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WORLD NEWSTuesday 29 September 2015
EU operation ready to go after migrant smugglers
RAF CASERT
Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Eu-
ropean Union on Monday
announced that it will be
able to go after suspect-
ed migrant trafficking and
smuggling vessels in the
international waters of the
Mediterranean as of next
week. Monday’s EU state-
ment said Operation So-
phia will allow naval per-
sonnel of EU nations “to
board, search, seize and
divert vessels suspected
of being used for human
smuggling or trafficking on
the high seas, in line with in-
ternational law” as of Oct.
7. In reaction to the tens of
thousands of people cross-
ing the Mediterranean
and the thousands of lives
lost, theEU set up an oper-
ation that initially centered
on saving those drifting on
the high seas and would
later also include directly
targeting smuggling and
trafficking operations.
The operation had been
launched in June and
since it reached opera-
tional capability on July 27,
it has saved 2,186 people
from drowning.
EU member states now
committed enough ships,
Doctors see cold as new trial for asylum-seekers
A. COHADZIC,
I. SUBBOTOVSKA
Associated Press
BAPSKA, Croatia (AP) —
Doctors treated migrant
children — including new-
borns — for exposure as
dropping temperatures
Monday worsened the
plight of asylum-seekers
walking for days trying to
reach sanctuary in Europe.
One group of migrants
crossed into Croatia near
the small village of Bapska,
US backs Dutch
resolution over
A Syrian refuggee praises god as he arrives with others from Turkey on the shores of the Greek Yemen probe
island of Lesbos, on a fishing boat. More than 260,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Greece so
far this year, most reaching the country’s eastern islands on flimsy rafts or boats from the nearby JAMEY KEATEN
Turkish coast. Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The United
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) States supports Dutch ef-
forts to create an interna-
helicopters and other mili- on the high seas,” EU for- ployed at the moment and tional fact-finding mission
tary equipment to start eign policy chief Federica 1,318 people are working on human rights abuses in
the active phase of the Mogherini said. EU officials on the action involving 22 war-torn Yemen, the U.S.
counter-smuggling op- also agreed to rename the of the member states. It ambassador to the top
eration. “Today’s decision EUNAVFOR Med operation wasn’t immediately clear U.N. rights body said Mon-
takes the EU naval opera- “Sophia” after a baby born by how many ships and day, setting the stage for
tion from its intelligence- on a rescue ship this sum- personnel the enlarged tough diplomatic negotia-
gathering phase to its op- mer off the Libyan coast. mission, which includes tion on the issue with Saudi
erational and active phase As part of the rescue op- counter-trafficking action, Arabia and other Arab
against human smugglers eration, four ships are de- would be expanded.q states in coming days.
The Dutch proposal to the
U.N. Human Rights Council,
which could expose abus-
es on all sides of the war,
follows the submission of
another one co-sponsored
by Saudi Arabia and Ye-
men that does not seek an
international mission. The
U.S. has backed a blister-
ing Saudi-led campaign
of air strikes in Yemen, and
Ambassador Keith Harper
told The Associated Press
on Monday that the U.S. ul-
timately hopes for a com-
promise.
The Dutch want the of-
fice of U.N. Human Rights
chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein
to send a mission to report
on possible abuses and
conflict-related crimes in
Yemen. The council now
faces separate votes on
walking through cornfields High Commissioner from Migrants lined up at Croa- the two proposals before
and forests late Sunday to Refugees handed out blan- tia’s Opatovac transit cen- its three-week session ends
pass through a small gate kets, warm drinks and food ter Monday to take trains on Friday, though diplo-
that marks the border with to those fleeing conflict out the country. About matic efforts are under
Serbia. and poverty in the Middle 78,000 asylum seekers have way to overcome differ-
Vladimir Bozic, a physician East, Africa and Asia. Many crossed into Croatia since ences, officials said.
from Doctors without Bor- are suffering in rising num- Sept. 15, when Hungary In a text message to the
ders, said he had treated bers from colds and the flu closed its border with Ser- AP, Harper said the U.S.
many young children for after days or weeks on the bia, diverting the migrants supports the Dutch propos-
temperature-related ill- move in the rain and the to Croatia. al, including the involve-
nesses. mud. Saed Al Mousawi, who fled ment of Zeid’s office. q
“We saw a 1-month old “I expect even more, with from Afghanistan, said the
baby, even (one just) 15 the worsening of these drop in temperatures had
days,” Bozic said. cold conditions,” Bozic made many feel unwell,
Volunteers from the U.N. said. “Winter is coming.” especially the children. q