At least 45 people have drowned off the coast of Libya in the worst shipwreck in the central Mediterranean of 2020.
The United Nation’s refugee agency and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed the deaths of the migrants and refugees, most of whom had come to Libya from sub-Saharan Africa.
"Some 37 survivors, mainly from Senegal, Mali, Chad and Ghana, were rescued by local fishermen and later detained upon disembarkation," the statement said.
"They reported to IOM staff that 45 others, including five children, lost their lives when the vessel’s engine exploded off the coast of Zuwarah," it said, referring to a town in western Libya that has become a hub for migrant trafficking.
In light of the disaster the UN has called for an increase in the capacity for search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea.
At least 302 people have been killed on the central Mediterranean route since the start of 2020.
The number of people fleeing Libya has increased in the summer months. Thousands have been returned to the war-torn country despite escalating violence there.
The burden of search and rescue has shifted from Europe, the hoped-for destination of the migrants, to the Libyan coast guard. The UN has said 7,000 people have returned to the North African country this year despite assertions from the IOM, UNHCR and international rescue NGOs that Libya cannot be designated a safe port for migrants to disembark.
The country has been plunged into instability over the past nine years since the removal of Muammar Qaddafi, who ruled the country for 40 years, and the start of an internecine civil war in 2014.
The EU’s mission to rescue migrants in the central Mediterranean, Operation Sophia, was shelved in March.
Its replacement mission, Operation Irini, has been handed the task of enforcing the long-flouted UN arms embargo on Libya but has no meaningful emphasis on migrant rescue.
International NGOs such as Medecins Sans Frontiers, Sea-Watch and SOS Mediterranee, which operate rescue vessels in the central Mediterranean, have reported ongoing hostility from European governments towards their work.
Their rescue ships are regularly detained in port for prolonged periods by what they have said are nuisance inspections.
At the same time, safeguards in place following the outbreak of the coronavirus have also hampered the turnaround time for the rescue ships.
Europe's response to the migrant crisis has been hobbled by infighting. At the other end of the continent's migration routes, Britain, which left the EU formally this year, has found itself in the beginnings of a standoff with France over how to address illegal immigration across the English Channel.
A 16-year-old Sudanese boy was found dead on a French beach on Wednesday after he tried to reach the UK in a dinghy, which was punctured with a shovel he was using as an oar.
French politician Pierre-Henri Dumont has blamed the British government for the death over its policy of refusing to allow UK asylum claims to be made outside the country. “How many more tragedies does it need for the British to find an ounce of humanity?” he asked.
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Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
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If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
The view from The National
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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