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Italy plans big handover of sea rescues to Libya coastguard

December 16, 2017 at 10:44 am

Refugees are seen after being rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. [Marcus Drinkwater/Anadolu Agency]

Italy wants Libya’s coastguard to take responsibility within three years for intercepting migrants across about a tenth of the Mediterranean even as Libyan crews struggle to patrol their own coast and are accused of making deadly mistakes at sea.

Six years after the revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west while ports and beaches are largely in the hands of armed groups.

Migrant smuggling has flourished, with more than 600,000 making the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean in four years. Migrants transiting through Libya often endure appalling conditions, including rape, torture and forced labour.

The Italian plan, outlined in a slide presentation seen by Reuters, shows that Italy and the European Union are focusing on rebuilding Libya’s navy and coastguard so they can stop boats. But aid groups say the Libyans are poorly trained and accuse them of mishandling a rescue last month in which some 50 people are thought to have died.

The Libyans return all migrants, including refugees, to Libya even though the situation on the ground there is far from resolved. Italy has been coordinating rescues off the Libyan coast since 2013.

Read: Libya and Italy to set up operations room to tackle migrant smuggling

The 30 slides show spending of 44 million euros ($52 million) to expand Libya’s capacity by 2020, equipping the coastguard and enabling it to establish its own rescue coordination centre as well as a vast maritime search-and-rescue region. It also foresees a pilot project for monitoring Libya’s southern border. The project draws on European Union and Italian funds, and needs EU approval.

The plan was presented by the Italian coastguard at a conference hosted by the EU’s anti-trafficking mission, Sophia, in Rome last month. Representatives from the EU, non-governmental groups and various Mediterranean navies and coastguards attended the closed-door presentation, said a source who was present.

Libya’s coastguard has already been pushing further into international waters, often firing warning shots or speeding close to charity boats. Over the summer, three charities abandoned rescue operations in part because of fears of the increasing Libyan sea presence.

Arrivals to Italy have fallen by two-thirds since July from the same period last year after officials working for the UN-backed government in Tripoli, Italy’s partner, persuaded human smugglers in the city of Sabratha to stop boats leaving.

Read: UN pushing sharp increase in migrant returns from Libya

The Libyan coastguard also increased the rate of its interceptions, turning back about 20,000 this year, though it still only stops a portion of the boats.

The crisis remains a major issue in Italy. State shelters for asylum seekers are nearly full, and with elections looming politicians across the spectrum insist the flows from North Africa be stopped, which the new scheme is likely to address.