Malta agrees to allow Aquarius migrant boat to dock

Malta on Tuesday said it agreed to let the Aquarius humanitarian ship dock in one of its ports and disembark 141 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya last week, ending a European standoff over who should accept the ship.

"Malta will be making a concession allowing the vessel to enter its ports, despite having no legal obligation to do so," a government statement said.

In a Twitter post, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said, "All reported 141 persons on board will be distributed amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain."

The Maltese government also pointed out that a further 114 migrants were rescued at sea and brought to Malta on Monday. Sixty of them will be distributed among other EU member states.

However, European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the EU needs to find a long-term solution to the migrant issue.

"We cannot rely on ad-hoc arrangements, we need sustainable solutions. It is not the responsibility of one or a few Member States only, but of the European Union as a whole," he said in a statement.

Aquarius trips grab headlines

The Aquarius has operated in the central Mediterranean since early 2016 and says it has helped more than 29,000 people in distress, many of them African migrants, who, until this summer, were brought swiftly to Italy without any incident.

However, when a populist government took office in Rome in June, it immediately shut its ports to all NGO boats, accusing them of encouraging illegal immigration and helping human smugglers, charges the charities deny.

In June, the orange-hulled Aquarius picked up 629 migrants, including scores of children and seven pregnant women, but first Italy and then Malta refused to let it dock, provoking a row within the heart of the EU over immigration policy.

Spain eventually agreed to take in the boat.

More than 650,000 migrants have come to Italy’s shores since 2014, but the numbers of new arrivals have plunged over the past year, with Rome encouraging the Libyan coastguard to carry out most of the rescues.

(FRANCE 24, Reuters)