Obama, EU leaders to discuss naval patrols in Libya

US president to meet leaders of Germany, UK, France and Italy to discuss proposal to deploy naval patrols in Libya's waters that will be authorised to send refugees back to the country 

Italian coastguards help a young migrant after she was rescued off Libya’s coast. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Italian coastguards help a young migrant after she was rescued off Libya’s coast. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

US president Barack Obama is set to meet the four most senior EU national leaders to discuss efforts to stem the flow of asylum seekers from Libya by deploying naval patrols in the country’s waters.

The patrols, the most significant Western intervention in Libya since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, would be authorised to send refugees back to the North African country.

German chancellor Angela Merkel added Monday’s meeting – with French president Francois Hollande, UK prime minister David Cameron, and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi - to Obama’s schedule relatively late. The G5 meeting in Hanover will focus on the power vacuum in the Middle East and its impact on mass migration to Europe.

The G5 leaders are likely to discuss the extent to which the EU naval mission needs the permission of Fayez al-Sarraj, the Libyan prime minister, to operate in the country’s waters.

Sarraj, appointed prime minister as part of the UN-brokered political agreement signed last December, is struggling to win political support for his fledgling government. Any sign of diminished Libyan sovereignty is likely to weaken his ability to extend his internal support.

UK defence secretary Michael Fallon said on Saturday that the people smugglers’ business model needed to broken up at source in Libya, and that the EU naval mission Operation Sophia should move into Libyan territorial waters as soon as possible.