http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/italy/141227/christmas-baby-cheer-italy-names-trafficking-superboss
Agence France-PresseDecember 27, 2014 11:08
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Christmas baby cheer as Italy names trafficking 'superboss'
A baby was born at sea on Christmas Day after his Nigerian mother was
plucked from a floundering migrant boat by the Italian navy.
A baby born at sea on Christmas Day after his Nigerian mother was
plucked from a floundering migrant boat by the Italian navy has been
baptized Testimony Salvatore in honor of the medics who delivered him.
The two-day old infant, who weighed in just under six pounds, and his
28-year-old mother were both recovering in hospital on Saturday after
what was a smooth delivery in testing circumstances, according to the
gynaecologist who oversaw it.
The cheering Christmas tale came as it was reported that Italian
authorities have identified a 32-year-old Egyptian man as a lynchpin
in the large-scale people smuggling that has been instrumental in
sending asylum seekers and economic migrants across the Mediterranean
in unprecedented numbers this year.
Described as a trafficking "superboss" and named as Ahmed Mohamed
Farrag Hanafi, the alleged trafficking overlord is now being pursued
by the Egyptian authorities at Italy's request, Corriere della Sera
reported.
The broadsheet daily said he was based in the Kafr el-Sheikh
Governorate in northern Egypt and had been identified as a result of
intercepted mobile calls to traffickers working for him on boats
leaving Libya.
Really scared
Little Testimony entered the world at 20 minutes before midnight on
December 25, aboard the Italian navy vessel Etna as it headed to the
Sicilian port of Messina.
The ship had just helped to rescue hundreds of would-be immigrants
from boats destined for, but ill-equipped to reach, Europe's southern
shores.
"The lady was brilliant," said gynaecologist Maita Sartori. "She did
everything herself, all we had to was to be there and monitor the
labour, talking to her in English."
The mother, whose first name is Kate according to Italian media, was
travelling with Testimony's 15-month-old sister and was quoted as
saying: "I'm really happy with the birth of my son. I was really
scared but everything went well in the end."
She told reporters the family had left Nigeria two months ago and that
she and her youngest child had boarded a boat in Libya on Dec. 23,
having left her husband and two older sons, aged 6 and 10, in
neighboring Algeria.
Italian naval vessels picked up a total of 2,300 people from troubled
boats over the Christmas period, lifting to almost 170,000 the number
of migrants from north Africa registered as having landed on Italian
soil this year.
More than 80 percent of the migrants leave from Libya, where
traffickers are able to operate with impunity because of the chaos
engulfing a country that has disintegrated into warring fiefdoms.
The conflict in Syria/Iraq and repression in Eritrea have been the two
biggest factors behind the migrant surge this year with Syrian and
Eritrean nationals accounting for over half the people landed in Italy
this year.
Typically, refugees boarding boats in Libya have paid traffickers
several thousand dollars each for what is sold as a ticket to Europe.
Increasingly however it appears that the people smugglers simply aim
to get the boats into open water and rely on the human cargo being
picked up by either the Italian navy or by passing merchant ships
which are obliged, under the law of the sea, to respond to distress
calls.
Responsibility for patrolling Europe's southern shores in theory lies
with Triton, a multinational operation run by the European borders
agency Frontex. But in practice the Italian navy has continued to
carry out most of the rescues despite officially scaling back its own
Mare Nostrum operation at the end of October after failing to persuade
other EU governments to help fund it.
Hopes the advent of winter would stem the flow of boat people have
been dashed although there have been signs that the traffickers are
switching to bigger cargo boats, having previously relied largely on
converted fishing vessels or inflatable dinghies.
The cargo boats may be less vulnerable to inclement weather but are
frequently in a poor condition, making them potential death traps,
according to aid organizations.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/italy/141227/christmas-baby-cheer-italy-names-trafficking-superboss
Received on Sat Dec 27 2014 - 21:01:11 EST