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EU reshuffles anti-smuggling mission because of UN arms embargo on Libya


BRUSSELS – European Union countries have agreed to “refocus” the mission of the bloc’s naval operation against illegal migrants in the Mediterranean Sea to focus on maintaining a United Nations arms embargo against with Libya, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

After chairing talks between EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Borrell said the bloc would also look at ways to help monitor a ceasefire in the conflict-torn country when one actually comes into force and supersedes the deal. armistice is underway.

He told reporters that EU ambassadors and experts had been tasked with presenting “concrete proposals on how to implement this ceasefire and enforce the UN arms embargo, on when the ministers next meet in Brussels on February 17.

“In the meantime, we have to move from a truce to a real ceasefire,” Borrell said. “We are in a truce, this is not stable. The armistice can be violated several times a day. Without a ceasefire, it would be difficult to envision any form of strong European Union engagement.”

Libya has plunged deeper into chaos since its long-time dictator, Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011. It is now divided into rival administrations, each backed by rival governments. by different countries: the United Nations-recognized government based in Tripoli, headed by Prime Minister Fayez. Sarraj, and a headquarters in the east of the country, is supported by General Khalifa Hifter.

The EU has deployed a naval mission, Operation Sophia, to the Mediterranean to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya and combat the smuggling of migrants from the country, but Italy argue that their presence only encourages migrants to make their way to the coasts from northern Africa.

Last year, the government in Rome blocked the deployment of any ships to the mission, and it now operates almost exclusively using drones and drones without a pilot. Borrell said ministers had agreed to “refocus the mission” of Operation Sophia on the arms embargo.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Sophia could only be used if it was “dismantled and reassembled in a completely different way”.

“It will be an embargo monitoring mission, and nothing else,” he said.

Under international law, ships in the vicinity of any distress call at sea are obligated to save lives.

World powers and other countries with an interest in Libya’s protracted civil war on Sunday agreed to respect a much-breached arms embargo, halt military support to the warring parties and push them to achieve a complete ceasefire.

Lorne Cook, Associated Press


Post EU reshuffles anti-smuggling mission because of UN arms embargo on Libya appeared first on Business Canada – Your Source of Business News.

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