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Karl Stagno-Navarra
European Union sponsored patrols along the Libyan maritime territorial boundary – intended to serve as a deterrent to migrant boats from reaching European shores – are reported to be facing a series of technical and political problems.
As experts from the EU’s border agency Frontex visited Malta and Italy this week, in an effort to coordinate the preliminaries of the Commission’s strategy in response to the emergency launched by Malta and Italy, diplomatic efforts in Rome and Valletta to persuade Tripoli to participate in the joint patrols have in so far proved futile.
Whilst Commissioner Franco Frattini was swift to announce on Thursday that the joint patrols between Malta, Italy and Greece are to start “within the next weeks”, diplomats and government officials in Malta and Italy have been constantly exchanging memos as to what could convince Libya to accept an invitation for a three-way-ministerial conference on the matter, and participate in the joint patrols.
Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, who steered the request for joint patrols in the Mediterranean, and proposed a joint high level ministerial conference with Italy and Libya, was cautiously optimistic in his reply relating to the possible acceptance by Tripoli to control the exodus of migrants from its shores.
The EU is still facing a series of technical problems before the joint patrols are launched. The technicalities are tied to diplomatic concerns. “Firstly, Malta is insisting that the joint patrols must be conducted outside our search and rescue zone, as this exercise must serve as a deterrent. Should the boats reach our rescue zone, then we would be obliged to take them in, and the whole scope of the patrols will be lost,” he stressed. Secondly, both Italy and Malta are seeking advice as to the legality of the mission to stop and board ships sailing out of Libya, for suspected migrants intending to be hoisted onto small boats once closer to European shores.
In Rome, Italy’s Interior Minister Giuliano Amato has this week stepped up the pressure on Tripoli over illegal immigration, and has outlined a diplomatic offensive to curb the problem that he defined as being “the most inhumane phenomenon”. He met this week with Libyan Interior Minister Al Obeidi who led a large delegation to discuss a number of pending bilateral issues with Rome. However, Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema and Minister Amato have hand wrestled with Al Obeidi over Tripoli’s responsibilities towards controlling illegal immigration.
Speaking during question time in parliament, Amato quoted from the UN’s annual report on human trafficking which estimates gains to organised crime of approximately USD300 million a year.
“All countries in the EU and in Africa must understand that this disgusting business must stop, and all of us must shoulder the responsibility of putting an end to it,” he said.
Tonio Borg and Giuliano Amato are working in tandem to promote the idea of a wide ranging and high-profile European-African Summit, intended to involve also migrant transit nations, in an effort to quell the influx before the immigrants actually arrive to Libya for their boat trips.
“The EU must understand that as long as the migrants continue to leave the North African coast, there will be more tragedies. I ask the EU to understand, is there anywhere else in which an estimated 600 to 800 people have lost their lives to reach an EU border?” asked Tonio Borg.
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