Migrants flee Libyan coast guard to reach Europe

ON BOARD OF OPEN WEAPONS (AP) – The February storm is relentless, shaking the humanitarian rescue ship violently as they try to reactivate a defective engine and save African migrants adrift in the Mediterranean Sea after fleeing Libya in unsuitable boats.

They must not only face 70 km / h (43 mph) winds and 4 meter (13 ft) waves, but also win the race against the Libyan coast guard, which has been trained and equipped by Europe to keep migrants away from your back.

In the past few days, Libyans had already thwarted eight rescue efforts for Open Arms, a Spanish NGO vessel, by harassing and threatening its crew in the international waters of the Central Mediterranean, where 160 people have died so far this year.

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

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

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

Some 2,530 people made it to Europe after leaving Libya this year.

Among them is 3-month-old Moise, whose plump cheeks barely protruded beneath the huge life jacket that rescuers strapped to him while transferring the baby and his Cameroonian mother to safety aboard the Open Arms rescue ship.

A day later, the rescue team pulled 5-year-old Timi out of a rubber dinghy under the intimidating gaze of the Libyan coast guard a few feet away. Together with her mother, she embarked on the risky route to Europe through the Libyan desert six months ago to escape female genital mutilation in her Ivory Coast, where the practice affects 55% of girls, according to UNICEF.

Despite the nausea and vomiting caused by the rough sea, the prospects for a safer future in Europe, together with warm blankets, helped Timi to fall asleep on the overcrowded deck of the Open Arms.

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

But even before they begin the challenging process of starting a new life on European soil, they must board another ship and go through a 14-day quarantine, a preventive measure imposed by the Italian government to curb the 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