France refuses MV Aquarius to dock in Marseille

The French government wants the ship Aquarius 2 to take migrants picked up off the coast of Libya to seek “the nearest safe port” rather than continue its journey to the southern French port of Marseille.

The ship — run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF) — has 58 migrants on board. Currently near the Libyan coast, it is the last private rescue vessel operating along the trafficking route in the central Mediterranean.

France has repeatedly said that under international law, rescue ships saving people at sea must dock at the closest port. The United Nations says Libya — where armed militias have fought for influence and control since 2011, when an uprising evolved into a civil war — does not qualify as a safe place for rescued migrants.

DW