Italy's far-right
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said yesterday Italian ports were closed to
hundreds of migrants rescued off Libya after a mother and newborn baby were
evacuated to Malta. The anti-immigration minister said that the Spanish NGO
Proactiva Open Arms had asked to allow the men, women, children and babies
rescued on Friday to disembark in Italy after Malta turned them away.

"My answer
is clear: Italian ports are closed!" Salvini tweeted. "For the
traffickers of human beings and for those who help them, the fun is over."
The NGO said a Maltese coastguard helicopter had taken a woman and her baby
born on a Libyan beach three days ago who were among those rescued at sea.
"We continue with 311 people on board, without port and in need of
supplies," the NGO tweeted. Proactiva Open Arms said on Friday that it had
rescued more than 300 migrants from three vessels in difficulty, including men,
women-some of them pregnant-children and babies.

The NGO posted a
video of some of those rescued "from a certain death at sea. If you could
feel the cold in the images, it would be easier to understand the emergency. No
port to disembark and Malta's refusal to give us food. This isn't Christmas."
The vessel started patrolling the Mediterranean with two other boats run by
migrant aid groups off the Libyan coast in late November. This area of the
Mediterranean has been the most deadly for migrants attempting the crossing to
Europe. More than 1,300 migrants have perished trying to reach Italy or Malta
since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization
for Migration.

Aid groups have
been sending rescue vessels into these waters despite vocal opposition from
Salvini. Accusing the groups of acting as a "taxi service" for
migrants, he has denied them access to Italy's ports. Malta too has been
increasingly unwilling to host rescue vessels. Another aid group meanwhile,
Sea-Eye from Germany, announced Friday that one of its vessels was setting off
from the southern Spanish port of Algeciras. The 18-strong crew includes former
volunteers who were on board the Aquarius, a rescue boat run by Doctors Without
Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee. The two groups said they had to halt
activities earlier this month because of obstruction by some European
countries.

300 migrants
rescued

Meanwhile, a
migrant group said it had rescued nearly 300 migrants off the coast of Libya
over the previous 24 hours. "More than 300 people safe on board the
#OpenArms," the Proactiva Open Arms organization tweeted. The organization
added that it had rescued people on board three vessels in difficulty in a
single day. The vessel started patrolling the Mediterranean with two other
boats run by migrant aid groups off the Libyan coast in late November.

This area of the
Mediterranean has been the most deadly for migrants attempting the crossing to
Europe. More than 1,300 migrants have perished trying to reach Italy or Malta
since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization
for Migration. Aid groups have been sending rescue vessels into these waters
despite vocal opposition from Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo
Salvini.

Accusing the
groups of acting as a "taxi service" for migrants, he has denied them
access to the country's ports. Malta too, has been increasingly unwilling to
host rescue vessels. Another aid group meanwhile, Sea-Eye from Germany,
announced Friday that one of its vessels was setting off from the southern
Spanish port of Algeciras. The 18-strong crew includes former volunteers who
were on board the Aquarius, a rescue boat run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
and SOS Mediterranee. The two groups said they had to halt activities earlier
this month because of obstruction by some European countries. - Agencies