Italian Navy takes action to prevent migrants arriving by boat
Seizes Migrant Rescue Boat off Libyan Coast
Italy has been struggling to deal with a flood of migrants from Libya and has received little to no help from the EU. This has led to strife, as we pointed out in earlier posts.
- Italy Threatens to Close Ports Due to Overwhelming Flow of Migrants
- Italy threatens to flood Europe with Libyan migrants if other countries don’t help with problem
- Austria Threatens to Close Border After Italy Threat to Flood Europe With Libyan Migrants
Italy has now taken the proactive step of engaging its navy to intercept a non-government organization ship which was aiding migrants.
The AFP reports, via the Al Monitor:
Italy moves to end migrant crisis with NGO crackdown, naval mission
Italy on Wednesday dispatched a navy patrol boat to Libya and seized an NGO rescue ship in dramatic steps aimed at ending the migrant crisis that has engulfed Europe in recent years.
The twin moves came as new figures revealed a surprise drop in July in the number of mainly African asylum seekers and economic migrants arriving at the country’s southern ports, suggesting efforts to close the Libya-Italy route into Europe could finally be bearing fruit.
The Iuventa, a boat operated by German NGO Jugend Rettet, was “preventatively” impounded on the Italian island of Lampedusa on the orders of a prosecutor based in Trapani, Sicily, the state police force said.
“Enquiries begun in October 2016, and conducted with the use of sophisticated techniques and investigative technology, have produced circumstantial evidence of the motorboat Iuventa being used for activities facilitating illegal immigration,” a statement said.
More details were to be provided at a press conference later.
Earlier, the Italian parliament gave the go-ahead for a naval mission in support of the Libyan coastguard’s fight against the people traffickers behind the surge in migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
As part of the mission, approved by the Libyan authorities, the navy patrol boat Commandante Borsini entered the North African state’s territorial waters on Wednesday afternoon, en route for the capital Tripoli, the navy said.
On board was a small advance team charged with coordinating planned joint actions with the Libyan coastguard.
Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said Italy was providing technical support, not seeking to impose a “hostile” naval blockade designed to prevent the departure of migrant boats.
Here’s a short video report from Wochit News:
This report from Reuters stresses that Italy is actually working with Libya on this measure:
Italy begins naval mission to help Libya curb migrant flows
Italy began a limited naval mission on Wednesday to help Libya’s coastguard curb migrant flows, which have become a source of political friction before national elections expected early next year.
An Italian patrol boat entered Libyan waters and headed towards the port of Tripoli within minutes of a vote in Italy’s parliament authorizing the deployment. A second vessel was expected to join it in the coming days.
Italy announced the operation last week, saying it had been requested by Libya’s U.N.-backed government. It initially hoped to send six ships into Libyan territorial waters, but the plans had to be scaled back following protests from Tripoli.
“(We will) provide logistical, technical and operational support for Libyan naval vessels, helping them and supporting them in shared and coordinated actions,” Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
This is good news but only a first important step. Italy still needs greater support from other European nations and EU leadership which, so far, has been scarce.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
About freakin’ time.
Make that:
Mamma Mia, it’s about….Time!!!!!!!!!
It’s about time, much like Trump is trying to protect the US. No country was ever improved by importing uneducated, unskilled people from third world countries.
I disagree. The US imported plenty of uneducated, unskilled workers. But then they fended for themselves and in their hunger to create a better life for themselves and their children they accomplished amazing things.
The difference it that today we have politicians who want to import vast numbers of uneducated and unskilled people and then put them on the public dole.
For the immigrants, welfare saps the will and the drive for self improvement.
For the radical left politicians, the flood of immigrants is the necessary second step to execute the Cloward-Piven strategy. They’ve created the welfare state, now they need the flood of recipients to bankrupt the system.
Make no mistake, this is about destroying our way of life so that it can be replaced by a socialist utopia, kinda like Venezuela. Run by the BEST MEN, of course.
At the rate NGOs were closing in on the Libyan coastline, I’d expect them to be airlifting them out of Tripoli soon, anyway…
A bit of “the horse has already bolted” here.
Yep, and the back door (the Baltic Route) and the side door (Spain) are still wide-ass open.
Maybe we can hire the Italian military to prevent a coup in America:
McMasters:
Report: McMaster Believes Susan Rice Did Nothing Wrong Using U.S. Spying Apparatus Against Private Citizens
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/03/report-h-r-mcmaster-believes-susan-rice-did-nothing-wrong-on-unmasking-requests/
Obama Holdovers Gain Ground in Trump’s National Security Council
http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2017/08/03/peter-schweizer-obama-holdovers-gain-ground-trumps-national-security-council/
FIRE McMASTERS – NOW.
So we should fire McMaster because a couple of anonymous leakers told a journalist that the man held a certain (unvalidated) opinion. Right?
My bad, a second journalist took what a first journalist claimed (based on anonymous sources), posted & tweeted about it, and THAT means McMaster should be fired.
Yeah, right…
So, tell me, do you believe everything you read on the web, or just go for the confirmation bias?
don’t seize them, sink them.
…And your solution to unwanted immigration is cold-blooded murder by the Italian Navy, yes?
Here’s the real issue with these water crossings — the money the traffickers make.
A refugee pays up to $4,000 to get into a leaky raft in the hope that one of the “humanitarian” group boats just outside the Libyan territorial waters will spot them and pick them up. From there it’s transport by the NGO to Italy.
Compare that to the cost of a one-way airline ticket from Istanbul to Templehof in Berlin — about $200.
So the traffickers are preying on human misery to turn a profit.
So if you want to fix the problem of people drowning in the Med you have to do one of two things —
1) allow all the refugees to fly into Europe on regularly scheduled transport, and let them use their money to start up a new life there. The blame for that would fall squarely on the elected officials in the EU and European governments so it’s very likely not going to happen.
2) resolutely and cold-bloodedly refuse to allow any of the people in these rafts entrance to Europe regardless of what happens at sea. If the NGO tries to bring them in, tow them back to a Libyan port. Better yet, don’t let the rafts leave in the first place. Given the money being made, I suspect most of the Libyan authorities are bought and paid by the traffickers, and so there won’t be the resolve needed.
Shorter translation: Europe is boned.
There is an Islamic poem which includes the lines
Public recitation of the poem has been attributed to Recep Erdogan.