German minister appeals to Italy on ports; rescue ship docks against ban

MILAN — Germany's interior minister is appealing to his Italian counterpart to rethink his policy of closing the country's harbors to humanitarian groups' rescue ships.

News agency dpa reported that Horst Seehofer wrote Saturday to Italy's Matteo Salvini that ships with rescued people aboard can't be left to drift in the Mediterranean Sea for weeks because they can't find a harbor. He added: "I appeal urgently to you to reconsider your position that you don't want to open Italian ports."

Seehofer said that, because of Europe's responsibility "and our common Christian values" it shouldn't make a difference by what organization migrants have been rescued, where the crew comes from and what flag the ship is sailing under.

Seehofer, who himself has taken a restrictive line on migration, already has said Germany would be prepared to take some migrants on board two ships currently just outside Italian waters, one of them a German group's, if other European countries do.

An Italian rescue ship with 46 migrants on board has docked without incident in the Italian port of Lampedusa against an explicit ban after declaring a state of emergency. The maneuver was very similar to one made by a German rescue ship one week ago that disobeyed direct orders from port officials to moor in Lampedusa.

Television images showed migrants sitting in rows on the bow of Mediterranea Saving Humans' sailboat wearing orange life-jackets. They clapped as they docked Saturday afternoon. There was no immediate movement to disembark.

Italy's hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has barred all private rescue ships from entering Italian ports. He pointed to an offer from Malta to accept the migrants from the Italian-flagged ship. But the NGO said Malta was too far for its ship.

AP