Post by Old Chap on Apr 20, 2015 20:23:39 GMT 4
One Truth – Thousands of Dead
Until the Western and Asian world keep doing business with African dictators, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda and ISIS this will go on!
Hundreds of Migrants Believed Dead in Shipwreck Off Libya
Boat capsizes after passengers rush to one side (Last minute update: 950 passengers)
As many as 700 migrants are believed to have died after the fishing boat carrying them from Libya capsized in the Mediterranean this weekend. Photo: Giovanni Isolino/AFP/Getty
By Deborah Ball Updated April 19, 2015 7:53 p.m. ET
ROME—As many as 700 migrants are believed to have died in a shipwreck off the Libyan coast, piling pressure on European leaders to find a solution to a spiraling migration crisis in the face of growing chaos in Libya and anti-immigration sentiment at home.
The 20-meter-long fishing boat sank on what has become the deadliest migrant route in the world—the crossing from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa—after launching a distress call early Sunday. The Italians sent a Portuguese mercantile vessel to help the boat near the Libyan coast. But when the migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, saw it approach, they rushed to one side, capsizing the boat, the coast guard said.
The latest deaths, if confirmed, would mark one of the largest losses of migrants’ lives, bringing the number of people who have died attempting the passage this year to about 1,600. The dissolution of law and order in Libya in particular has left Europe exposed to an increasing wave of Africans risking their lives to find a better life or flee conflict.
Accords between Rome and Tripoli helped keep the flow of would-be boat people under tight control before the fall of the Gadhafi regime in 2011. But since Libya’s subsequent economic and political collapse, a people-smuggling trade has flourished in the country’s Mediterranean port cities. One source of their demand comes from the large number of workers from sub-Saharan Africa who once flocked to jobs in Libya, many of them in oil fields, but are now without any livelihood.
A new surge of violence brought on by Islamic State’s expansion into Libya has pushed even more migrant workers to flee the country. A video released by the extremist group Sunday appeared to show its militants beheading Ethiopian Christians in Libya, marking the second such mass execution of foreign Christians there in recent months. As a result of the growing mayhem, aid organizations and border-control officials expect the sea arrivals this year to easily surpass last year’s numbers.
Survivors from the boat that capsized Sunday told aid workers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that it originally held more than 700 people, but only 28 had been rescued by Sunday afternoon. The Italian Coast Guard dispatched 17 ships, including Maltese vessels, Italian fishing boats and other private vessels, to the area to search for other survivors.
Antonino Iraso, an officer with the Italian tax police, whose ships are involved in the search-and-rescue operation, told Italian television the teams had spotted an oil slick, floating life jackets and fragments of wood in the area where the boat sank.
During his weekly Sunday address, Pope Francis appealed to the international community to react decisively so that such a tragedy isn’t repeated. “They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war,” he said. French President François Hollande called the weekend’s disaster “the worst catastrophe in recent years in the Mediterranean.”
Last year, about 170,000 African and Middle Eastern migrants arrived in Italy using that passage, with a total of nearly 300,000 arrivals in all since the start of 2011. Nearly 3,200 died on the route in 2014, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.
The deaths underscore the inability of the EU to find a united response so far to the migration phenomenon, with deep differences on core issues such as how to deal with asylum seekers and addressing the deterioration of Libya. On Sunday, the European Commission issued a statement saying it was deeply chagrined by the news and called for bold action. It will consult with member states and aid groups as part of a plan to produce a new migration strategy in mid-May.
That plan may include a beefed-up budget for border control. In late 2013, after more than 300 African migrants died in a shipwreck, the Italian government established a sweeping search-and-rescue program. But political pressure forced Rome to scrap the program late last year, and it was replaced with far more limited EU patrols. That has left the Italian Coast Guard and mercantile vessels struggling to cope with the huge flow of migrants.
“Europe can do more and Europe must do more,” said European Parliament chief Martin Schulz. “It is a shame and a confession of failure how many countries run away from responsibility.”
