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The "Aquarius" in the port of Valletta, Malta, August 15, 2018. REUTERS / Darrin Zammit Lupi
The "Aquarius", the boat that has become famous for rescuing 30,000 migrants in the Mediterranean, will stay at the dock. SOS Mediterranean decided to end the charter of the ship. The NGO created to help migrants denounces a campaign of criminalization against him which prevents him today from continuing his rescue operations. But the team does not give up.
At the press conference on the morning of Friday 7 December, SOS Méditerranée decided to end the charter of Aquarius , but intends to continue its mission.
In the hold of a barge on the banks of the Seine, Frédéric Penard, director of operations of SOS Méditerranée, has a pale face. He has just announced to the journalists the end of the Aquarius . " The decision to stop chartering the ship was not easy because it is an ideal ship for rescue," he told RFI . That's why he was systematically attacked, harassed, blocked. Today, it was necessary to go to the reason : this ship is probably not the best tool to go back to sea. And our energy, our determination, must be concentrated to go to meet these people who, today , still die in the Mediterranean Sea. "
It's been two months since the Aquarius lost its flag, so it is immobilized in Marseille, but the team does not want to give up because if " the ship is the symbol of the bankruptcy of European countries in the face of the crisis migrants, in the words of the director France SOS Méditerranée, it is also the symbol of the hope of citizen mobilization for human values. "
Silence " complicit "
Frédéric Penard continues: " We still hope that there are countries that have strong values. Some governments have shown overt hostility and a large majority of governments, especially in Europe, have been relatively complicit in silence, partly because Aquarius has something very symbolic about it. A new ship will allow us to move into a more relaxed relationship with the flag state and carry out our rescue mission. "
The SOS Mediterranean teams hope to be able to go back to sea in 2019. While in the middle of winter, boat departures to Europe continue without rescue coordination off the coast of Libya.