Europe’s military maestros: Italy

The NATO member may not spend much on defense, but it’s nonetheless pulling a lot of the EU’s weight.

Politico

By Elisabeth Braw   

23 August 2017

LONDON — It’s time we gave the Italian military some respect.

On the face of it, Italy is a woeful member of NATO, spending just 1.11 percent of GDP on defense — far below the alliance’s 2 percent benchmark. Only seven NATO countries spend less. But take a close look at the country’s contribution to European security and a rather different picture emerges.

Between January and June of this year, Italy’s coast guard rescued 21,540 migrants from 188 vessels, while the Italian navy brought 3,344 migrants to safety and its financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, saved nearly 400.

Add to that Italian troops serving on NATO and U.N. missions in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as the country’s participation in Operation Sophia, an EU naval mission that has rescued 5,676 migrants since the beginning of the year, and it becomes clear that Italy has become Europe’s policeman.

“Yes, you can measure defense spending, but it can’t be the only metric,” said Stefano Stefanini, an Italian former ambassador to NATO. “In providing security, deployability and operations matter more than budgets.”

Italy’s coast guard conducts migrant rescue missions that often take its vessels far beyond waters normally considered coast guard territory. So does the Italian navy, even though search and rescue are not part of a navy’s normal tasks. The Guardia di Finanza’s mission is to intercept smugglers of drugs and money, not save asylum seekers.

But with people-smugglers callously overfilling their leaky vessels with people desperate to reach Italy, and with the Libyan government only now starting to assist, it would be unethical to do nothing. So the Italian armed forces rescue the migrants.

In the waters of the Mediterranean, human decency gives the Italians little choice. But their troops participate in many other missions from which Italy could reasonably ask to be excused. According to figures assembled by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), a Rome-based think tank, last year a total of 6,092 Italian troops served on international missions in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan. Some 600 Italians serve in Kosovo; another 1,100 in Lebanon. Italian troops are stationed in Libya and Somalia, too.

Counting Italian officers embedded with other countries’ armed forces, the figure exceeds 7,000. This year, another 140 Italians deployed to Latvia as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative. With deployment rotations — each foreign deployment position is typically filled by four service members in rotation — that means more than 28,000 Italian troops are involved in international operations.

“Today’s situation is more complicated than war or peace,” said a high-ranking official in the Italian Ministry of Defense. “We’re stabilizing an entire region.”

Last year, the international missions cost the Italian government more than €1 billion, according to IAI. And that doesn’t count the cost of the navy, coast guard and Guardia di Finanza search and rescue missions.

But here’s the paradox: all of these efforts don’t show up in NATO statistics. As a result, a country such as Greece looks like a star member of the alliance thanks to its annual defense expenditure of 2.4 percent of GDP. Though Greece rescues migrants off its coasts, it is not participating in any current EU or NATO military missions.

NATO’s statistics measure how much a member spends on defense, how much is spent in personnel and how much on equipment. But they don’t show how much a country spends on NATO-related activities.

“In addition, some countries put everything they can into the defense budget in order to approach the 2 percent target,” said Stefanini. “But Italy doesn’t; in fact, it plays down what it does in defense for domestic policy reasons.” A large part of the Italian electorate supports the political left and would be unhappy with increased defense spending.

It’s high time Italy’s allies — particularly in the EU — recognize the country’s contributions to regional security.

"Many countries are, in fact, getting away with doing close to nothing to shore up Europe’s south in the knowledge that the Italians will take care of it"
To be sure, it is in Italy’s interest to stabilize not only the waters surrounding it but the countries too: another exodus of Kosovars would be difficult to handle, not to mention an even larger influx of asylum seekers travelling via Libya. Lebanon faces a potentially explosive situation involving, among other things, spillover from Syria.

But the issues to which Italy devotes manpower and resources — stability in the Middle East, the Balkans and Africa — have implications that spread far beyond the country’s borders. And migration in particular has EU-wide consequences as few of those crossing the Mediterranean do so intending to stay in Italy.

