In a new migrant standoff, Italy's Salvini blocks two NGO boats

Italian Interior Minister MatteoSalvinisaid on Tuesday he was working to preventtworescue ships operated by French and Spanish charities from bringing more than 500migrants to Italy in the latest Mediterranean stand-off.

The Ocean Viking, which is run by French non-governmental groups (NGOs) Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee, has picked up some 356migrants off the coast of Libya since Friday, while Spanish boat Open Arms has saved some 160 people.

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Both vessels are in the central Mediterranean, within easy sailing distance of the Italian island of Lampedusa and are seeking a safe port to disembark the mainly Africanmigrants.

ButSalvini, the leader of the far-right League who has seen his popularity in Italy soar since he took office last year and launched a fierce anti-immigration crackdown, said on Tuesday theboatswere not Rome's problem.

"I am at work in the ministry this morning to prevent more than 500migrants from disembarking fromtwoNGOboats, one French and one Spanish,"Salviniwrote on Facebook.

"I will let you know how this ends. I will not give up."

Earlier this month,Salviniintroduced anewlaw hiking fines for ships that enter Italian waters without authorisation to up to 1 million euros ($1.12 million).

It also provides for the arrest of captains who ignore orders to stay away and calls on naval authorities to seize theirboatsautomatically.

Buoyed by his success in the polls,Salviniis looking to trigger an early election in the autumn by bringing down the Italian government, confident he would emerge as prime minister from anynewvote.

As such, a high-profile clash with foreign charities will bolster his anti-migrantcredentials.

UNalarm

Salvinisaid Libya had offered to take back themigrants aboard the Ocean Viking and said Open Arms should go to Spain.

Doctors Without Borders has ruled out takingmigrants to violence-plagued Libya, sayingmigrants are routinely tortured and abused there.

Open Arms has called for the European Union to coordinate the re-distribution of themigrants around the bloc.

The United Nations refugee agency called on European governments to intervene, warning that storms were approaching.

"To leave people who have fled war and violence in Libya on the high seas in this weather would be to inflict suffering upon suffering," said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean.

"They must be immediately allowed to dock, and allowed to receive much-needed humanitarian aid."

Spain said Italy should deal with immediate care.

"International law states that a rescue takes place in the closest safe port. Without a doubt, right now that means Italy. If it was us, we would do it," Spain's acting development minister Jose Luis Abalos told Telecinco television on Tuesday.

However, he also said Europe needed to forge a "wider" policy to handlemigrantarrivals from Africa.

Italy has taken in more than 600,000 boatmigrants since 2014, butnewarrivals have fallen sharply over the pasttwoyears, with the decline accelerating over the past year.

Latest figures say 4,265migrants have reached Italy so far in 2019, down 78 per cent on the same period in 2018 and down 96 per cent on 2017 levels.