France is committed to welcoming 40 people on the Open Arms, ship of the Spanish NGO Proactiva which transports a hundred migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, announces the Ministry of the Interior.
The humanitarian ship, which has landed 27 unaccompanied minors in Italy Saturday after two weeks of sailing, still carries 105 adults and two children on board, according to the Spanish government, which proposed Sunday to welcome him on his port of Algesiras , in the extreme south of the country.
"The coordination of solidarity is maintained"
"The coordination of solidarity is maintained" between countries that have committed to collect migrants and "France is committed to maintaining its commitment to accommodate 40 people," says Place Beauvau.
These 40 people, nearly half of the migrants on board the Open Arms, will have to be "in need of protection", that is to say, meet the criteria for obtaining refugee status, adds the Ministry of the Interior. Interior, which will deploy in the coming days a mission of Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) in Spain if the boat docked well at Algesiras.
The head of the Spanish government asked to host the ship
The head of the Spanish government, the Socialist Pedro Sanchez, has asked to accommodate the humanitarian ship that was waiting off the Italian island of Lampedusa because of "the emergency" on board and facing "the inconceivable decision of the Italian authorities to close all its ports ".
The Ocean Viking, humanitarian boat of SOS Méditerranée and Médecins sans Frontières left August 4 in Marseille, still has no solution to land the 356 migrants rescued at sea. It is halfway between Malta and the Mediterranean. island of Lampedusa.