“We’re trying to make allies aware of the threats coming from the southern flank,” said the Ministry of Defense official. “These threats are moving towards all of Europe.”

“No country can guarantee European security alone,” the official added.

Frontex, the EU’s external border agency, does conduct migrant response operations in the Mediterranean, and NATO’s Sea Guardian mission polices the sea. But so far most of Italy’s allies have been content to leave the country to bear the bulk of the southern flank responsibilities — and the costs of doing so.

Many countries are, in fact, getting away with doing close to nothing to shore up Europe’s south in the knowledge that the Italians will take care of it.

Elisabeth Braw is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.


Source: http://www.politico.eu/article/europes-military-maestros-italy-troops-mediterranean-migrants-libya-refugees/

Europe migrant crisis: warning of terrorists posing as migrants

The Australian

By Bel Trew, Tom Kington / The Times

24 August  2017

Europe will be increasingly at risk from terrorists posing as migrants unless western capitals help Libya to stem the numbers crossing the Mediterranean, the country’s prime minister has told The Times.

Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the United Nations-backed unity government based in Tripoli, warned that would-be terrorists were among the tens of thousands of people able to pass unvetted into his country across its open southern borders.

“When migrants reach Europe, they will move freely. If, God forbid, there are terrorist elements among the migrants, a result of any incident will affect all of the EU,” he said.

His comments, which follow last week’s terrorist attacks in Spain that police have linked to radical groups in north Africa, come as Libya and Italy send an SOS to the rest of Europe over the migrant crisis.

Nearly 98,000 migrants have crossed from Libya to Italy this year, barely short of last year’s record number of arrivals. At least 700,000 migrants are estimated to be in Libya.

The Times begins a series of reports today from Africa and southern Europe based on scores of interviews with political leaders, migrants, charity chiefs and citizens on the front line, revealing the scale of the problems in the EU and on its borders.

The coverage includes:

Clear evidence of a modern-day slave trade on Libya’s migrant routes.

A warning that Italy’s “social and democratic fabric” is under threat amid growing public intolerance towards migrants and a rise in support for anti-migrant parties.

A Libyan five-point plan for the EU to help to solve the crisis, including help to police its southern border, which is supported by Italy.

Signs of the deep resentment in Rome and Tripoli, where leaders accuse Brussels of abandoning them.

In Italy the anti-establishment Five Star Movement has adopted an increasingly anti-migrant stance, which has helped to put it neck and neck in the polls with the ruling Democratic Party before elections next year. The anti-migrant Northern League has also risen in the polls in recent months.

Particular resentment is reserved for President Macron of France, who has closed his country’s border to migrants. Austria has done the same. The 200,000 places in Italy’s migrant reception centres are full.

Luigi Di Maio, the likely Five Star candidate for prime minister, said: “Italy risks becoming the refugee camp of Europe and Italians don’t want to be given the run around any more. We have ten million Italians living in poverty, while migrants are being given euros 38 a day to live. It’s a pressure cooker that could explode.”

He said of Mr Macron: “He comes across as a great European then said he couldn’t take any migrants.”

Angelino Alfano, the Italian foreign minister, made clear that Italy felt abandoned by the EU. Asked if Europe had turned its back on the country, he said: “A very clear yes.” He added: “Italy is contributing, but we cannot cope with this burden alone.” Marco Minniti, the interior minister, said: “Ungoverned migrant flows are threatening the social and democratic fabric of Italy.”

Mr al-Serraj said that the stakes were just as high in Libya: “The EU must do more to us help face smuggling. We can’t put the burden on Libya and Italy alone as it is important for all of Europe.”

His five-point plan includes EU assistance to secure Libya’s southern border and lift the UN arms embargo, allowing Tripoli to arm its coastguard more effectively. It also involves applying diplomatic pressure on African states to take back economic migrants.

Mr al-Serraj also accused European charities operating rescue boats in the Mediterranean of attracting migrants from across Africa to Libya.

