Category: Asylum seekers

Malta: Questions swirl about whether Libyan milita-men shot at refugee-loaded boat causing it to sink

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We mentioned the second Mediterranean boat-sinking in just over a week, here.  Now there are allegations that the boat was fired-on by Libyans.

Survivors (looks like mostly young men) arrive in Valletta on Maltese patrol boat.
Photo: (AFP/Matthew Mirabelli)

The UN is asking for an explanation and at least Malta’s Prime Minister is trying to get some negotiations underway with Libyan Prime Minister,  Ali Zidan.

But, this is what I don’t get, why doesn’t the world community, with the UN leading the way, demand that the Libyan government stop these boat launchings on their side of the Mediterranean in the first place?

The UN could then use its state-of-the-art refugee camp in Jordan, Al Azraq, by safely transporting these would-be mariners to it.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune (emphasis mine):

VALLETTA, Malta — Syrian survivors of the latest shipwreck involving migrants in the Mediterranean Sea claim Libya’s coast guard fired on their boat after reaching it a couple of hours out of port, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.

The survivors of last Friday’s shipwreck have told UNHCR that the Libyans opened fire after ordering the boat to stop, damaging the hull and wounding four people, the U.N. agency’s spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said from Geneva.

“The boat took on water, and people started coming up from below, which could have contributed to the capsizing, according to witness testimony,” Fleming said. She added that the four wounded were treated by doctors among the refugees on board.

UNHCR has asked Libya for an explanation based on the survivor accounts and the fact that people with bullet wounds have been among the more than 200 people rescued and taken to Malta and Italy.

The bodies of 34 people have been recovered, but survivors have told the U.N. that 400 to 500 people were on board, meaning more than 200 could still be missing.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan denied the allegations in a press conference Sunday during a visit by Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to discuss the wave of refugees arriving by boat from Libya in Malta and Italy. He pledged an investigation.

UNHCR has expressed concern that Syrians escaping civil war are facing a perilous sea journey to reach safety in Europe.

In a related story, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah expressed his sorrow at the large number of Palestinians who were also on the doomed ship.

Clamp-down on illegal boats seems to have cooled Rohingya plans to make a run on Australia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Gosh, could strict border enforcement work!

For new readers, the Rohingya are Muslims, some of whom have lived in Burma, others in Bangladesh.  They are often called “stateless” by the human rights industrial complex which has made them a cause celebre in a public relations campaign we have followed for over five years.   We have a category specifically for Rohingya posts, here (156 previous posts!)

Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, second from right, is quoted often in support of Rohingya.

 

Australians, fed up with the thousands of mostly Muslim illegal migrants coming to their shores in recent years, has elected a government which is sending signals that it won’t be a push-over as some recent governments have been on the subject of illegal immigration.

Here is an article in The Irrawaddy which reports that Rohingya people (already in their own “cultural zones” of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh) are now having second thoughts about trying to reach Australia.  Emphasis below is mine.

KUALA LUMPUR — Australia’s clampdown on refugees and migrants trying to reach the country’s shores by boat has prompted uncertainty among Rohingya who, facing state oppression and attacks by Arakanese Buddhists, have fled Burma in the tens of thousands in recent years.

Since Australia’s now-ousted Labor government decided in July to prevent refugees traveling by sea from landing in Australia—saying that would-be arrivals would be taken to processing centers in neighboring Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG)—some Rohingya who had hopes of making it to Australia are now in a bind.

“We are disappointed, we feel like we are stuck,” said Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHOM). “Many of us do not have papers here [in Malaysia] and we have no status in Burma. It is a difficult situation for anyone who hoped to travel to Australia,” Ahmad told The Irrawaddy.  [To “travel” or make an illegal run for Australian shores!—ed]

Thousands of Rohingya refugees undertake a treacherous maritime journey from western Burma to Thailand or Malaysia. From there some in turn hope to reach Australia, usually attempting another dangerous maritime crossing through the Indian Ocean.

[…..]

Rohingya arrivals to Australia are difficult to quantify, as those who do make it are listed as “stateless” by Australia, while some others who arrived in Australia over recent years claimed to be Rohingya but were assessed by Australia to be either Bangladeshi nationals or Burmese Muslims, according to Chris Lewa.  [I suspect that those Rohingya getting into the US through refugee resettlement are being referred to as Burmese Muslims as well, since the word ‘Rohingya’ is associated with some pretty rough types.—ed]

Australian government statistics—covering the years from 1998 to 2012—list 2,204 stateless maritime arrivals to Australia, a cohort that includes Kurds, Palestinians and Rohingya.

The boat people issue became a major election issue as immigration restrictionist Tony Abbott was elected as the new Prime Minister last month.

A voter backlash against the arrival of over 40,000 asylum seekers since 2007, when policy was relaxed for a time, prompted both of Australia’s main parties to suggest tighter controls.

I found this bit of the story of interest too:

Indonesia is a common transit point for refugees trying to reach Australia, Rohingya included. At least 28 Middle Eastern migrants drowned when a boat, which was aiming to reach Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, sank off Indonesia in late September.

Note they are simply referred to generically as ‘Middle Eastern’ migrants with no mention that they were Lebanese pretending to be Syrian refugees as our commenter ‘pungentpeppers’ reported here.

