Libya says EU naval operation 'encourages' migrants

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamad Taher Siala on Friday urged the EU to rethink its naval operation in the Mediterranean, saying it comes with the side effect of encouraging migrants to attempt the perilous crossing to Europe.


The European Union launched Operation Sophia in 2015 to crack down on smugglers on the high seas, after hundreds of migrants died when their rickety boats sank off southern Italy.

The operation's vessels are charged with intercepting smugglers' boats and destroying them, but they often end up rescuing the migrants trying to make their way to Europe -- many of whom depart from Libya.

"I think this Sophia operation, it's negative. It's not positive. Simply because in part they encourage the migration," Taher Siala told AFP in an interview in Warsaw, where he met with his Polish counterpart.
  [dailystar.com.lb/AFP]
31/3/17