Pope Francis called on the international community on Sunday to tackle the migrant crisis in Libya, after a European summit remained divided on the attitude to adopt in the face of the flow of migrants to Europe.

"I express my closeness to the thousands of migrants, refugees and also others who need protection in Libya," said the Pope after the traditional Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

"I never forget you, I hear your cries and I pray for you".

“So many of these men, women and children are subjected to inhuman violence,” he continued.

"I call once again on the international community to keep its promises to find common, concrete and lasting solutions for the management of migratory flows in Libya and throughout the Mediterranean".

"The priority is to save lives at sea"

“Governments must end the deportation of migrants to insecure countries,” such as Libya, the 84-year-old Pope added.

He called on governments to at the same time give "priority to saving lives at sea" with safe disembarkation devices in ports by guaranteeing migrants "decent living conditions, alternatives to detention, regular migration routes and l 'access to asylum procedures'.

Italy continues to face the almost daily arrival of hundreds of migrants on its coasts.

On Sunday, the NGO Alarm Phone announced that two inflatable boats carrying 60 and 68 people respectively in the Mediterranean were in urgent need of intervention.

At the same time, Médecins Sans Frontières said its rescue ship Geo Barents rescued 95 new people on Saturday evening, bringing the total number of migrants on board to 296.

Twelve of the 27 countries called on the EU to fund anti-migrant barriers

Spanish organization Salvamento Maritimo's rescue ship Aita Mari, carrying more than 100 migrants, is also looking for a safe port to disembark, Italian news agency AGI reported. On Saturday, 406 migrants picked up by the German organization SeaWatch began disembarking at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo after being allowed to do so by the Italian authorities.

The attention of the leaders of the European Union has for its part turned away from the Mediterranean to the border between Belarus and its European neighbors (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland) that thousands of migrants seek to cross from the Belarus in recent months.

A two-day EU summit concluded on Friday showed lingering differences over migrants among the Twenty-Seven as twelve of them, including Poland and Lithuania, called on the EU to fund anti-migrant barriers.

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