EU navies prepare to start work in Libyan waters

The EU i is to make plans for posting security experts to Libya and on moving its naval operation into Libyan waters following initial talks with the country’s new government.

EU i foreign ministers decided to go ahead after speaking in Brussels via video link with the new Libyan prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

They said in a joint statement on Monday (18 April) that the EU security experts would help Libyan authorities on “counter-terrorism, border management, countering irregular migration and smuggling of migrants and trafficking of human beings.”

They said the naval operation in the Mediterranean, Sophia, which had so far been limited to international waters, could move into Libyan waters to help with “capacity building for the Libyan coastguard.”

The EU also agreed to spend €100 million on humanitarian initiatives, such as restoring water and electricity to war-damaged towns.

The statment recognised that Saraj’s Government of National Accord, formed last week, does not have full control of Libyan territory.

It urged “existing militias and armed groups to respect its authority.” It said EU states, in line with a UN decision, would cease “official cotact” with all “parallel institutions.” It also said it might blacklist further individuals “who threaten the peace, stability or security in Libya, or who undermine its political transition.”

Europe’s foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini i said the new EU deployments are unlikely before July - its internal deadline for a review of Sophia’s mandate.

She noted that Farraj had mentioned migration and counter-terrorism as just two among many of the new government’s priorties.

But she said Farraj also voiced concern on the “huge number of migrants and refugees” that have come to Libya following the EU’s closure of the Western Balkan migratory corridor.

She said one of the options is for Sophia to start work on interception and rescues of migrants in Libyan waters. She said it could also start to destroy migrant boats on shore or to train the Libyan coast guard to destroy them instead.

Mogherini said she was “proud” of Sophia’s work to date, saying that it in the past six months it arrested 68 suspected human smugglers, “neutralised” 104 vessels, and rescued over 13,000 people, including 800 children.

She spoke on the one-year anniversary of a mass drowning in the Mediterrenean, but also amid as-yet uncorroborated reports of another large-scale sea tragedy.

Speaking after the Farraj video conference, the French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, said the creation of the GNA was itself a huge step forward.

“We couldn’t have imagined that a few weeks ago,” he said.

He described him as a “brave” man who “wants to help his country.” He also said it’s important fr both Libya and the EU to halt human smuggling and arms and drugs trafficking.

Michael Fallon, the British defence minister, said that the spread of Daesh, another name for the jihadist group Islamic State “along the Libyan coastline … is a threat to us in Europe.”