Royal Navy could be sent to help Libyans curb people-smugglers

THE Royal Navy could be deployed to train Libyan coastguards in how to tackle people smugglers, it emerged yesterday.

David Cameron told a summit of world leaders in Germany that he wanted to ‘build the capacity’ of the coastguard operating from the war-torn country.

Officials said this could involve sailors and Royal Marines being sent to train them in the waters just off Libya in the Mediterranean Sea as part of plans to stem the flow of migrants.

They could also be provided with funding to ‘boost their capacity’ to actively patrol the Libyan waters, which European navies cannot currently operate in.

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister in particular made the case for seeking to work with the new Libyan government to build the capacity of the Libyan coastguard to help stem the flow of illegal migration across the Mediterranean into Europe.’

Mr Cameron joined US president Barack Obama, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi in Hanover yesterday.

They discussed how to tackle global threats including Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and the migrant crisis.

Officials said Nato was ten weeks away from launching a naval mission off Libya as part of a US-backed plan to close the migrant route to Europe across the Mediterranean. US warships could be drafted in to help European countries if the plans are approved at a Nato summit in Warsaw in July. A senior US official said: ‘The United States would be supportive of a Nato mission in the central Mediterranean.’

Currently there are ships from European member-states, including Britain, operating as part of Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean.

There is a Nato mission in the Aegean Sea, operating off the coast of Turkey, and there are plans to ‘blur the lines’ between the two missions.

Nato’s involvement could be seen as an admission that the EU has failed to tackle the migrant crisis on its own and needs support from countries such as the US.

Before the talks, President Obama described European nations who had not committed to spending per cent of national income on defence – the Nato target – as ‘complacent’. He announced that he would send another 50 more US special forces and other military personnel to crush Islamic State in Syria. Mr Obama said the fight against IS was ‘the most urgent threat to our nations’.