ROME: A migrant rescue ship with more than 200 people left for France on Tuesday after being denied permission to disembark off the coast of Italy as new right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tries to curb migration across the Mediterranean.
Meloni's two-week-old government has told charity vessels to take rescued people to other countries, although a long stand-off initially involving four boats showed signs of resolution on Tuesday as two were allowed to disembark their passengers.
"After Italy's silence, we ask the French maritime authorities to provide a port for the 234 survivors of the OceanViking," said French charity SOS Mediterranee, adding that many of the migrants have been at sea for 18 days.
There was no immediate word from France on the request.
The situation "has reached a limit", SOS Mediterranee representative Alessandro Porro said in a statement, adding that the Ocean Viking was expected to reach international waters off the French island of Corsica on Thursday.
It has spent the last few days off Sicily.
In a sign that Rome's campaign against the non-governmental groups was having some impact, Spanish charity Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario said it would postpone a planned sea rescue mission due to the risk of its ship being seized by Italian authorities.
Humanitarian groups say Italy's policies are likely to mean more migrant deaths, while Rome says if there are fewer charity boats to pick up those leaving the shores of Africa, there are likely to be fewer crossings and therefore fewer deaths.
Italy's Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-migrant League party, cheered the development, tweeting: "Onwards like this. Italy will not be an accomplice of human trafficking. Is anyone starting to get this?"
Only women and children were allowed to disembark from the ship, which reached the coast of Sicily at the weekend, leaving about 250 people on board.
One of these ships, the Geo Barents run by France's Doctors without Borders (MSF), received permission to disembark all its remaining passengers on Tuesday while the other, the German-run Humanity 1, was still held up with 35 people aboard.
Most of the passengers have been on hunger strike for two days, said SOS Humanity, the charity that runs the vessel.
Few details were available on where the migrants were from.
Rise Above, a fourth ship managed by German charity Mission Lifeline, was allowed into the port of Reggio Calabria on Tuesday, where all the 89 people it had picked up in the Mediterranean were allowed ashore.
The United Nations agencies for migration and refugees appealed to Italy on Monday to let all the stranded migrants come ashore, adding that all "concerned states" should then take responsibility for the new arrivals.
Italy has seen a sharp increase in migrant arrivals this year, with almost 88,700 people landing in 2022 against 56,500 in the same period last year, official data showed. Around 15% of them were picked up by charity boats.