Lampedusa: The uncomfortable reality on Italian island where thousands of migrants have arrived in just days
The central dock in the port of Lampedusa now stands at the meeting point between the developed and the developing world – a point of conflict between the affluent EU and the inequities and poverty of the global south.
This reality is uncomfortable and unacceptable for those who govern Italy’s most southerly point.
With some 800 people arriving in the past 24 hours – and well over 7,000 in the past five days – the country’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called the situation “unsustainable”.
Her deputy, Matteo Salvini, has gone further, calling the influx an “act of war”.
As political leaders who have staked their reputations on stopping the migrants, they are now trying to grapple with the fact that the number of arrivals in Italy is double the total reached last year.
In the eyes of their supporters, the weary migrants waiting on Lampedusa’s pier look like a major failure of government policy. But the migrants see the situation somewhat differently.
We saw hundreds of people sitting in unstable-looking tubs made from scrap metal, waiting to be pulled ashore. The pain and discomfort of several days at sea was etched on the faces of these travellers.
A migrant on Lampedusa with a newborn baby
“How much did it cost?” I asked a man called John who said he was from Sierra Leone.
“When I get the boat, we pay sometimes €1,500, sometimes €2,500.”
“You mean you have tried more than once?” I asked.
“Yes, me and (my wife) were in Morocco. We tried in Morocco two times. In Tunisia, I tried it once, and then I made it.”
“So you have spent a lot of money?”, I ask.
“Yes, I have spent a lot, a lot of money,” he replies. “It is a risk, a very big risk, but God has made it easy for me.”
More than 7,000 migrants have arrived on Lampedusa in the past five days
Here, John puts his finger on the problem for the Italian leader. The crossing from Tunisia in the central Mediterranean has become the route of choice for the majority of migrants – and the gangs that enable them.
EU border agency Frontex has reported the highest numbers on this route since 2015-16, when civil war in Syria fuelled an influx of more than a million into Europe.
The means of transport in this new migratory wave is impossible to miss, for there are hundreds of identical, rust-coloured boats now clogging up the harbour in Lampudesa.
Frontex said the gangs are running increasingly sophisticated and competitive operations.
“Increased migratory pressure may persist in the coming months with smugglers offering lower prices departing from Libya and Tunisia amid fierce competition among criminal groups,” it said.
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A medic with a baby on Lampedusa
How then will Prime Minister Meloni deal with this intractable issue? On Friday, she called for a naval mission to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.
A maritime blockade of northern Africa is unlikely to find favour in Berlin and Paris, however.
Ms Meloni may find more success by convincing the EU to pay up on an agreement struck with Tunisia in July, which should see the Tunisian authorities clamp down on the smugglers and those who pay for their services.
However, migrants like John are unlikely to stop when life is not worth living at home.
Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.
Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.
Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.
Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).
Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.
A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.
A woman drinks from a public tap in India. Pic: AP
They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.
Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.
Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.
People stock up on water in India. Pic: AP
Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.
Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.
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Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.
More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.
Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.
China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.
Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for the Philippine Coastguard, told Sky News that China is a ‘bully’
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
China’s coastguard fired water at Philippine coastguard vessel BRP Bagacay while Sky was onboard
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.
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Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.
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