ITALY SAYS IT WILL NOT LET MIGRANT BOATS DOCK
▶ Minister claims terrorists are using Libyan fighting to sneak into Europe
Italy’s interior minister said yesterday that extremist groups had exploited upheaval in Libya to infiltrate migrant boats heading for the country’s ports.
Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League, said Italy would refuse to allow the vessels to dock.
“Terrorist infiltration is no longer a risk, it has become a certainty,” he said.
“It is therefore my duty to reiterate that no docking will be allowed on Italian shores.”
The potential threat of extremists crossing the Mediterranean has risen after the flight of an estimated 20,000 people from Tripoli as the city faces Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s advance on the Libyan capital.
The advance began nearly two weeks ago and the UN said yesterday the conflict was intensifying. “Some of the most vulnerable people are migrants caught up in semi-detention camps, some of whom are close to the fighting,” UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said.
“We are doing what we can. What is needed is a scale-back in the fighting and better humanitarian access.”
At the UN, a member of the Security Council told that there had been no progress on finalising the text of the proposed resolution on Field Marshal Haftar’s offensive, chiefly because of Russian objections.
“They don’t want any reference to any party to be made in the resolution,” the diplomat said.
Asked in New York to explain his country’s position, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, refused to elaborate.
“I don’t know,” he said, when questioned about whether the resolution would go to a vote in the coming days. “It depends not only on us.”
The UN’s refugee agency relocated 150 refugees who were being held at the Abu Salim detention centre in southern Tripoli to protect them from the clashes.
Shelling overnight on Tuesday in the densely populated district killed at least seven people, mainly women, and wounded 17.
The civilian casualties include three members of the same family, who lost a mother, daughter and granddaughter, the UN said. Both sides in the conflict blamed the other for the attack, in which about 10 rockets hit the residential area.
Field Marshal Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which took control of the east and south of the country after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, said “terrorist militias” were to blame for the rocket fire.
The UN’s special representative for Libya, Ghassan Salame, condemned the shelling and ordered those responsible to take responsibility.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and I wish a speedy recovery for those injured.
“The use of indiscriminate, explosive weapons in civilian areas constitutes a war crime,” Mr Salame said.
“Liability for such actions lies not only with the individuals who committed the indiscriminate attacks, but also potentially with those who ordered them.”
The clashes sparked fears that thousands more Libyans will risk the Mediterranean sea crossing to flee the conflict.
On Tuesday, Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj said he believed more than 800,000 of his people could flee to Europe if fighting continued.
Mr Al Sarraj said that among the wave of migrants would be criminals and terrorists linked to ISIS.
Field Marshal Haftar’s forces launched the offensive this month against the UN-backed Government of National Accord led by Mr Al Sarraj and other groups in a bid, they said, to “defeat the terrorist and criminal militias that control the decision and financial hubs in Libya”.