UP NEXT
03
Authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa struggle to cope with a huge influx of newly-arrived migrants as aid organisations warned the Libya crisis means thousands more could be on their way. Video provided by AFP AFP
World War II-era fortifications are in front of the Italian Coast Guard station in Lampedusa.(Photo: Eric J. Lyman for USA TODAY)
LAMPEDUSA, Italy — This tiny, picturesque speck in the Mediterranean Sea has become the front-line of the growing humanitarian crisis in Europe.
It is where thousands of migrants fleeing chaos in Africa and the Middle East are making the harrowing journey by boat to European soil — or drowning en route — because this is their closest destination. The once-sleepy island is closer to Tunisia than to Sicily.
The mass influx of refugees has divided the town's 6,000 residents, sometimes within the same family, over whether the island has a duty to help the desperate newcomers or should turn away the arrivals because they have scared off many of the tourists who provide the island's livelihood.
"Go home! Go! Go! Go!" local youths shouted from a passing car at a half-dozen African refugees gathered on Via Roma, the town's main drag. The Africans don't speak Italian, but they said they understood the sentiment.
"Why wouldn't they be mad? They don't know us," said Ahmed Ali, 19, a Somali who arrived in Lampedusa a few days earlier. "But what are we supposed to do? I could not stay in Somalia. I would die if I stayed. But for me this is just another stop along the way."
"This is where they bring us," added fellow Somali Hassan Musa-Said, 18, another of the young migrants. "I am thankful to be safe on land here. But I want to move on as soon as they will let me."
The island is in the spotlight again in the wake of another disaster at sea, where hundreds of migrants are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya this past weekend.
An overburdened former naval base just outside the island's only town houses the migrants. Its official capacity is 800 but it sometimes houses 3,000.
It is supposed to take Italian authorities two or three days to process the migrants here before sending them to other parts of Italy for a case-by-case evaluation. But many of the migrants walking the streets of the town during the day report being on the island for two weeks or longer.
Salvatore Maggiore, 80, a retired fisherman of Lampedusa, says, "I don't have a problem with any specific people. They're just looking for a better life." (Photo: Eric J. Lyman for USA TODAY)
Salvatore Maggiore, 80, a retired fisherman passing the time with friends at a coffee bar, worried about the rising numbers overwhelming the island. "I don't have a problem with any specific people. They're just looking for a better life," Maggiore said, adding there was much less of a problem when there was a trickle of arrivals decades ago.
"But you also have to look at it from our perspective," he said. "When people turn on the TV news and see these migrants arriving every day, they don't want to come here for their vacation. Without tourists, we're in trouble."
Maggiore and his friends said the island's economy was based on fishing until the 1980s, when Spain's entry into the European Union drove fish prices too low. Then the island emerged as a tourist spot for middle-class Italians and foreigners. Now that industry is taking a hit.
"This situation makes it hard for people trying to make a living here," said Damiano Bolino, 79, another retired fisherman at the bar with Maggiore. "We're suffering here because of the problems in Africa. Is that fair?"
The migrants are not just a problem for Lampedusa. As their numbers grow, Italy and other nations are fighting over what to do with them. Last year, 170,000 refugees from Africa and the Middle East entered Europe through Italy, according to the United Nations. And by some estimates, their number may more than triple this year, as political and economic stability in their home countries worsens.
Across Italy, protests have been held amid calls to sink the boats before they arrive.The Italian government required regions to offer to take as many refugees as they could absorb. Several refused to answer, and another offered to take just one.
Italy had operated a Mediterranean patrol and rescue operation but turned it over to the European Union last year because of budget constraints. The EU program is a scaled-back version of Italy's operation.
More help may be required. Earlier this month, an estimated 10,000 migrants arrived in a four-day span. As the weather warms, numbers are sure to rise dramatically. The Italian government says May through August are the busiest months for arrivals.
Migrants board a ferry as they leave the island of Lampedusa in southern Italy, to be transferred in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, on April 17. (Photo: Francesco Malavolta, AP)
Police on Lampedusa break up groups of migrants and try to shoo them onto side streets or tell them they must return to the processing center, even though rules allow adult migrants out during the day. They say they are acting to protect local residents and businesses.
"Police are treating all this as if it's a problem of public order, but it's a humanitarian crisis," said attorney Paola La Rosa, 48, a longtime resident of the island. "If we can't offer a helping hand, who will?"
The makeshift African vessels, rarely equipped with navigation systems, used to have to find tiny Lampedusa on their own, and the migrants would try to sneak ashore. Now they are met at sea by Coast Guard or Navy ships and escorted to port, where they are quickly transported to the processing center.
"The life of the average resident or visitor is not impacted at all by these arrivals," said Damiano Sferlazzo, Lampedusa's vice-mayor. "We have an obligation to do the best we can to help. But we can still be a tourist center. The food is still good; the beaches and views are still beautiful. There's no reason we can't play both roles at once."
That may not be the case if the number of arrivals soars, which seems likely.
