US embassy cables | Immigration memorandum ‘little more than a pledge from Libya’ to pick up the phone

A memorandum of understanding signed in 2009 with the Libyan government that calls for mutual coordination of search and rescue (SAR) missions was “litte more than a pledge from Libya ‘to pick up the phone’” according to Maltese ambassador to Tripoli Joseph Cassar.

Cassar was quoted by US ambassador Gene Cretz in an embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks, in which the ambassador complains of the lack of cooperation from Libya on rescue missions at sea.

“The Maltese Ambassador in Tripoli, whose government signed an MOU with Libya on March 18 outlining each country's SAR responsibilities, has previously complained to us that that the Libyan operations center responsible for managing response to maritime search, rescue, and interdiction would not answer the phone or respond to fax requests - even when the EU provided satellite tracking data.

“After a delay signing the MOU last October, the exasperated Maltese Ambassador told Poloff [Political Officer] that the agreement called for little more than a pledge from Libya ‘to pick up the phone’. The Italian Embassy reported similar lack of responsiveness in this case, which eventually improved after Embassy prodding.”

Back when the MOU had been signed, foreign minister Tonio Borg had described it being “inspired by the desire of Malta and Libya to further promote the friendly relations between them and the necessity of improving the safety of life at sea in the Mediterranean basin.”

But only 11 days after the MOU was signed, nearly 400 migrants were saved from capsized vessels off Libya's coast, with some 100-200 people feared lost at sea. Despite arrangements outlined in Search and Rescue Agreements with both Italy and Malta, Libyan officials did not immediately respond, US ambassador Gene Cretz said in the embassy cable.

“Italian diplomats here characterized Libya's initial response as sluggish, but noted that a small Libyan patrol boat made contact with a disabled ship carrying a reported 356 individuals. Unable to take the migrants aboard or tow them to safety, the Libyans pressed an Italian ship – contracted by ENI to supply its offshore platform – into service to tug the seaworthy but unpowered vessel to Tripoli.

“In the course of that rescue, victims of another vessel carrying migrants were found in the water. Twenty-three migrants were rescued from the water and another 20 drowned bodies were recovered from the wreckage, but witnesses from among the rescued put the original manifest at 257.”

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the 356 rescued from the disabled ship were then sent to two detention centres 50km west of Tripoli. Rescued nationalities include Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Eritrean, Somali, Syrian, Ghanaian, and Egyptian.