This month Medecins Sans Frontieres, Save the Children and Sea Eye, of Germany,stopped work in the Mediterranean, saying that they could not operate safely when Libya’s coastguard had issued an “explicit threat” against them. Mr al-Serraj said that their ships, not Italy’s shores, had become the migrants’ “first target”.


Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/europe-migrant-crisis-warning-of-terrorists-posing-as-migrants/news-story/e683ba2b336def470a1d461007e116a3



       

Libya warning to EU: Terrorists posing as migrants will slip unchecked into Europe among thousands crossing the Med unless the West steps in

* Libya has called for help from the EU to stem tide of migrants entering country
* Prime Minister warned terrorists could be among those trying to reach Europe
* Around 100,000 migrants have left Libya for Italy via the sea so far this year
* Another 700,000 are still in the country and Libya wants help to secure border

Mail Online

By Gareth Davies and Joseph Curtis

23 August 2017

Europe has been warned ISIS terrorists will slip unchecked into the continent unless Western powers do more to stop them.

The prime minister of Libya said the EU will be accountable if jihadis are able to 'move freely' through Europe and stage attacks.

It is understood the country is putting together a five-point plan to present to Brussels to 'solve the crisis' and police its borders.

The warning comes after attacks in Barcelona and Finland last week. Fourteen people died in the Catalan city after a van ploughed into tourists in La Ramblas while another was killed in nearby Cambrils when a group of people were run down by an Audi driven by armed jihadis.

Meanwhile in Finland, two women were stabbed to death with an 18-year-old Moroccan asylum-seeker suspect shot in the leg and subsequently arrested in connection with the killings.

According to The Times, Libyan leader Faiez Serraj said terrorists were passing unvetted among tens of thousands of migrants entering the country via its southern borders.

He told the paper: 'When migrants reach Europe, they will move freely. If, God forbid, there are terrorist elements among the migrants, a result of any incident will affect all of the EU.'

Mr Serraj added his plan would recruit the EU to help secure Libya's southern border and lift a UN arms embargo to allow the country's coastguard to be better armed.

He told the paper: 'The EU must do more to us help face smuggling. We can't put the burden on Libya and Italy alone as it is important for all of Europe.'

Almost 100,000 migrants have left Libya for Italy so far in 2017 and around 700,000 more are believed to still be in the north African country.

Meanwhile anti-migrant feeling is on the rise in Italy where the Five star Movement, which campaigns against allowing migrants into the country, is expected to strongly challenge the Democratic Party currently in power at elections next year.

Luigi Di Maio, who is expected to run as Five Star's candidate for prime minister, told The Times Italy was becoming a 'refugee camp'

He said: 'We have ten million Italians living in poverty, while migrants are being given €38 a day to live. It's a pressure cooker that could explode.'

Meanwhile Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano has claimed the country has been 'abandoned' by the EU over the migrant crisis and said 'Italy cannot cope with the burden alone'.

The abuse migrants who make the journey are being subjected to coupled with the potential terror threat make The Times special investigation doubly worrying.

Once they get to Libya, having travelled largely from the Middle East and other parts of Africa, many fall into the dangerous hands of gangs who keep them as slaves.

Male migrants are forced into back-breaking labour while the women are kept as sex slaves, and the majority are tortured in an attempt to squeeze ransom money from the prisoners' families, according to The Times.

Women who refuse to go into forced prostitution, without seeing a penny of what they earn, are repeatedly gang-raped by groups of up to eight men.

Groups of human traffickers pay as little as £550 for a person, and they are herded like cattle in their hundreds across the country in water tanks convoys protected by 150 militants with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles. 

The end goal for the majority is to escape the brutality for mainland Europe, initially Italy, by jumping into dinghys and crossing the Mediterranean.

As a result, the anti-migrant Five Star Movement has pulled up level with the Democratic Party ahead of the elections next year.

Other parties with an anti-immigration stance have also seen a rise in the polls with the 200,000 places in Italian refugee centres already full.

In an attempt to combat the crisis, Serraj's five-point plan includes securing the southern border of Libya in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants from the rest of Africa.

