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Rescued migrants rest aboard the Ocean Viking as it waits in international waters between Malta and the southern Italian island of Linosa for access to a port in this picture taken between August 9 and 12, 2019. /Reuters Photo
Italy on Saturday agreed to allow rescue ship Ocean Viking – run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders – to disembark 82 migrants on southern islands Lampedusa after six days at sea following a European deal to distribute them.
"The Ocean Viking just received instructions from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Rome to proceed to Lampedusa," SOS Mediterranee tweeted.
However, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who heads the Five Star Movement in the governing coalition, said the ship was only being given access to Lampedusa because other European states had agreed to take in many of those on board.
France and Germany have agreed to take 25 percent of the migrants each, with Italy to take 10 percent.
A rescued child migrant and a staff member are pictured aboard the Ocean Viking as it waits in international waters between Malta and the southern Italian island of Linosa for access to a port in this picture taken between August 9 and 12, 2019. /Reuters Photo
"An ad hoc European agreement between Italy, France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg has been reached to allow the landing," said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, referring to the division of the migrants between the five countries.
"We now need to agree on a genuine temporary European mechanism," Castaner added.
The offering of a safe port to the Ocean Viking is a reversal of the hardline stance taken by Italy's ex-Interior Minister Matteo Salvini last year. Under far-right leader Salvini, charity vessels with rescued migrants on board faced fines of up to a million euros as well as the arrest of the captain and impounding of the boat.
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Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's right-wing League party, speaks to the media during a press conference in Rome, Italy, August 28, 2019. /VCG Photo
"Here we go, ports open without limits," Salvini tweeted after the safe port announcement.
"The new government is reopening the ports, Italy returns to being the refugee camp of Europe. Abusive ministers who hate Italians," wrote Salvini, who pulled the plug on the previous government in August in the hope of snap elections.
His move backfired and the League leader is now in opposition after previous ally the Five Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party agreed a coalition.
Italy's new government formally took office on Tuesday, promising a fresh approach to migration. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday that "several EU countries" had agreed to take in the Africans aboard the Ocean Viking but did not give further details.
The ship picked up the migrants off Libya earlier this week and had asked both Italy and Malta for permission to dock.
(With input from AFP, Reuters)