The Tunisian Red Crescent says African migrants have been left stranded off the coast of Tunisia without aid for days now.
Tunisian officials have refused to allow the boat carrying the 40 migrants to disembark at its coast.
An official of the Tunisian Red Crescent, Monji Slim told Reuters that Tunisian officials say Malta or Italy should rather accept the migrants.
“The African migrants at sea are in a bad condition after the vessel’s captain refused to receive aid to pressure the Tunisian authorities to receive them, but no solution has been reached after 11 days at sea,” Slim was quoted as saying.
The migrants were rescued by a Tunisian vessel but it is not clear where they were heading before their rescue.
This not the first time a country has refused to allow a vessel carrying migrants to dock in its waters.
In June Spain intervened to allow a migrant ship to dock in its ports after it was stranded for hours in the Mediterranean.
The ship with 629 migrants aboard was turned away by Italy and Malta who refused it entry into their ports.
North Africa remains a major access route for migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe for greener pasture.
The United Nations this month accused Algerian authorities of resuming the expulsion of migrants into the Sahara Desert to die.
Source: Africafeeds.com