Also in the plan is to lift a UN arms embargo so that the coastguard can be more effective and putting more pressure on other African nations to take back migrants. 


Armed group stopping migrant boats setting off across the Mediterranean sparks sudden drop in departures this month

An armed group is stopping migrant boats from setting off across the Mediterranean from a city west of Tripoli that has been a springboard for people smugglers, causing a sudden drop in departures over the past month, sources in the area said.

The revelation throws new light on the sharp reduction in migrant arrivals from Italy, which took over from the Aegean route as the main focus of European concerns in the crisis.

Arrivals in Italy from North Africa, the main route for migration to Europe this year, dropped by more than 50 percent in July from a year earlier, and August arrivals so far are down even further. July and August are peak months for migrant boats because of favourable sea conditions.

Sources in Sabratha, 70 km (45 miles) west of the capital, said the sudden drop had been caused by a new force in the seaside city, which is preventing migrants from leaving, often by locking them up.

The group in Sabratha 'works on the ground, the beach, to prevent the migrants leaving on boats towards Italy,' said a civil society organiser from the city, speaking on condition of anonymity.


The group is made up of several hundred 'civilians, policemen, army figures,' he said. It is conducting a 'very strong campaign' that was launched by a 'former mafia boss', said a second Sabratha source who follows smuggling activity closely.

A third source with contacts in Libya, who also asked not to be named, said the Sabratha group was making 'a significant effort to police the area'.

The two Sabratha sources said the group was running a detention centre for migrants who are turned back or taken from smugglers.

One sent a picture of hundreds of migrants sitting in the sand in front of a high wall.

One of the sources said he thought the group was seeking legitimacy and financial support from Tripoli, where European states have tried to partner with a U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to stem migrant flows.

An official from the interior ministry's department for combating illegal migration in Sabratha did not respond to a request for comment.

It was not possible to contact the group, which the third source said was called Brigade 48, although other sources did not confirm this.

Italy has been trying to bolster the GNA's ability to stop people smuggling with cash, training and by sending a ship to help repair Tripoli's coastguard and navy vessels.

Some 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea from North Africa since 2014, testing the country's ability to cope. More than 12,000 have died trying.

Most leave from Libya's western coast. Following a local backlash against smugglers in Zuwara in the west in 2015, Sabratha became the most frequently used departure point.

Italy wants to replicate a deal with Libya that the EU struck with Turkey last year, largely shutting down the migrant route through Greece and the Balkans.

With a national election looming during the first half of next year, the government in Rome is under pressure to show it can stop, or at least slow, migration.

But any progress in Libya is likely to be fragile, with the country in a state of conflict since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted six years ago. Rival governments are vying for power and local militias battle each other for territory and smuggling profits.

Last week Italy seized on the drop in arrivals, with Interior Minister Marco Minniti saying he saw a 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

Migrants rescued last week in the Mediterranean confirmed that conditions had changed in Sabratha, according to a spokesman at the International Organization for Migration, which interviewed migrants who arrived in Trapani, Sicily, on Saturday.

'They said that it was very difficult to depart from Sabratha.

'There are people stopping the boats before they set out, and if they get out to sea they're immediately sent back,' said Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesman in Rome.

Some migrants were also turned back before reaching Sabratha, he said.

The European Union's border control agency Frontex last week said 'clashes in Sabratha' contributed to July's decline, also citing changeable weather and increased Libyan coastguard presence.

The Sabratha sources were not aware of any clashes.

Another shift in recent weeks has been a clampdown on smuggling of Bangladeshi and North African migrants through Tripoli's Mitiga airport, after a militia that controlled the trade was forced out by a GNA-aligned armed group at the start of July, Libyan and European officials said.

But that, like a slowing of flows into Libya through Niger, might take time to take effect. Hundreds of thousands of migrants are already in Libya.

In Sabratha, the changes may not stick.

In the past, with no central authority to constrain them, smugglers have adapted and routes have shifted, as already is happening.

