few meters away. Together with her mother, she had embarked on the dangerous route to Europe through the Libyan desert six months ago to escape female genital mutilation in Côte d’Ivoire, where the practice affects 55% of young women, according to UNICEF.

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

It would take 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 port in Sicily.

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

___ Reported Renata Brito from Barcelona, ​​Spain.

___

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