World

Europe Swamped with Crush of Migrants Arriving by Land, Sea

Published

9 years ago

March 6, 2015

In this Friday, Nov. 28, 2014, file photo, immigrants who arrived on a cargo ship from Turkey queue for meals in a basketball arena where they have been given temporary shelter in the town of Ierapetra, on the southern Greek island of Crete. European Union countries are immersed in a full-fledged migration crisis. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press
LORNE COOK, Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — The European Union is immersed in a full-fledged migration crisis.

Some officials are even floating the idea of a multinational border guard to deal with the hundreds of thousands arriving from war-torn countries like Syria, poor nations in Africa and non-EU neighbors like Kosovo.

With no signs the flow will let up anytime soon, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said Thursday that dealing with migration “cries out for more thoughtful and coordinated action” between EU countries.

“The notion of ghost ships drifting on autopilot toward the coasts of Europe in the hopes that coast guards will rescue the people on board and the hideous sight of men and women tearing their flesh on barbed-wire fences in a desperate, and sometimes lethal, attempt to clamber into Europe and find a better, more peaceful life: Such scenes are simply intolerable,” Zeid said in Geneva.

Here’s a look at Europe’s migration crisis:

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TAKING TO THE SEAS

Italy has turned into the prime human smuggling route into Europe because its southern island of Lampedusa lies just 290 kilometers (180 miles) from the coast of lawless Libya, where the absence of a functioning government is feeding a thriving trade in human trafficking.

Migrants and asylum seekers pay thousands of dollars each to climb into unseaworthy boats or rubber rafts to try to cross the Mediterranean. Migrants say the armed Libya-based smugglers, who often advertise on social media, are ruthless — some have forced their human cargo to leave even when seas are dangerously rough.

An astonishing 170,000 made the journey to Italy last year, most rescued at sea by Italy’s coast guard and navy and cargo ships — and the torrent has only increased since January. On Wednesday, a flotilla of ships saved more than 1,000 migrants while 10 others died, some of the hundreds or more who die or drown annually on the route.

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ITALY SAYS ‘WHERE’S THE HELP?’

For years, Italy has been urging the European Union to help stem the flow of migrants with more ships, aircraft or funding — pointing out that most of those rescued intend to reach relatives or jobs in other European countries.

This year, an EU patrol mission known as Triton replaced Italy’s Mare Nostrum air and sea mission that had saved tens of thousands of lives. But the U.N. and some refugee organizations have called for renewed humanitarian patrols of the Mediterranean, arguing that Triton only monitors European waters and the southernmost borders.

“We are facing the worst crisis in a long time in the European Union,” Matthias Ruete, the head of the EU’s migration office, told EU lawmakers on Wednesday. “I think we have lost at the moment the European citizen, in terms of having faith in the European asylum and migration system.”

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COMING TO TURKEY, HEADING TO GREECE

Turkey now houses well over 1.5. million refugees from the war in Syria and has spent more than $5 billion caring for them. But with limited economic opportunities for Arabic-speaking Syrians in Turkey, many are seeking routes into Western Europe — and that means via Greece.

Tens of thousands cross into Greece from Turkey every year — with that number reaching a record of 22,339 people during from July-September last year. Dozens cross by boat to Greek islands almost every day — a flow that has increased since Bulgaria and Greece stepped up monitoring their land borders with Turkey.

WHO CAN BLOCK A GHOST SHIP?

Even though it’s not a member of the 28-nation EU, Turkey this week appealed for EU help to combat the phenomenon of “ghost ships.” Two cargo ships were picked up in the Mediterranean a few months ago, speeding on autopilot toward the Italian coast with more than 1,000 migrants locked up on board. Authorities had to intervene to keep the ships from crashing into the coast.

The EU has been seeking an explanation from Turkey as to how the ships could have left the southeast port of Mersin and sailed for Italy without Turkish authorities noticing. Turkey’s ambassador in Brussels, Selim Yenel, said the cargo ships were operating outside of Turkey’s jurisdiction in international waters — and smugglers had ferried the migrants out to them from points along the Turkish coast.

Catching the small feeder boats often “depends on how much intelligence we can gather and then sharing it with our counterparts,” Yenel said, adding that “these guys get under the radar, literally.”

