The cross : Italy has authorized you to disembark the 113 people that your NGO SOS Méditerranée rescued on board the ship Ocean Viking in the central Mediterranean on the night of December 26 to 27. After the difficulties you experienced this fall and your landing in Toulon on November 9 after 20 days spent waiting at sea, isn’t that good news?
Fabienne Lassalle : It is a relief. It is undoubtedly a very positive aspect to have a port of destination very quickly without a long period of waiting and uncertainty that is extremely detrimental for everyone. This quick decision by the Italian authorities is a real change from what we experienced in November. We are not the first either.
We have not had to deplore any other very long waits lately. Other humanitarian ships, such as the German Humanity One where the Geo Barents Doctors Without Borders were also very quickly assigned a port of disembarkation for the survivors they had on board, in this case Salerno and Bari. This was also the case for smaller boats.
You must head to the port of Ravenna, in the northeast of Italy. Why this choice ?
F. L. : That’s the bad news. Ravenna is 900 nautical miles from where theOcean Viking, this represents four days of navigation. Why this choice ? We have no explanation. We only receive a notification about the port name. The Italian rescue coordination center had initially indicated La Spezia, to the northwest, before changing its mind and asking us a few hours later to head for Ravenna, without any factual element to explain why we were sent. even further.
The Italian authorities are preparing new rules which will be communicated in January. Could this be the premises of their implementation? For the time being, we can only observe that the Italian coastguards, which have made recent rescues, have landed in Sicilian ports, and that we, NGOs, are being sent much further. The problem is that this has a financial cost, which remains the sinews of war, but above all human.
That is to say ?
We are currently the only humanitarian boat working in the central Mediterranean, the others being at the dock for the moment, in technical stop, before returning to the area. However, the lack of resources is so glaring that extending sailing times also lengthens the times of absence at sea. The consequences are dramatic. This year there are at least 2,000 dead and missing in the Mediterranean.
Going to Ravenna means at least eight days – four days out, four days back – during which no ship will be present to rescue people in distress. And still it is necessary that the port quickly gives us the green light to leave.
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean there aren’t departures. As soon as a favorable weather window appears, boats take to the sea.
Is it a fear that the boat cannot leave Ravenna immediately?
F. L. : Ports have long practiced an excess of zeal against humanitarian boats, and proceeded to excessive demands for control to keep them permanently at the quay. It must be recognized that lately we have had less to endure this type of harassment.
What do we know about the 113 people on board?
F. L. : They left Zawiya, west of the Libyan coast on December 26 at 4 am. They spent 24 hours on board before being rescued, thanks to an alert given by the NGO Alarm phone. Of the 113 people, there are 23 women, several of whom are pregnant, around thirty unaccompanied minors and three babies. Many of them come from Côte d’Ivoire and Niger. But it is too early to have more elements on their course. The first day on board, there is first the urgency of the care, and the people, in a state of amazement are often quite mute.