Last week smugglers moved departures to east of Tripoli, near Al Khoms, Chris Catrambone, co-founder of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) charity, told Reuters. Three large rubber boats set out from the east, he said, while only a small boat with 26 people was found west of Tripoli.

'The sea was like a lake last week and yet there were few boats,' Catrambone said.

Everyone on the Phoenix, a rescue vessel operated by MOAS, was taken aback because it was so unusual, he said.

The GNA has little control over armed groups in western Libya, including the capital, and none over factions that control the east of the country.

The civil society member from Sabratha said the new group there might stop working if it does not receive support from Tripoli.

The power of the smuggling networks would not be broken until there was a 'legitimate source of order' in Libya, said a senior diplomat, speaking of the change in Tripoli airport and comparing the situation to broken vase.

'In one corner we stuck it together, but everything else is in pieces.'


Source:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4814728/Libya-warns-EU-terrorists-posing-migrants.html

Life-savers MOAS vow to continue mission at sea, three years on

Malta Today

By Matthew Vella

22 August 2017

On the third anniversary since its foundation, MOAS renews its commitment to its humanitarian mission in the Mediterranean Sea

Three years have passed since the 30 August 2014, when the brainchild of an Italo-American philanthropist couple was pioneered right here from Malta: the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) went on to effect its first rescue of a group of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean.

The first private search-and-rescue initiative at sea, MOAS was founded with the aim to mitigate the loss of life at sea, and to draw the attention of European civil society to the humanitarian crisis that has been consuming the Mediterranean.

It became a model for many other organisations and private citizens, driven by its core belief that “no one deserves to die at sea”. In three short years MOAS rescued over 40,000 people in the Aegean and Central Mediterranean Seas.

It spawned a reason for so many other NGOs and private organisations to launch their own rescue missions, but now a number of these have docked in Malta under threat of Libyan retribution as a national coast guard took control of the waters right beyond its territorial control.

MOAS was the first search and rescue organisation to sign a ‘code of conduct’ proposed by the Italian government on 31 July.

“MOAS signed this document in solidarity with the Italian government and its people, the only ones in Europe who are committed every day to allow organizations like ours to fulfil our humanitarian mission,” founder Christopher Catrambone said on the day MOAS signed the code.

The need to be present at sea in order to help migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean – which continues to be the world’s most dangerous border – has also prompted MOAS’ decision not to suspend its operations, but rather to carry on as it has always done in these three years.

“The Mediterranean has always been an unpredictable and dangerous environment, and the climate has certainly not changed now,” MOAS co-founder and director, Regina Catrambone, said.

“This is why MOAS has always taken the necessary precautions and employed professionals and experts in the field of search and rescue; And this is why we cannot afford to stop our operations, now more than ever; while we discuss what to do to block the flows or avoid landings, there are those who continue to risk their life at sea.”

In recent days MOAS continued to conduct several rescues, aiding a rubber dinghy carrying 111 people on 15 August, and two more inflatable migrant vessels for a total of 235 people on 17 August.

These last two rescue operations were conducted under the coordination of both MRCC Rome and Tripoli.

MOAS is aware that maritime search and rescue operations are not the solution to the current mass migratory phenomenon.

However, the organisation is determined to do its best to continue its humanitarian efforts as long as there are people so desperate so as to continue to risk their lives on these so-called “death trips”.

MOAS continues to appeal to European authorities for the creation of humanitarian corridors as a safe and legal alternative for those who are most vulnerable and in search of international asylum.


Source:  http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/79930/lifesavers_moas_vow_to_continue_mission_at_sea_three_years_on

Egyptian authorities foil attempt by 47 people to migrate to Europe

Ahram Online

19 August 2017

Egyptian authorities in the Delta governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh foiled on Saturday an attempt by 47 people to illegally migrate to Europe via the Mediterranean, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Police have arrested two suspected human traffickers believed to have organised the migration attempt.

The traffickers reportedly collected money from each of the migrants, both foreign and Egyptian, before they were to board a fishing boat for Europe.

The would-be migrants comprised 21 foreigners and 26 Egyptians.

