Another reason to refuse Gaddafi’s €5 billion blackmail

“I imagine they mistook the fishing boat for a ship carrying illegal immigrants.” This was the unbelievable reaction of Italian Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni to the machine-gun shots fired at a Sicilian fishing trawler by a Libyan patrol boat.

“They shot to hit us and they could have killed us,” the captain of the ship said.

Ironically the patrol boat was one of six supplied by Italy to Libya to help prevent migrants crossing the Mediterranean. To rub more salt in the wound, an Italian officer was present in Libyan boat involved in the shooting. Apart from embarrassing Italy a few days after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave Gaddafi a welcome worthy of a deranged Roman emperor, Maroni’s reaction raises the question: does Libya have a licence to shoot at killing range at any ship carrying illegal immigrants?

And if the presence of an Italian official cannot stop the Libyans at firing at Italians, will it stop them from shooting at immigrants?

Although it is now emerging that Libya was aware that it was fully aware of dealing with a fishing boat, Maroni’s reaction reveals a profound disrespect towards human life on the part of Italy’s own government. For he gave the impression that it is quite normal for Libyans to shoot at boats carrying illegal immigrants.

This raises the more fundamental question: can we trust a country which shows so little regard for human life, to police the seas?

Let’s not forget that – as pointed out by the Bishop of Mazara del Vallo, Domenico Mogevaro – Gaddafi’s government had unilaterally extended its territorial waters from the 12 nautical miles prescribed by international law, to 72 nautical miles.

The whole incident is one more argument why the European Union should refuse the Libyan €5 billion blackmail (supported by Malta and Italy) and to invest this money in helping development projects in Africa to address the root causes of migration.

Ultimately Gaddafi is playing political football with human lives. He stokes the fires by proclaiming Islam as Europe’s new religion only to demand money to ensure that this does not happen. Playing his game only makes him all the more extravagant in his demands.