UP THE BALKAN ROUTE

Coming from as far away as Afghanistan and Syria and as close as economically hard-hit Kosovo, migrants have turned the Hungarian border into a booming illegal transit route. In the last two months alone, thousands a week have been walking through the fields and forests of Serbia to try to slip across the border into Hungary, which is part of the EU’s borderless-free zone.

Hungary received 42,800 asylum seekers in 2014, compared with 18,900 in 2013 and just 2,157 in 2012. About half were from Kosovo. The flow has slowed to 100-150 migrants daily over the last several weeks due to tighter border controls and increased cooperation between Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Germany.

STORMING THE FENCES OF SPAIN

Each week last year, hundreds of mostly sub-Saharan African men stormed the towering, barbed-wire fences that separate Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco. The migrants live in rudimentary camps on a nearby mountain before staging well-organized, pre-dawn attacks on the fences.

At least 2,100 made it across in 70 attempts in 2014, but many more were intercepted by Spanish and Moroccan police. Many are aiming to eventually reach other European countries, in part because Spain’s unemployment rate stands at 24 percent and is much higher for immigrants.

Morocco last month cleared out the migrant camps on Mount Gourougou overlooking Melilla, arresting hundreds and shipping many on buses to remote parts of the country. Since then, the number of fence stormings has dropped dramatically.

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Cook reported from Brussels. Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Desmond Butler in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.

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Bay Area

Nigerian Bank Chief Killed in Helicopter Crash on Way to Superbowl XVIII

According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept., the crash occurred near Nipton, on the edge of the Mojave Desert Preserve. The poor weather conditions — rain, wind and snow showers—may have contributed to the accident, although the investigation is not complete. All six aboard were killed. Herbert Wigwe, 57, founded Access Bank in 1989, and it became the country’s largest competitor, Diamond Bank in 2018.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Herbert Wigwe with his wife, Chizoba Wigwe, left, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, right. ENigeria Newspaper image.

By Post Staff

The co-founder of one of Nigeria’s largest banks died with his wife, son and three others when the helicopter transporting them from Palm Springs, Ca., to Boulder City, Nev. to attend the fifty-eighth SuperBowl at the stadium outside Las Vegas crashed on Feb. 9.

Herbert Wigwe, 57, founded Access Bank in 1989, and it became the country’s largest competitor, Diamond Bank in 2018.

More recently, Wigwe was planning to open a banking service in Asia this year after making successful expansions to other parts of Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described Wigwe’s death as an ‘overwhelming tragedy.”

Oakland resident and Nigerian immigrant Kayode Gbadebo agrees with Tinubu. He met Wigwe in Nigeria but crossed paths with him in London in 2006. Wigwe, he said, “took risks.”

He was young and people thought he couldn’t do what he intended, which was not so much about money but community.

“He was more like Jesus in washing the feet of the poor– Wigwe was culturizing community,” Gbadebo said.

“There will never be another like him. This is a deep, deep loss” and he hopes everyone will eventually “be comforted.”

He was also disappointed that a replacement has already been named even before Wigwe is buried. “It is not reasonable. You don’t want a vacuum, but it’s” not fair to the family, Gbadebo observed.

Wigwe had also been working to solve the migration issues from African countries, believing that “investing in higher education was key to controlling mass migration, which “is destabilising countries across the world,” BBC News reported.

“We need to take a holistic approach to address global migration, starting with our traditional framework for international development,” Wigwe wrote.

To that end, according to BBC News, Wigwe was preparing to open Wigwe University in Niger, where he was from.

“The best place to limit migration is not in the middle of the Mediterranean or the English Channel or the Rio Grande. It is in the home countries that so many migrants are so desperate to leave,” he wrote, saying his university was an opportunity for him “to give back to society.”

Besides Wigwe and his wife, Chizoba Nwuba Wigwe, and one son, two crew members and Bimbo Ogunbanjo, former group chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, were also killed in the crash.

According to Wikipedia, three other children survive Wigwe.

In his statement reported in People magazine, Tinubu described Wigwe as “a distinguished banker, humanitarian, and entrepreneur.”