The photo is from this story about a UNHCR meeting in June.  In a cursory search I can’t find a specific website for Lewa’s Arakan Project, lots of references to Lewa and the status of the Project as an NGO, but no website.  if any industrious readers find one, let us know!

Surprise! Bulgaria finds “threat to national security” in refugee influx

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
So is Turkey facilitating the movement of Islamists into Bulgaria?

We told you previously (here) that Bulgaria is having a hell of a problem with mostly Syrian ‘asylum seekers’ flooding into the country from Turkey!

As Bulgarian citizens have suspected, some of the ‘downtrodden’ are likely Islamic terrorists in refugee clothing.

Here is the story at novinite.com (Sofia news agency).  Emphasis below is mine:

There are four persons among the refugees on Bulgarian territory suspected to be a possible threat to national security, says Interior Minister, Tsvetlin Yovchev.

The Minister explained these individuals are accommodated in secured facilities in awaiting the appropriate procedures for their extradition, already undertaken by the authorities.

Yovchev did not specify their native countries, but noted the well-known fact that the majority of the refugees are from Syria.

He explained that in 2013 Bulgaria has improved the pace of extradition of foreign suspects.

[…..]

Bulgaria is the gateway to the European Union for refugees fleeing Syria via Turkey, many crossing the border illegally to seek asylum.

Readers, the other day, here, we were reminded by Britain’s Independence Party leader, Gerard Batten, that legitimate refugees are to seek asylum in the first safe country in which they land (it is not supposed to be a shopping expedition for the country of one’s choice!).  So the question is–-is Turkey letting them waltz right through their safe country and exit out the other side?

I hope readers here are not getting weary of all of our posts on Europe recently, but in my mind the Muslim invasion of Europe holds lessons for all of us concerned with the preservation of Western civilization.

Next!  A post on the US and more on how the refugee program is being slowed by the government shutdown.  Update:  Here it is.

Another boat carrying illegals sank in Mediterranean on Friday

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This one was launched from Egypt.  Note in my previous post, about the other sinking on Friday, that the graphic we found doesn’t even show launches from Egypt.  And, this story, with a death toll of a meager twelve illegal aliens (compared to the two recent sinkings) wouldn’t be post-worthy except for the mention of who the migrants are (or at least the living ones that have been interviewed).

From Reuters at NBC:

Twelve people died when a boat carrying illegal migrants and Syrian refugees sank off Egypt’s northern coast on Friday, security and medical sources said.   [And, if one is Syrian apparently one is not also an illegal migrant—ed]

“The Egyptian coast guards saved 72 Palestinians, 40 Syrians and four Egyptians,” one security source said. The circumstances of the accident and the nationalities of the deceased were not yet known.

Palestinians!

We are accustomed to hearing about the Africans and more recently the Syrians trying to get into Europe, but Palestinians!  Are these asylum seekers or invaders?

More migrants die yesterday trying to get to Europe from North Africa

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Map is a little outdated, but still gives you an idea of where the migrants are coming from in Africa, and roughly how many.

There has been a second fatal boat sinking in the Mediterranean as “asylum seekers” attempt to escape the lawlessness and economic decay of North Africa (and Syria!).

Just 8 days ago, hundreds perished off Lampedusa, here.

Update October 13th:  Another boat sank on Friday carrying mostly Palestinians, here.

It is my observation that the number of boats carrying hundreds of migrants has increased dramatically since the highly touted Arab Spring got underway.  And, one wonders why European and American powers (who cheered-on the Arab Spring and helped overthrow Gaddafi in Libya) can’t get at the source of the problem (the crime!) in Africa.

Most news accounts of the quandary faced by European countries on the receiving-end of the migrant tide, directs the responsibility to find a solution on to European citizens to “welcome” the largely economic migrants instead of getting at the root problem in Africa and stopping the boats from launching there.

It almost makes me wonder if there aren’t ‘powers that be’ in the West who want the immigrant tide to continue.

I have never seen a single word in the press I follow on the Mediterranean boat people crisis that suggests attacking the problem in Africa, except of course that the West must help financially fix Africa.

Here is the latest news.  This boat carrying 250 sank in waters patrolled by Malta.  No nationalities of the deceased have been mentioned yet.

From the Irish Independent:

A boat packed with an estimated 250 refugees and migrants has capsized in the middle of the Mediterranean, just a week after a similar accident off the Italian island of Lampedusa left more than 300 people dead.

At least 200 people were reported to have been thrown into the sea after the boat tipped over yesterday and corpses were reportedly floating in the water.

According to Italian media reports, at least 12 people died in the incident and 50 are still missing, among them children, but up to 200 people have been rescued.

[….]

The capsizing happened around 60 miles south of Lampedusa, in waters where Malta has search and rescue responsibilities.

Malta immediately requested Italian assistance in going to the aid of the migrants.

[….]

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 32,000 have arrived in southern Italy and Malta this year alone, around two thirds of whom have filed requests for asylum.

In a dark mood?  Read the 40-year-old prescient fictional work ‘The Camp of the Saints’ by French author Jean Raspail.  Raspail got one thing wrong—the continent—his third world invaders were coming from the Indian sub-continent so their voyage was longer.