"I am about the tenth person from my village to make this trip," said refugee Musa-Said, who left his family behind. "But there are hundreds more who want to come. It takes a lot of desperation to leave but there is nothing to keep you there."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1yL5HGJ
USA NOW
ACM Awards dominated by Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan
Apr 20, 2015
UP NEXT
03
]]>
Authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa struggle to cope with a huge influx of newly-arrived migrants as aid organisations warned the Libya crisis means thousands more could be on their way. Video provided by AFP AFP
World War II-era fortifications are in front of the Italian Coast Guard station in Lampedusa.(Photo: Eric J. Lyman for USA TODAY)
LAMPEDUSA, Italy — This tiny, picturesque speck in the Mediterranean Sea has become the front-line of the growing humanitarian crisis in Europe.
It is where thousands of migrants fleeing chaos in Africa and the Middle East are making the harrowing journey by boat to European soil — or drowning en route — because this is their closest destination. The once-sleepy island is closer to Tunisia than to Sicily.
The mass influx of refugees has divided the town's 6,000 residents, sometimes within the same family, over whether the island has a duty to help the desperate newcomers or should turn away the arrivals because they have scared off many of the tourists who provide the island's livelihood.
"Go home! Go! Go! Go!" local youths shouted from a passing car at a half-dozen African refugees gathered on Via Roma, the town's main drag. The Africans don't speak Italian, but they said they understood the sentiment.
"Why wouldn't they be mad? They don't know us," said Ahmed Ali, 19, a Somali who arrived in Lampedusa a few days earlier. "But what are we supposed to do? I could not stay in Somalia. I would die if I stayed. But for me this is just another stop along the way."
"This is where they bring us," added fellow Somali Hassan Musa-Said, 18, another of the young migrants. "I am thankful to be safe on land here. But I want to move on as soon as they will let me."
The island is in the spotlight again in the wake of another disaster at sea, where hundreds of migrants are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya this past weekend.
An overburdened former naval base just outside the island's only town houses the migrants. Its official capacity is 800 but it sometimes houses 3,000.
It is supposed to take Italian authorities two or three days to process the migrants here before sending them to other parts of Italy for a case-by-case evaluation. But many of the migrants walking the streets of the town during the day report being on the island for two weeks or longer.
Salvatore Maggiore, 80, a retired fisherman of Lampedusa, says, "I don't have a problem with any specific people. They're just looking for a better life." (Photo: Eric J. Lyman for USA TODAY)
Salvatore Maggiore, 80, a retired fisherman passing the time with friends at a coffee bar, worried about the rising numbers overwhelming the island. "I don't have a problem with any specific people. They're just looking for a better life," Maggiore said, adding there was much less of a problem when there was a trickle of arrivals decades ago.
"But you also have to look at it from our perspective," he said. "When people turn on the TV news and see these migrants arriving every day, they don't want to come here for their vacation. Without tourists, we're in trouble."
Maggiore and his friends said the island's economy was based on fishing until the 1980s, when Spain's entry into the European Union drove fish prices too low. Then the island emerged as a tourist spot for middle-class Italians and foreigners. Now that industry is taking a hit.
"This situation makes it hard for people trying to make a living here," said Damiano Bolino, 79, another retired fisherman at the bar with Maggiore. "We're suffering here because of the problems in Africa. Is that fair?"
The migrants are not just a problem for Lampedusa. As their numbers grow, Italy and other nations are fighting over what to do with them. Last year, 170,000 refugees from Africa and the Middle East entered Europe through Italy, according to the United Nations. And by some estimates, their number may more than triple this year, as political and economic stability in their home countries worsens.
Across Italy, protests have been held amid calls to sink the boats before they arrive.The Italian government required regions to offer to take as many refugees as they could absorb. Several refused to answer, and another offered to take just one.
Italy had operated a Mediterranean patrol and rescue operation but turned it over to the European Union last year because of budget constraints. The EU program is a scaled-back version of Italy's operation.
More help may be required. Earlier this month, an estimated 10,000 migrants arrived in a four-day span. As the weather warms, numbers are sure to rise dramatically. The Italian government says May through August are the busiest months for arrivals.
Migrants board a ferry as they leave the island of Lampedusa in southern Italy, to be transferred in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, on April 17. (Photo: Francesco Malavolta, AP)
Police on Lampedusa break up groups of migrants and try to shoo them onto side streets or tell them they must return to the processing center, even though rules allow adult migrants out during the day. They say they are acting to protect local residents and businesses.
"Police are treating all this as if it's a problem of public order, but it's a humanitarian crisis," said attorney Paola La Rosa, 48, a longtime resident of the island. "If we can't offer a helping hand, who will?"
The makeshift African vessels, rarely equipped with navigation systems, used to have to find tiny Lampedusa on their own, and the migrants would try to sneak ashore. Now they are met at sea by Coast Guard or Navy ships and escorted to port, where they are quickly transported to the processing center.
"The life of the average resident or visitor is not impacted at all by these arrivals," said Damiano Sferlazzo, Lampedusa's vice-mayor. "We have an obligation to do the best we can to help. But we can still be a tourist center. The food is still good; the beaches and views are still beautiful. There's no reason we can't play both roles at once."
That may not be the case if the number of arrivals soars, which seems likely.
"I am about the tenth person from my village to make this trip," said refugee Musa-Said, who left his family behind. "But there are hundreds more who want to come. It takes a lot of desperation to leave but there is nothing to keep you there."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1yL5HGJ
USA NOW
ACM Awards dominated by Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan
Apr 20, 2015
0) { %>
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1DFpO83
0 comments:
Post a Comment