(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, APRIL 24 - NATO is denying any
responsibility for the deaths of 63 migrants in the
Mediterranean in March of 2011. In a third letter sent to the
rapporteur at the Council of Europe, Tineke Strik from Holland,
the Atlantic alliance states that it is not in possession of any
''satellite images that could help identify military, commercial
or any other type of vessels'' that may have been present in the
sea area at the time in question.
''NATO has not declared a 'military zone' in the
Mediterranean and did not play a coordinating role in the search
and rescue operations in the area,'' spokesperson Oana Lungescu
points out. While admitting that ''helicopters from vessels
under NATO command flew over the zone where the migrants' boat
was positioned at the time of the incident,'' in its letter,
NATO insists that ''there is no evidence'' in its possession
''linking helicopters under NATO command to the time and place
at which the survives state they were given water and
biscuits''. At the time of the incident, the Alliance further
states, ''only eight ships under NATO command were in the
Mediterranean to patrol an operational area of 61,000 nautical
miles''.
The Alliance promises that it will give the Council's
recommendations ''their fullest attention'' and that it is
already examining how it may strengthen ''reciprocal exchange of
information and search and rescue procedures''. NATO and its
allies assured that they will continue ''to review the
information carefully in order better to understand what
happened during the two weeks during which the boat was at
sea''. (ANSAmed).