But little enthusiasm exists for a strong, EU-supported search-and-rescue program, with leaders in some countries arguing that saving the migrants only encourages more to attempt the journey.
If some stability returned and a national unity government were formed in Libya, the EU could send a security mission that could help guard the ports and stem the people-smuggling trade, officials say. But Italy has struggled to gain support for an international response to help stabilize Libya.
The "Door of Europe" monument, which commemorates migrants who died on their journey, on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Up to 700 people are believed to have died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean in the night from Saturday to Sunday. ENLARGE
The "Door of Europe" monument, which commemorates migrants who died on their journey, on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Up to 700 people are believed to have died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean in the night from Saturday to Sunday. Photo: Reuters
The Italians have also proposed setting up havens in Egypt and Tunisia to allow refugees to file for asylum from there, but other EU members are unlikely to be willing to establish consular services in places that may be deemed too dangerous.
The surge in numbers of asylum seekers has made a solution more elusive. Last year, 626,000 people applied for asylum in the EU, up 43% over 2013.
The rise has fueled anti-immigrant sentiment in many countries. In Italy, images of decrepit boats teeming with migrants have stoked resentment in a country locked in a protracted economic downturn and where the percentage of immigrants in the population has tripled over the past decade.
Anti-immigrant parties such as the Northern League have seized on the flows to criticize the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Authorities in local towns, particularly in the north, are fiercely resisting demands from the Italian Interior Ministry to resettle the migrants in their areas. There were 68,000 migrants housed in reception centers in February, compared with 17,000 at the start of 2014.
Last weekend, the Northern League set up gazebos in many towns where Italian citizens could “request asylum.” The stunt, which it organized ahead of regional elections next month, was a way to drive home their argument that refugees are milking Italy’s welfare system.
‘Europe can do more and Europe must do more.’
—European Parliament chief Martin Schulz
The poor economic prospects and weak support for migrants in Italy—where they can be seen sleeping in train stations or squatting in abandoned buildings—sends many north seeking more generous benefits. That has touched off tensions across the EU.
In Sweden, which has seen the largest number of asylum applications per capita, a far-right party won the third largest number of votes in last September’s parliamentary election on the back of strong anti-immigration sentiment.
Germany, with its relatively healthy economy and extensive social safety net, is the most popular destination. Nearly a third of the 626,065 refugees who filed asylum claims in the EU last year did so in Germany. An even bigger rise is likely this year after a sudden spike in the winter of arrivals from Kosovo. From January to March, 85,394 people applied for asylum in Germany, more than double the total in the same period last year.
The crush of migrants is overwhelming the authorities. Germany’s interior ministry reported a backlog of 200,000 undecided asylum applications at the end of March, double the total a year before.
Local and state officials, who are responsible for putting up the asylum seekers, are pleading with landlords to rent out apartments as refugee shelters and arguing with the federal government in Berlin about how to share the costs of housing the new arrivals. They have converted gyms, auditoriums and a stadium into temporary shelters for asylum seekers.
But for German leaders, the biggest challenge is political. Especially in the poorer, former Communist East Germany, protests against the high numbers of migrants have gripped the public.
In the eastern German city of Dresden, anti-immigrant protests by a group called Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, which reached their high point this winter, have continued. About 10,000 people flocked to an appearance by Dutch anti-Islam activist Geert Wilders at one of the rallies last week.
—Margaret Coker, Anton Troianovski and Valentina Pop contributed to this article.
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@wsj.com
Warning: Not for the faint hearted VIDEO OF MASS EXECUTION OF ETHOPIANS IN LYBIA
heavy.com/news/2015/04/isis-islamic-state-beheads-executes-ethiopian-christians-in-libya-youtube-video-uncensored-screenshots-screen-caps-photos/1/
A new video allegedly showing the mass execution and beheading of Ethiopian Christians in Libya has been released by the Islamic State. The video was released Sunday, April by ISIS’ Al-Furqan media arm and purports to show Islamic State affiliates in the eastern Libya province known as Barka Province and the southern Fazzan Province carrying out mass executions. Watch the 29-minute, uncensored video here. Photos included in the link above.
