Europe, N. Africa ministers seek to curb migrant flow
(L-R) Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka, Libya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Tahar Siala, Libya’s Interior Ministry delegate Elaref Elkhuja, France’s Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux, Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Italy’s Interior Minister Marco Minniti, European Union (EU) Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, Malta’s Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga, Tunisia’s Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub, and Slovenian Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar pose following the “Central Mediterranean contact group” meeting on March 20, 2017 in Rome.
PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- One year after a controversial deal with Turkey to stop migrants setting out across the Aegean Sea for Greece, the European Union is seeking to reach a similar accord with conflict-hit Libya, despite fierce opposition from human rights campaigners.
Rome. Interior ministers mainly from the central Mediterranean region met in Rome on Monday to ramp up efforts to curb migration from Libya amid a sharp rise in the number of people trying to cross to Europe.
One year after a controversial deal with Turkey to stop migrants setting out across the Aegean Sea for Greece, the European Union is seeking to reach a similar accord with conflict-hit Libya, despite fierce opposition from human rights campaigners.
Just this past weekend more than 3,300 people were rescued from unseaworthy vessels off the north African country, bringing the number of arrivals in Italy to nearly 20,000 so far in 2017 -- a significant increase on previous years.
The wave of attempted arrivals continued Monday, with the Italian coastguard saying it had coordinated the rescues of about 1,800 people off the Libyan coast.
Interior ministers from Algeria, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Libya, Malta, Slovenia, Switzerland and Tunisia took part in the meeting, along with the European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.
The group released a declaration of intent which limited itself to promising increased coordination and information-sharing in a bid to tackle the root causes of migration, as well as combat smuggling and strengthen borders.
“The aim is to govern migratory movements” rather than be governed by them, said Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti.
Libya’s UN-backed unity government has requested 800 million euros ($860 million) worth of equipment to help patrol its coast and territorial waters, including radars, boats, helicopters and all-terrain vehicles, boats and helicopters, according to Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily.
There is also talk of a Libya-based operational centre to coordinate rescues in international waters off the coast, relieving the burden on Rome, which has been forced to monitor and intervene well beyond its established maritime surveillance zone.
Experts say some of the equipment requested by Libya would fall foul of a UN embargo on arms imports into the country.
France’s Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux stressed the importance of making sure the Libyan coastguard lives up to its EU training. (AFP)
