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Madrid sends a military ship to meet the Open Arms

(B2) A ship of the Spanish Navy, le Audaz (P-45), an ocean-going patrol boat of the class Meteor, will leave in a few minutes (expected departure 17 p.m.), from the base in Rota (Cádiz). Direction Lampedusa

The high seas patrol boat (Buque de Acción Marítima) Audaz is one of the newest ships of the Spanish Navy (credit: Armada - B2 archives)

Objective: to recover the approximately 100 migrants collected by the ship of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms off the coast of Libya and now stranded off Lampedusa. The Spanish government took this decision on Tuesday (August 20) in order to resolve the crisis created by the refusal of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to let the people gathered in Lampedusa disembark, before being evacuated to other European countries. .

The best solution

After having " analyzed different options ", the Spanish government estimates, " according to the Navy's logistical recommendations, that this solution is the most appropriate and will resolve the humanitarian emergency experienced aboard the Open Arms “, he specifies in a communicated

Three days to reach Lampedusa

The tasks of preparing and supplying the ship began this morning, as soon as the decision was taken by the government. the Audaz will take three days to reach Lampedusa, where he will take care of the people welcomed on board the Open Arms and will accompany the NGO's boat to the port of Palma, in Majorca.

(NGV)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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