MOAS says operations in Libya suspended

LONDON - 5 September 2017: A humanitarian organisation that has saved the lives of 40,000 migrants in the Mediterranean has suspended its operations, citing security concerns and "increasing instability" off the coast of Libya, The Telegraph reported Mondy.

The Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station, which was founded by a pair of philanthropists, said it wanted nothing to do with Libya's interception of migrant boats leaving its coast.

It will instead redeploy its flagship, the Phoenix, to South-east Asia to help Rohingya refugees who are fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

The Libyan coast guard, trained and financed by the EU, has in recent weeks been blocking migrant boats and pushing them back to the coast.

"In light of increasing instability in the Mediterranean Sea and our determination to continue our humanitarian operations, we have taken the decision that the MOAS flagship vessel, the Phoenix, will be redeployed for its second mission in the Bay of Bengal," said Regina Catrambone, the co-founder of MOAS.