UN chief stresses need to save lives of migrants in Mediterranean

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that the top priority in the migrant emergency in the Mediterranean is to save the migrants' lives.

Ban held talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on board a navy vessel off the coast of Sicily.

Ban expressed deep concerns about the condition of those undertaking the perilous crossing of the sea toward Europe, and stressed that "authorities should focus on saving their lives."

The meeting of the three officials took place eight days after up to 800 migrants died while trying to reach Italy from Libyan coasts when a vessel sank following a collision with a merchant ship. Only 28 people were saved, and 24 bodies recovered, in a frantic rescue mission launched by Italy and Malta.

The incident marked the worst migrant tragedy in decades in the Mediterranean, and led to renewed pressure on the EU for more intense actions against human trafficking.

Ban, Mogherini and Renzi boarded Italian navy ship San Giorgio on Monday afternoon, as the vessel was performing its usual patrolling between Libya and Sicily.

Their trip was meant as a symbolic gesture of "solidarity" to the thousands who have already died at sea, but also provided a chance to "assess the situation and help ensure the European solidarity for the efforts undertaken to save the migrants," a EU statement said.

"Stopping human traffickers to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe is an absolute priority on which we now hope to have the UN's support," Renzi said after the trip.

"Previously, Italy has been alone facing this problem. Now, the international community is aware it is a global issue and not a matter concerning one country only," he added.

The Italian government has repeatedly urged the EU to ensure more cohesive action to both help southern European countries save migrants across the Mediterranean, and tackle human traffickers operating from Libyan coasts.

After last week's incident, the EU Council held an extraordinary session and pledged to strengthen maritime rescue operations. The EU leaders agreed to triple the financial resources for its Triton patrol mission in the waters between Africa and southern Europe, yet they made no long-term plans regarding other key issues such as the way to stop the smugglers and how to distribute asylum seekers among the 28 EU member states.

Italy has been trying to gather support from both EU partners and the UN for an "international police operation" to capture and destroy the boats used to smuggle migrants, stressing that such an action would not mean preparing a military intervention in Libya.

In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa on Sunday, Ban declared that there is no military solution to the human tragedy taking place in the Mediterranean.