Italy calls for migrant centres on Libya’s southern borders
tripoli — Italy’s anti-immigration interior minister said on a visit to Libya on Monday he had proposed setting up migrant reception centres at Libya’s southern borders to help stanch a flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.
Matteo Salvini, whose far right League party has campaigned to bar migrants fleeing Africa and expel those already in Italy, and has been in a governing coalition since the start of June, did not say in which countries such centres could be located.
Libya has been the main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea since routes from Turkey were largely shut following a deal with the European Union in 2016.
Almost all arrive in Italy though crossings have fallen sharply last July as smuggling networks were disrupted under heavy Italian pressure and Libya’s EU-trained coastguard stepped up interceptions.
“Reception and identification centres should be set up (in or to) the south of Libya,” Salvini told reporters after meeting Libyan Interior Minister Abdulsalam Ashour and deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeg in the capital Tripoli.
Salvini said such centres would ease pressure on both Libya and Italy. He gave no details, but appears to envisage the centres as a
We’ll do all we can to make sure it’s the Libyan authorities that patrol Libyan waters by blocking the interference of associations (NGOs) that want to take the place of govts and actually help criminals and human traffickers.
Matteo Salvini,
Italy’s interior minister
way to process asylum requests outside the EU in order that those deemed not eligible can be quickly sent back to their home countries.
Salvini thanked the Libyan coastguard for the “excellent work” in rescuing and intercepting migrants and said the two countries were in “full agreement” over immigration.
However, Maiteeg, part of an internationally recognised government that has struggled to impose its authority on Libya from Tripoli, boats by Libya’s coastguard have surged over the past week.
But the interceptions have been criticised by human rights activists because of the dire conditions facing migrants in Libya, where they say they often face physical abuse including torture and rape.
Salvini has said Italians are fed up with the unwillingness of other EU countries to take in a fair share of migrants that reach the bloc via Italy. He has vowed not to let charity ships operating off Libya in recent years disembark migrants in Italy.
One such vessel with more than 600 migrants on board was stranded before it was accepted by Spain; a second vessel carrying more than 230 migrants is stuck in the Mediterranean.
A private cargo ship, the Alexander Maersk, has also been waiting to be assigned a port since it picked up 113 migrants off southern Italy on Friday.
“We’ll do all we can to make sure it’s the Libyan authorities that patrol Libyan waters,” Salvini said, “by blocking the interference of associations (NGOs) that want to take the place of governments and actually help criminals and human traffickers.
“The problems of Libya need to be solved in Libya and not in other European capitals.”