A motion under discussion at the
Italian Senate on Wednesday calls for the government to look
into ways to move beyond the search-and-rescue operation Mare
Nostrum.
The motion, lodged by the government majority, notes that
the operation was a "necessary response to the emergency but can
in no way constitute a definitive solution". It would require
that the government draw up an 'exit strategy'.
Mare Nostrum (Our Sea, the Romans' term for the Med) was
launched in October 2013, spearheaded by 782 Italian Navy
personnel aboard a flotilla of vessels supported by carabinieri,
coast guard, police and air force units after hundreds of
migrants lost their lives earlier that month when two boats sunk
not far from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Thousands of lives have been saved by the operation in a
period seeing ever more undocumented migrants attempting to flee
conflicts by crossing the Mediterranean in unsafe sea vessels.
Almost 40,000 migrants landed on Italy's shores in the
first five months of this year - almost as many as the total for
all of 2013.
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