by Eric J. Lyman
ROME, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Aquarius, the migrant rescue ship that dramatically raised the profile of Italy's new hardline stance on migration, is back at sea, setting up another potential showdown with Italy's two-month-old government.
Matteo Salvini -- Italy's minister of the interior and the head of the anti-migrant League, one of the two political parties supporting the government under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte -- made international headlines just days after the government was installed when he announced Italian ports would be closed to non-Italian rescue ships.
That left the Aquarius, with 639 migrants aboard, adrift until Spain said the ship could land at the Port of Valencia, 700 nautical miles (1,300 kilometers) away.
Since then, no non-governmental rescue ship has been allowed to dock in any Italian port with would-be migrants aboard, though a handful of Italian Coast Guard ships have delivered some asylum seekers to Italy.
Since June, just two non-governmental rescue ships have been allowed to land anywhere else in Europe -- in Malta and Spain, respectively -- with just 250 migrants total on board.
The Aquarius had been out of service after leaving Valencia until it launched from the French port of Marseille Wednesday in search of migrants attempting the treacherous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Europe.
On Thursday in Rome, officials from SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, the two non-governmental organizations supporting the Aquarius, said the ship set sail without a clear idea of what its options will be after it comes across potential refugees at sea.
"It seems that these decisions about rescue ships are being decided on an ad hoc basis so we will have to figure it out when the time comes," Nicola Stalla, the search and rescue coordinator for SOS Mediterranee told reporters in Rome.
In the briefing held to call attention to the Aug. 1 relaunch of the Aquarius, officials said they were aware they were likely to clash with the Italian government, but said that did not shape their strategies.
"We are not interested in playing political games, we are just trying to save lives," Claudia Lodesani, president of MSF-Italia said at the briefing. "We give no thought to the political impact of what we do. It is fundamental, almost banal, to say it, but we are only interested in rescuing, helping, the desperate people who need it."
So far, the Italian government has not formally responded to the launch of the ship, though Salvini has not backed down from his anti-migrant statements.
Madeleine Habib, a migration advocate who preceded Stalla as SOS Mediterranee's search and rescue coordinator, said deaths of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean have spiked since the rescue ships have been docked: of the nearly 1,100 deaths at sea so far this year, 700 of them happened in the last two months, she said.
"The people on the Aquarius are well-informed, well-educated, and committed," Habib told Xinhua. "They are not unaware of the political situation. But they are not going to compromise their ability to save lives by taking a political stance. They have to remain apolitical. Otherwise, they risk retribution."
But Lorenzo Rinelli, a university lecturer and the author of the book "African Migrants and Europe", said in an interview that the Aquarius and its backers are being "purposefully provocative" by setting sail despite political tensions in Europe.
"They set out expecting a counter-attack from the Italian government," Rinelli said. "The mission is about saving lives, yes, but it's also about trying to move public opinion. Non-governmental groups have to do things to attract attention. If they don't, they will fade away."
