'Six EU states to take in migrants rescued off Libya'

Rome, June 3 (IANS/AKI) Portugal, Ireland, Romania, France, Germany and Luxembourg have all vowed to take a share of 100 migrants who arrived in Italy's northwestern port of Genoa after they were saved off Libya last week, sources at the Italian Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Portugal will take 10 migrants while Ireland and Romania have said they will take five migrants each, the sources said.

Negotiations are continuing with France, Germany and Luxembourg over how migrants they will each take in, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, the Italian Bishops Conference and the Interior Ministry have signed a memorandum of understanding on sheltering the migrants temporarily in Genoa, said the sources.

The migrants reached Genoa on Sunday aboard an Italian navy ship that rescued them in international waters on Thursday from a wrecked inflatable dinghy after the boat was adrift for 35 hours.

The rescued migrants are believed to be from Libya, Cameroon, Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Nigeria, and reportedly include 17 women and 23 minors.

Italy's hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini vowed on Friday that none of the saved migrants would stay in the Liguria region surrounding Genoa.

The number of migrant crossings from North Africa has picked up in recent weeks amid warmer summer weather and calmer seas. But overall migration to Europe was 27 percent lower from January to April than in the same period of 2018, according to EU border agency Frontex.

--IANS/AKI

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