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In the aftermath of the sea rescue of five Eritrean immigrants, the only survivors of a 12 metre dinghy carrying over eighty people from Libya to the Italian coast, a controversy has erupted in Italy over immigration policies. Il Messaggero reports that Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has attacked the European Union, guilty of "not yet answering the question: is it possible that this is only an Italian problem? The refugees have to find shelter and sustenance in all European countries, not only in the country of arrival".
The Italian government is not only crossing swords with the EU. According to Catholic newspaper l'Avvenire, it is also studying the possibility of an "international rogatory against Malta for non-assistance of lives in danger”. Last Wednesday a Maltese patrol boat accosted the dinghy, providing it with food and fuel to continue on to Italy. Though international law requires sea rescue to anyone in difficulty, the Maltese government claims that the five Eritreans "at the time of intervention by the patrol boat were in good condition and wanted to continue".
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