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Libyan naval attack on charity ship adds new danger to migrant rescue | |||||||
2016-09-04 | |||||||
[TheGuardian] Chaotic and deadly scenes are unfolding off the Libyan coast as record numbers of migrants attempt the dangerous crossing to Europe. More than 13,000 migrants were rescued last week from the seas off the lawless country, most by a flotilla of charity vessels which themselves are under threat after details emerged of an attack on one of them by the Libyan navy. Europe’s migrant crisis of last summer is repeating itself in the waters of the Mediterranean as tens of thousands struggle to cross from Libya, following the closure of the migration route through the Balkans from Turkey. And those seas may be about to witness armed confrontation, with the arrival of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Diamond to lead Operation Sophia, a European Union force tasked with intercepting people smugglers. The centre of the migration chaos is a stretch of water hugging Libya’s western coast, where smugglers are putting migrants into flimsy boats without enough fuel to reach Europe, knowing that they will either be plucked from the water or drown, the fate of 3,000 people so far this year.
It is not the first time Libya’s navy has threatened rescue boats. In April, warning shots were fired prior to the boarding of a vessel from the German charity Sea Watch. “They fired shots in the air and entered our ship. They claimed to be looking for illegal fishing,” says Sea Watch’s Ruben Neugebauer. Rescue ships from nine aid groups operating off Libya are already at full stretch. A deal cut in the spring between the EU and Turkey has blocked the route to Europe used by 900,000 migrants last year. As a result, smuggling gangs have switched gear, channelling Middle Eastern migrants through Libya to join the growing number of Africans making the same journey. “The Turkey deal was done in March, it takes some time to change routes, but this is changing right now,” says Neugebauer.
Speaking from the deck of his rescue ship, Phoenix, Sweetnam says charity boats are already working flat out, with smugglers sending people to sea in wooden hulks, inflatable rafts and anything that floats. “We’ve got 414 survivors on board at the moment, and we helped rescue more than 1,000 in the past two days. After the MSF attack, we improved our communications; it’s a reminder of the element we are working in,” he says. The growth of the flotilla of rescue ships from charities across Europe has seen tens of thousands saved from drowning, but the August attack has put a question mark over how long unprotected vessels can continue operating. “If the security situation deteriorates further, I don’t think the small NGOs can continue,” says Cusumano. “As for the bigger boats, these boats are chartered. They belong to a ship owner; I can imagine the ship owners pulling out.” For the crews of the rescue ships, the fear of kidnap sits alongside anxiety that Italy, recipient of 100,000 migrants so far this year, may refuse to take the people they rescue, since few other EU states are willing to take their share of new arrivals. North African states are equally unwilling to help, leaving the rescuers wondering if they will one day run out of ports willing to take saved migrants. There is unease among charities about asking for protection from the growing number of foreign warships.
Yet there is no sign of an end to the human exodus. Libya’s UN-backed government, unelected and lacking popular support, has no security force of its own or the means to police the militias, for whom migrant smuggling is big business. Operation Sophia estimates the income to the militias from this migration at more than £200m a year, strengthening their hand.
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Posted by:Steve White |