EU Deal on New Libya Arms Embargo Mission

Arab World

March 27th, 6:18am

Brussels - Asharq Al-Awsat

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a news conference after a meeting to discuss Libya's crisis, in Brussels, Belgium January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

The EU will launch its new naval mission in the Mediterranean to enforce an arms embargo on Libya in April, after member states agreed its terms on Thursday. Diplomatic sources said EU ambassadors approved the mission, dubbed Operation Irini after the Greek word for peace, after clearing last-minute objections. The decision followed warnings by EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell that the bloc risked becoming irrelevant if it could not act, potentially leaving Libya's fate to Turkey and Russia. Greece has agreed to be the landing point for any migrants rescued in the course of the mission, though its primary purpose is to enforce the embargo. What to do with any migrants picked up during Irini's operations was the last major sticking point, with Italy earlier this week insisting it would not receive them. EU naval vessels, provided and crewed by member state navies, will operate in the eastern Mediterranean with the authority to board ships suspected of delivering arms, a diplomatic source said. The new mission replaces Operation Sophia, set up in 2015 to fight people-smuggling across the Mediterranean. Irini will start when Sophia ends on March 31, with a renewable one-year mandate, though ministers will review it every four months to check it is not having a "pull effect" -- encouraging migrants to set out on risky crossings over the Mediterranean. The agreement in February was finally reached over objections from Austria and Hungary, which feared that reviving the mission would create a de facto rescue fleet that would ferry migrants across the sea to Europe.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2201936/eu-deal-new-libya-arms-embargo-mission