Italy’s Salvini visits Libya to talk about blocking migrants

Matteo Salvini, the Italian interior minister, has called for migrant reception centres to be set up on the southern borders of Libya after a meeting with Libyan leaders in Tripoli.

“On Thursday [28 June] in Brussels, we will jointly support, with Libyan authorities, the setting up of reception and identification centres south of Libya, on the external border of Libya, to help Libya, as well as Italy, block migration,” Salvini told a news conference in Tripoli while discussing an upcoming EU meeting on migration.

Libyan Deputy Premier Ahmed Maiteeq stressed that his country wouldn’t host such camps within its borders “we categorically reject (the idea of) camps for migrants in Libya,” he told a joint press conference with Salvini. “It is not allowed by Libyan law… the programme should be Libyan and the participation of European countries should be within this programme,” Maiteeq added.

Salvini praised the Libyan coastguard for its work, adding that it should only be Libyan authorities who patrol Libyan waters with the purpose of “blocking the way for NGOs that want to substitute governments and help illegal migrants.”

This was the first visit to Libya by a member of the new Italian government, and the anti-migrant League Party’s leader’s first official overseas visit since he was appointed to the interior ministry.

Earlier this month, Salvini blocked a rescue boat carrying 630 people from docking at Italian ports. The boat was also rejected by Malta, forcing the migrants to remain at sea until Spain offered them safe haven.

Italy and Malta soon blocked port access to a second vessel carrying 234 migrants, which left the rescue boat Lifeline stranded for several days in international waters near Malta.

“Let’s see if Europe remembers that it actually exists, because there is still a boat loaded with migrants in Maltese waters waiting for a port to welcome it, and we can tell you again, it won’t be in an Italian port,” Salvini said.

Salvini has told foreign charities to stop rescuing migrants off Libya, accusing them of “causing trouble” and saying Italian ports “are and will be closed to those who aid human traffickers.”

Salvini dismissed calls by France and Spain for asylum-seekers to be kept in closed centres until their claims are processed.

“Welcome hotspots in Italy? It would be a problem for us and for Libya itself because it would not stop these deadly waves (of migration). We have proposed reception centres south of Libya to avoid Tripoli becoming a funnel, like Italy,” Salvini stated on Twitter.

“The only way to really counteract the traffickers’ criminal interests and avoid these voyages of death is to stop these boats putting out to sea,” Salvini added in a separate statement.

TMP 26/07/2018

Photo caption: Demonstration in support of far-right party Northern League and its leader Matteo Salvini, Milan, Italy, 24 February 2018