In November, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified a law aimed at curbing irregular migration and cracking down on human trafficking along the country's northern Mediterranean coast, where thousands of migrants embark on dangerous boat journeys to Europe.

While the legislation does not punish the migrants themselves, it imposes jail terms on those convicted of human trafficking or acting as brokers or facilitators.

In September 2016, a boat carrying up to 450 people capsized off Egypt's northern coast. At least 202 bodies were recovered from the sea and 169 people were rescued.

In March, an Egyptian court handed jail terms to 56 people involved in the disaster.

In June 2016, around 320 migrants drowned off the Greek island of Crete after setting sail from Egypt.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 5,000 migrants are thought to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016, a record figure the organisation described as "a devastating milestone."

In recent years, thousands of migrants and refugees from a number of countries have attempted to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, with an increasing number departing via smuggling boats from Egypt's northern coast.


Source:  http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/275640/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptian-authorities-foil-attempt-by--people-to-mi.aspx

German Foreign Ministry urges Libya to soften grip on NGOs work

Libyan Express

21 August 2017

German Foreign Ministry has urged the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) to allow the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to work off its territorial waters in order to be able to rescue illegal migrants in the Mediterranean.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement cited by Deutsche Welle that here are no reasons to limit and ban the work as well as the search and rescue operations of the NGOs in the international waters off Libyan coast.

“We cannot understand the logic behind Libya’s aim to create a search and rescue zone.” The Foreign Ministry indicated, adding that the protection level of illegal immigrants should not be decreased.

Libya announced the creation of a search and rescue zone banning NGOs from operating in it on accusations that they are cooperating with human traffickers.


Source:  http://www.libyanexpress.com/german-foreign-ministry-urges-libya-to-soften-grip-on-ngos-work/

Italy’s patience with the migrant charities is wearing thin

The Spectator

By Fraser Nelson

3 August 2017

What to do about the charities who send boats to bring asylum seekers to the Italian coast? Save the Children and seven others have been doing this for some time now, to the alarm of the Italian government. It suspects that some NGOs are colluding with the people-traffickers, and undermining attempts by the government to shut down a business that has already led to 2,200 deaths this year alone. Nicholas Farrell looked at this in a recent cover story for The Spectator. The NGOs say they are saving lives – which is of course true. But the question is whether, by helping the people traffickers in the final leg of the journey, they are oiling the wheels of a new and evil industry in a way that means more, not fewer, deaths.

There’s no suggestion that the NGOs are taking backhanders from the people-traffickers, simply that the two are acting in concert to circumvent Italian border control. In some cases, they pride themselves in defying the government: a German outfit named Jugend Rettet, says it has rescued 6,530 people since it started out last summer and seeks to “put pressure on state actors to enforce the fundamental right to life and security even in the Mediterranean.” In so doing, might they be leading to more deaths in the Mediterranean?

It’s an awful conundrum, but one the Italians have been dealing with for years now. The frustration, there, is that the charity boats are operating outside democratic control and taking matters into their own hands: the coastguard estimates that a third of asylum seekers who land in Italy are landed by NGOs. And when the Italian government asked the NGO rescue boat operators to sign a code of conduct (including taking a policeman on board to ensure no laws are being broken), Save the Children agreed, but three of the eight refused – including Jugend Rettet. Since then, things have escalated. The Iuventa, which is run by Jugend Rettet, has been seized by Italian coastguards. The local prosecutor, Ambrogio Cartosio, says he has “evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat’s crew.”

With the Aegean migrant route closed after the EU’s deal with Turkey, crossings to Italy are up by a third so far this year – as you might expect, the body count of those who died trying to make the crossing is up by a similar amount. The Italian public have had enough. The former Mayor of Lampedusa, who won a UNESCO prize for her support of migrants, has been booted out and replaced by someone who takes a harder line. But if the NGOs don’t recognise government authority – indeed, pride themselves in opposition to “state actors” – then what to do? The Italian government has started to give its answer.

Source: https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/08/italys-patience-with-the-migrant-charities-is-wearing-thin/