EU delivers new patrol boats to Libya despite militia links

The EU delivered two patrol boats to Libya in a ceremony on Thursday (22 June) in the Sicilian city of Messina in the presence of European Commission officials, the Italian authorities, and the Libyan coastguard, according to a press statement on Friday (23 June).

The delivery was made despite a series of recent reports documenting the links between the official Libyan coastguard and militia groups involved in the long-running civil war in the North African state.

The delivery is part of the EU executive project "Support to integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya," which "aims to strengthen the capacity of relevant Libyan authorities in the areas of border and migration management, including border control and surveillance, addressing smuggling and trafficking of human beings, search and rescue at sea and in the desert".

The EU delivered "two Currubia Class" vessels which, according to Radio Radicale journalist Sergio Scandura, were former Italian Finance Guard patrol boats.

The EU was heavily criticised by an United Nations report released in late March, which documented the collusion of the "high-ranking staff of the Libyan Coast Guard," the "Stability Support Apparatus and the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration," with traffickers and smugglers.

According to the report, the latter "are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants".

UN rights mission blasts EU on Libya migrant abuses

European Union backing for Libyan authorities who stop and detain migrants means the bloc has "aided and abetted" rights violations against migrants, an investigator for a UN mission said on Monday (27 March).

According to the UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the first quarter of 2023 was the 'deadliest' since 2017, with 441 migrants killed while attempting to cross the Mediterranean route.

[Edited by Benjamin Fox]