“I pray for the peaceful repose of the departed and ask God Almighty to comfort the multitude of Nigerians who are grieving and the families of the deceased at this deeply agonizing moment,” the president said.

He added, “Their passing is an overwhelming tragedy that is shocking beyond comprehension.”

Besides feeling the tremendous loss, Gbadebo fears the disorder and greed that will follow. “It’s a mess,” he said.

People magazine, BBC News and Wikipedia were the sources for this report.

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Activism

No Valid Reason for Failing to Condemn Hamas’ Act of Terrorism

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed the Israel-Gaza border and indiscriminately slaughtered Israeli civilians in their homes. They killed nearly 300 young people at a music festival and took at least 200 hostages including 30 children. The atrocities they committed included massacres of families, abduction of the elderly and children, burning of babies and rapes of women.

Published

6 months ago

November 3, 2023

Oakland Post

iStock image.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr.

California Black Media

OPINION

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed the Israel-Gaza border and indiscriminately slaughtered Israeli civilians in their homes.

They killed nearly 300 young people at a music festival and took at least 200 hostages including 30 children. The atrocities they committed included massacres of families, abduction of the elderly and children, burning of babies and rapes of women.

The horrific surprise attack deserves universal and unequivocal condemnation. President Joe Biden called what Hamas did “an act of sheer evil” and pledged to defend the lives of Israelis and Jewish Americans.

He said, “Let there be no doubt. The United States has Israel’s back. We’ll make sure the Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have.”

Hamas killed approximately 1,400 people including 32 Americans. Citizens from 40 different countries including the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Thailand were killed or reported missing.

Hamas fighters breached Israel’s border defenses on the final day of Sukkot while soldiers were away due to the holiday and launched attacks on 22 towns outside the Gaza Strip. This security lapse has been described as a catastrophic failure of Israel’s intelligence agencies..

Hamas is an extremist Islamist militant organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is recognized as an Iranian-backed terrorist group by the U.S. and the European Union and has a long history of violence against Jews and Palestinians, the latter of whom they often use as human shields.

While there have been plenty of groups who have unequivocally condemned the massacres, there are a number who haven’t, including organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Black Alliance for Peace, Red Nation, and independent Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapters (excluding the national Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation).

The DSA San Francisco chapter put out a statement on Oct. 9 that said, “Socialists support the Palestinian people’s, and all people’s, right to resist and fight for their own liberation. This weekend’s events are no different.”

Student organizations at a number of universities and colleges in California signed a solidarity statement titled “Resistance Uprising in Gaza” from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The statement attributes the violence of the Hamas attack to what it refers to as Israeli apartheid and occupation.

The SJP statement written by Bears for Palestine at UC Berkeley says, “We support the resistance, we support the liberation movement, and we indisputably support the Uprising.” Essentially, these students are indirectly associating themselves with Hamas’ barbaric acts under the guise of “resistance.”

Signing the statement were 51 student organizations including those from Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, CSU Sacramento, and USC.

A statement signed by 34 Harvard student organizations said, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

Many university leaders, where these students are enrolled, have been guilty of failing to unequivocally condemn Hamas and for inadequately addressing their students’ expressed support for Hamas.

Several Stanford faculty members, including three Nobel laureates, condemned Stanford’s administrators’ weak response to acts of terrorism and the expression of pro-Hamas sentiments by students on campus.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It dismantled 21 Israeli settlements in the territory and handed them over to the Palestinian Authority.

The assault by Hamas on Oct. 7 was not an ordinary clash with Israel. Hamas’ actions resulted in the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

While there are valid reasons for protesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and a real reckoning with the Israeli government on its policies is long overdue, nothing justifies Hamas’ attack.

Israelis who were killed largely had nothing to do with the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza. Some of the victims weren’t even Israeli — they were just tourists.

The students blaming Israel for the atrocities committed by Hamas have faced criticism. Some groups have withdrawn their endorsements because of the backlash aimed at them. Others have doubled down on their activism. SJP held a “National Day of Resistance” on several campuses.

Several CEOs have asked Harvard to disclose a list of members from the organizations assigning responsibility to Israel to insure they do not hire any of their members. A Berkeley law professor has also urged firms not to hire his students who have publicly blamed Israel for the war.

This California Black Media report was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.