Migrant boat allegedly attacked by Libyan officials in the Mediterranean

In a statement, the Italian coast guard said it had launched an inquiry into allegations that Libyan authorities at sea fired at a migrant boat, after picking up three people who reportedly needed urgent medical attention. 

They were part of a group of 140 migrants traveling to Europe on a fishing vessel off the coast of Sicily.

This development came after on Sunday (October 12), the migrant NGO Alarm Phone reported that a fatal shooting had taken place on a boat alleged to be carrying 113 migrants; the charity said that two people had been killed — though this information could not be independently confirmed.

According to reports, that event took place in roughly the same area, situated southeast of Malta.

“According to initial statements from the occupants, the fishing vessel was the target of an armed attack approximately 100 miles [160 kilometers] southeast of Malta, in Maltese search-and-rescue waters,” the Italian coast guard said.

“Investigations into the circumstances of the crossing and what actually happened are currently underway.”

Despite the discrepancy in passenger numbers, it cannot be ruled out that the two events are connected or might even refer to the same migrant vessel.

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Questions remain over incident at sea

The Times of Malta newspaper reported that Maltese military officials declined to confirm or deny claims about these incidents, though a spokesperson said that authorities had monitored a fishing vessel.

The spokesperson added that “no visible commotion” on board had been detected, adding that there hadn’t been any distress calls logged by Maltese officials, either.

The boat in question was eventually intercepted on Monday near the Italian coast, the spokesperson concluded.

The Italian coast guard later specified that the vessel had been picked up roughly 65 kilometers off the coast of Sicily, adding that the migrants on board were transferred to the port of Pozzallo.

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Three armed assaults at sea in as many months

This is the third recorded incident in which Libya’s coast guard is accused of firing at boats carrying migrants.

In August, the private rescue vessel Ocean Viking, run by the NGO SOS Mediterranee, reported that it was targeted by 20 minutes of heavy gunfire in Mediterranean waters.

Last month, one of the private rescue vessels operated by the German charity Sea-Watch said it suffered a similar armed ambush by Libyan officials at sea.

Sea-Watch now issued a 31-page report highlighting that there have been many more such “violent incidents” by what it refers to as Libyan “militias.”

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Sea-Watch report highlights systemic aggression

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According to Sea-Watch, there are at least 60 recorded events targeting “migrants as well as civil and EU state actors at sea” since 2016 — the vast majority of which are linked to Libya’s coast guard, according to the press release, which states that “(m)inimum 54 of the incidents were committed in international waters, either in the Maltese or the so-called Libyan search and rescue region.”

“Recorded are shootings, incidents involving the deaths of migrants, hijacking of rescue ships, and other violent episodes such as intentionally performing dangerous maneuvers and chasing boats in distress, hindering rescues, threatening rescue crews, beating persons in distress, and abandoning dead bodies at sea,” the statement highlights, adding that the “the number of unreported cases is estimated to be substantially higher.”

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Rapprochement with Libya’s eastern administration

Despite such reports, the European Union continues to work closely with Libyan officials, providing funds and technical assistance to help intercept migrants heading to the bloc — even though criticism in the light of these recent developments has been mounting.

Among those critical of Europe working with Libyan authorities is Sea-Watch Advocacy Officer Berenice Gaudin, who issued a statement saying that “(e)very new agreement with Libyan regimes, every extension of mandates, legitimizes this violence.”

The national government of Italy, under the leadership of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has even been deepening ties with Libya in hopes of stopping migrants from reaching Italian shores more effectively.

Italy says that increasing interceptions at sea with the help of the Libyan government has resulted in fewer overall shipwrecks, though rights groups question that logic, arguing that such policies only serve the primary purpose of keeping migrants away from Europe.

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Greece, which has also been witnessing a significant rise in migrants arriving on its southern island of Crete this year, is also stepping up its cooperation with Libya, dealing not only with the North African nation’s internationally recognized government in Tripoli but also approaching the country’s rival administration in the east of the country under General Khalifa Haftar.

The EU itself has also tried to approach the renegade government based in Benghazi in the past, but with limited success. 

Later this week, however, both East- and West-Libyan delegations are invited to meetings at the headquarters of the EU’s external border agency Frontex in Warsaw and at the EU Commission in Brussels.

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Germany mulls involving Libya in EU Irini mission

Meanwhile, Germany is also exploring the option of coordinating operations in the Mediterranean with Libyan officials in the future.

A debate in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, later this week will assess in what shape or form the government should extend its role in the EU’s Irini mission in the Mediterranean, and whether this could include Libya’s coast guard.

The main objective of the Irini mission is to ensure peace in Libya by enforcing the UN arms embargo against Libya; in practice, this also affects migration movements, as many of the same criminal syndicates that deal in weapons also tend to be involved in other criminal activities, such as narcotics and migrant smuggling.

Under the previous government, a participation of Libyan officials in Irini had been categorically ruled out; the new government, which took over in June, seeks to include the possibility of involving Libya as a partner at least as an option. 

Several aid groups, including private rescue-at-sea organizations like Sea-Watch, SOS Humanity and Doctors Without Borders, have come together to call on German lawmakers to reject the proposal.

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with AFP, KNA