Until the Western and Asian world keep doing business with African dictators, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda and ISIS this will go on!
Hundreds of Migrants Believed Dead in Shipwreck Off Libya
Boat capsizes after passengers rush to one side (Last minute update: 950 passengers)
As many as 700 migrants are believed to have died after the fishing boat carrying them from Libya capsized in the Mediterranean this weekend. Photo: Giovanni Isolino/AFP/Getty
By Deborah Ball Updated April 19, 2015 7:53 p.m. ET
ROME—As many as 700 migrants are believed to have died in a shipwreck off the Libyan coast, piling pressure on European leaders to find a solution to a spiraling migration crisis in the face of growing chaos in Libya and anti-immigration sentiment at home.
The 20-meter-long fishing boat sank on what has become the deadliest migrant route in the world—the crossing from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa—after launching a distress call early Sunday. The Italians sent a Portuguese mercantile vessel to help the boat near the Libyan coast. But when the migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, saw it approach, they rushed to one side, capsizing the boat, the coast guard said.
The latest deaths, if confirmed, would mark one of the largest losses of migrants’ lives, bringing the number of people who have died attempting the passage this year to about 1,600. The dissolution of law and order in Libya in particular has left Europe exposed to an increasing wave of Africans risking their lives to find a better life or flee conflict.
Accords between Rome and Tripoli helped keep the flow of would-be boat people under tight control before the fall of the Gadhafi regime in 2011. But since Libya’s subsequent economic and political collapse, a people-smuggling trade has flourished in the country’s Mediterranean port cities. One source of their demand comes from the large number of workers from sub-Saharan Africa who once flocked to jobs in Libya, many of them in oil fields, but are now without any livelihood.
A new surge of violence brought on by Islamic State’s expansion into Libya has pushed even more migrant workers to flee the country. A video released by the extremist group Sunday appeared to show its militants beheading Ethiopian Christians in Libya, marking the second such mass execution of foreign Christians there in recent months. As a result of the growing mayhem, aid organizations and border-control officials expect the sea arrivals this year to easily surpass last year’s numbers.
Survivors from the boat that capsized Sunday told aid workers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that it originally held more than 700 people, but only 28 had been rescued by Sunday afternoon. The Italian Coast Guard dispatched 17 ships, including Maltese vessels, Italian fishing boats and other private vessels, to the area to search for other survivors.
Antonino Iraso, an officer with the Italian tax police, whose ships are involved in the search-and-rescue operation, told Italian television the teams had spotted an oil slick, floating life jackets and fragments of wood in the area where the boat sank.
During his weekly Sunday address, Pope Francis appealed to the international community to react decisively so that such a tragedy isn’t repeated. “They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war,” he said. French President François Hollande called the weekend’s disaster “the worst catastrophe in recent years in the Mediterranean.”
Last year, about 170,000 African and Middle Eastern migrants arrived in Italy using that passage, with a total of nearly 300,000 arrivals in all since the start of 2011. Nearly 3,200 died on the route in 2014, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.
The deaths underscore the inability of the EU to find a united response so far to the migration phenomenon, with deep differences on core issues such as how to deal with asylum seekers and addressing the deterioration of Libya. On Sunday, the European Commission issued a statement saying it was deeply chagrined by the news and called for bold action. It will consult with member states and aid groups as part of a plan to produce a new migration strategy in mid-May.
That plan may include a beefed-up budget for border control. In late 2013, after more than 300 African migrants died in a shipwreck, the Italian government established a sweeping search-and-rescue program. But political pressure forced Rome to scrap the program late last year, and it was replaced with far more limited EU patrols. That has left the Italian Coast Guard and mercantile vessels struggling to cope with the huge flow of migrants.
“Europe can do more and Europe must do more,” said European Parliament chief Martin Schulz. “It is a shame and a confession of failure how many countries run away from responsibility.”
But little enthusiasm exists for a strong, EU-supported search-and-rescue program, with leaders in some countries arguing that saving the migrants only encourages more to attempt the journey.
