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“Every day is October 3”, read one of the placards of demonstrators at the Lampedusa airport on 2 and 3 October 2014. The slogan aimed to tell European Union and Italian high officials  that over 3,000 lives have perished around Lampedusa since last October because EU and Italy did not show enough commitment to stop death of desperate refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. Yet, the focus remained on the heartbreaking death of 368 victims, almost all Eritreans, on October 3, 2014.

Reports had it that Eritreans all over the world marked the first anniversary of that tragedy by gathering in large and small groups for candle vigil and for voicing out their recommitment to the struggle that aims to end the ongoing death and untold suffering of their nation. But none of those events could match the events organized in Italy, especially in Lampedusa. Needless to say, nothing was done in Asmara to commemorate this day of national tragedy that the Eritrean regime a year ago called an incident that affected “African migrants”. And no wonder that the regime also failed to send even a junior representative to the memorial events in Lampedusa at which the EU and Italy were represented by their highest office holders.

The spot where 368 lives perished is just a mile away from the safe shores of Lampedusa!!

Pope Francis on Lampedusa Anniversary

The events of marking the anniversary of the tragedy started on October 1 in the Vatican City when Pope Francis met with the survivors and close family members of the victims.

Pope Francis gave words of consolation to family members and promised to do all what he can to help speed up the delayed process of identifying the remains of the victims and to see they are given proper burial in Eritrea or at least in one place in Italy. The family members of the victims and the survivors were provided accommodation by the Vatican for their short stay in Rome.

Events in Lampedusa on October 2

On October 2, family members of the victims and the survivors were met at a meeting hall at the Lampedusa airport by the delegation of the European Union that included Mr. Martin Schultz, president of the European Parliament. The family members expressed their frustrations about the lingering lack of commitment to speed up giving dignified burial to the victims who were abandoned to die only 1 mile from the shores of Lampedusa.

Civil society members from the region demonstrated at the airport and accused the EU and Italy of not doing enough to save lives in the Mediterranean Sea at least since October 3, 2013. 

Muslim and various Christian denominations gathered for inter-faith services in memory of the victims and made calls to the conscience of Europe and the rest of humanity to help people in distress because of man-made and natural causes. Later in the day, Eritrean survivors of the tragedy and family members led wall writings in memory of the victims by addressing to each of them words of love and prayer.

Conference on Lampedusa Tragedy, on 3 October 

The first speaker at the conference held in the morning hours of 3 October at the Lampedusa airport meeting hall was Ms Guisy Nicolini, the mayor of Lampedusa, who bluntly stated that “nothing was changed since 3 October 2013” and that lives are being lost in the shores of Lampedusa, the first “Port of European port” in the region. The Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, who is also the designated EU Commission Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign and Security Policies, said “Europe must open migration channels” and pledged to push Italy and the EU to do more in promoting policies that can solve critical refugee and migration problems in a just manner.

President of the EU Parliament, Mr. Schultz, said that the death of so many Eritreans at “the tragedy of Lampedusa is a stain on the conscience of Europe” and that strong efforts are needed now to solve refugee and migration problems, including the root causes. He noted that the EU, which could spend €700 billion to stabilize the euro, should be able to spend sufficient millions to save threatened human lives at least in the shores of Europe. Mr. Schultz also cited figures of Syrian refugee inflows to countries like Jordan and comparative figure in population sizes would be 40 million refugees entering his country, Germany. He added that Europe is not yet sharing the refugee burden at the world scale.

The task of solving the root causes of the flight of refugees and migration was mentioned by several speakers at the conference which, in addition to high level delegations of EU and Italy, was attended by Eritreans and regional and international humanitarian and human rights organizations.

Migration experts at the conference spoke about the 19^th century emigration waves from Europe to the rest of the world and that the present day criminalization of refugees and migrants by certain groups and media outlets should be fought strongly and be defeated. For instance, Mr. Christopher Heir of the Italian Refugee Council questioned the use of words like “emigrant” and “illegal” to people fleeing from conflicts who should always be seen as refugees – people looking for a safe and better refuge than the hellish environment they left behind them.At the end of the conference, the EU and Italian dignitaries laid wreath of flowers at the spot where the fateful incident occurred a year ago. Parents of victims, survivors and representatives of Eritrean political and civil society organizations were present at the occasion.

The 3 October events in the Island of Lampedusa included another inter-denomination church  led by the representative of Pope Francis to the occasion. Following the church ceremony, a demonstration, which braved a heavy rainfall, was led by singing Eritrean survivors of the tragedy and walked up to the shores from where the survivors and the bodies of the dead were pulled out of the sea on 3 October 2013.

Italian civil society members staged a memorial walk into the shores of the sea clad in white boat-like outfits, each representing the 368 victims while  survivors and family members of the victims also lit 368 balloons and let them fly over Lamedusa in memory of the victims.

On 4 and 5 October, Eritreans continued paying visits to a reserve area on the shores of the island with 368 trees planted in memory of the victims.

During the Lampedusa anniversary events, Eritrean representatives of political and civil society organizations took time to meet and discuss about this first anniversary of the tragedy in which Eritrean participation was not that satisfactory. The meeting thus reviewed the possibility of effectively organizing future events in memory of the victims of Lampedusa and all other Eritreans who perished in the high seas and deserts while fleeing from the gross political and human violations of the Eritrean regime.  It was finally agreed on actively organizing an annual Lampedusa Memorial Day that should include the participation of all Eritrean communities in Europe and other parts of the globe. Eritrean groups in Italy who are already members of an existing coordination body were mandated to centralize the preparation of the annual Memorial Day with the participation of other sister groupings in the European region.