Migration: EU delegation kicked out of eastern Libya
EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, accompanied by the responsible ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta, travelled to Libya, which is currently de facto divided into eastern and western Libya, on Tuesday to discuss the refugee situation. The delegation was successful in Tripoli in western Libya, but the regime in eastern Libya, which the EU has not recognised as legitimate, denied it entry at Benghazi airport. What geopolitical forces are behind the incident and what impact will it have on the migration issue?
Migration dilemma
Brussels is now in a difficult position, News247 stresses:
“General Haftar slammed the door on the European delegation, but the National Transitional Council of western Libya has also told Brunner, Plevris and co. that 'the issue of migration is beyond our capabilities'. Of course, if yesterday's incident had not happened, the EU could offer Libya money on the migration issue, as it did with Turkey. But to which of the two regimes? The EU does not recognise Haftar's side, and it's mainly from eastern Libya that the flow of migrants to Crete originates.”
Haftar upping the pressure on Europe
For news website Liberal the situation is critical, above all for Greece:
“Consultations with Libya have never been easy, but the fact that efforts to end the 14-year political crisis now seem to be entering their final phase with both sides - western and eastern Libya - vying for more international support and 'tools' to put pressure on the EU in particular, makes matters even more complicated. ... Following [Tuesday's] developments we are entering a highly risky phase in which eastern Libya will try to force Europe to recognise it as a second power hub in Libya by using the thousands of migrants and refugees waiting in Tobruk and Derna to board the slave traders' boats heading to Crete as leverage.”
All that counts in Libya is oil
Italy is turning a blind eye to reality, La Stampa rails:
“None of the definitions we use to describe this country in which we take an interest because we want it to continue to supply us with gas and oil – but not human beings – has even the slightest connection to reality. ... The UN-recognised government in Tripoli does not exist, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and his ridiculous 'national unity' executive are puppets; General Haftar is a puppet of Russia and Egypt, who keep him on a cardboard throne in Benghazi because they need control over oil-rich eastern Libya and the strategic Fezzan region in the south. ... The security forces, the police, the coast guard, the navy, the central bank – these are all just words. The only thing that is real and that everything revolves around is the damned oil.”
A message from Moscow too
Russia is pulling the strings in eastern Libya, explains Der Standard:
“Magnus Brunner and ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta were confronted with the reality of Libya's deep division on Tuesday: those who choose Tripoli in the west are not welcome in Benghazi in the east. ... In the east, Khalifa Haftar rules with his Libyan National Army (LNA). ... Haftar, who is trying to cast himself as Libya's only stable state-supporting force, is benefiting from the fall of Assad in Syria: Benghazi is Russia's new strategic stronghold on the Mediterranean, with the al-Khadim military base as the key base for the Russian 'Africa Corps'. So the message to the EU came not only from Benghazi, but also from Moscow.”
Trump in the mix
A great many interests overlap in Libya, warns La Repubblica:
“Ever since Gaddafi's death, power in Libya has been fragmented to say the least, but right now Europe, and Italy in particular, is in trouble on all fronts. The new scenario is being attributed to the Trump administration's policy, which is pursuing its own unification plan and shutting out the chancelleries of the Old Continent. ... At the instigation of the White House, a global understanding is emerging on the future of the country and its prosperity. US mediation is gradually levelling out the differences between Turkey, the main point of reference in Tripoli, and Egypt, the protector of Benghazi in a process with which Russia doesn't seem to have any problem either.”