If some stability returned and a national unity government were formed in Libya, the EU could send a security mission that could help guard the ports and stem the people-smuggling trade, officials say. But Italy has struggled to gain support for an international response to help stabilize Libya.
The "Door of Europe" monument, which commemorates migrants who died on their journey, on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Up to 700 people are believed to have died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean in the night from Saturday to Sunday. ENLARGE
The "Door of Europe" monument, which commemorates migrants who died on their journey, on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Up to 700 people are believed to have died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean in the night from Saturday to Sunday. Photo: Reuters
The Italians have also proposed setting up havens in Egypt and Tunisia to allow refugees to file for asylum from there, but other EU members are unlikely to be willing to establish consular services in places that may be deemed too dangerous.
The surge in numbers of asylum seekers has made a solution more elusive. Last year, 626,000 people applied for asylum in the EU, up 43% over 2013.
The rise has fueled anti-immigrant sentiment in many countries. In Italy, images of decrepit boats teeming with migrants have stoked resentment in a country locked in a protracted economic downturn and where the percentage of immigrants in the population has tripled over the past decade.
Anti-immigrant parties such as the Northern League have seized on the flows to criticize the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Authorities in local towns, particularly in the north, are fiercely resisting demands from the Italian Interior Ministry to resettle the migrants in their areas. There were 68,000 migrants housed in reception centers in February, compared with 17,000 at the start of 2014.
Last weekend, the Northern League set up gazebos in many towns where Italian citizens could “request asylum.” The stunt, which it organized ahead of regional elections next month, was a way to drive home their argument that refugees are milking Italy’s welfare system.
‘Europe can do more and Europe must do more.’
—European Parliament chief Martin Schulz
The poor economic prospects and weak support for migrants in Italy—where they can be seen sleeping in train stations or squatting in abandoned buildings—sends many north seeking more generous benefits. That has touched off tensions across the EU.
In Sweden, which has seen the largest number of asylum applications per capita, a far-right party won the third largest number of votes in last September’s parliamentary election on the back of strong anti-immigration sentiment.
Germany, with its relatively healthy economy and extensive social safety net, is the most popular destination. Nearly a third of the 626,065 refugees who filed asylum claims in the EU last year did so in Germany. An even bigger rise is likely this year after a sudden spike in the winter of arrivals from Kosovo. From January to March, 85,394 people applied for asylum in Germany, more than double the total in the same period last year.
The crush of migrants is overwhelming the authorities. Germany’s interior ministry reported a backlog of 200,000 undecided asylum applications at the end of March, double the total a year before.
Local and state officials, who are responsible for putting up the asylum seekers, are pleading with landlords to rent out apartments as refugee shelters and arguing with the federal government in Berlin about how to share the costs of housing the new arrivals. They have converted gyms, auditoriums and a stadium into temporary shelters for asylum seekers.
But for German leaders, the biggest challenge is political. Especially in the poorer, former Communist East Germany, protests against the high numbers of migrants have gripped the public.
In the eastern German city of Dresden, anti-immigrant protests by a group called Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, which reached their high point this winter, have continued. About 10,000 people flocked to an appearance by Dutch anti-Islam activist Geert Wilders at one of the rallies last week.
—Margaret Coker, Anton Troianovski and Valentina Pop contributed to this article.
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@wsj.com
Warning: Not for the faint hearted VIDEO OF MASS EXECUTION OF ETHOPIANS IN LYBIA
heavy.com/news/2015/04/isis-islamic-state-beheads-executes-ethiopian-christians-in-libya-youtube-video-uncensored-screenshots-screen-caps-photos/1/
A new video allegedly showing the mass execution and beheading of Ethiopian Christians in Libya has been released by the Islamic State. The video was released Sunday, April by ISIS’ Al-Furqan media arm and purports to show Islamic State affiliates in the eastern Libya province known as Barka Province and the southern Fazzan Province carrying out mass executions. Watch the 29-minute, uncensored video here. Photos included in the link above.