The Guardian’: a conspiracy in the Mediterranean flouts international law in name of migration control

The Libyan Coast Guards cooperates with EU preventing desperate immigrants to reach Europe through the Mediterranean, even in illegal way. After secret agreements between Italy, Malta and Libyan unrecognized Government of National Accord, this time the British “The Guardian” revealed a coordinated and unlawful EU assault on the rights of desperate people trying to cross the sea.

 The investigation showed that on the night of 26 March 2019, two small boats made their way north across the Mediterranean. “The rubber crafts were flimsy; it would be nearly impossible for those onboard to make it to Europe without help. From the north, a twin-propeller aeroplane from the European Union naval force approached. From the south, the coastguard from the country they had just fled, Libya, was coming”.

 Wrote Daniel Howden and Apostolis Fotiadis, adding that the aircraft arrived first but there would be no rescue from Europe. Instead the flight, callsign Seagull 75, radioed the Libyans telling them where to find the boats. But Libya’s would-be interceptors would need more than just the coordinates. “OK sir, my radar is not good, is not good, if you stay [over the boat] I will follow you,” said the coastguard, according to recordings of VHF marine radio picked up by a nearby ship. 

The audio evidences published by ‘The Guardian’ show how a Seagull 75 circled overhead that night. The flight crew was part of Operation Sophia, an EU naval mission that has patrolled the south-central Mediterranean since 2015. After participating in thousands of rescues in its first four years, Sophia withdrew its sea vessels from March 2019, leaving only aircraft in the rescue zone.

 It came to be known as the naval mission without any ships. “We have approximately five minutes left on station,” the crew on Seagull 75 told the Libyans. “We will go overhead the vessel, the rubber boat, and we will light our landing lights.” The Sophia flight and the Libyan coastguard ship were searching for each other in the dark. “We don’t have your visual, keep an eye out for a light,” said the flight crew. The Libyans asked for more information. “Stand by, I’m just updating your position. Stand by,” the flight crew replied. 

“Turn left about 10 degrees. He is approximately three nautical miles off your nose,” replied Operation Sophia after a minute. The flight was out of fuel and about to head back to base. “Libyan national coastguard, we will contact you through FHQ, over,” said the flight crew, referring to the tactical base from which Operation Sophia is managed. The connivance revealed in the audio recordings is supported by previously unpublished letters between high-level EU mandarins, confirmed – according to the newspaper - by inside sources and laid bare in emails from the Libyan coastguard. Taken together, all this evidence confirms a conspiracy in the Mediterranean that flouts international law in the name of migration control.