The EU delivered two patrol boats to Libya in a ceremony on Thursday (22 June) in the Sicilian city of Messina in the presence of European Commission officials, the Italian authorities, and the Libyan coastguard, according to a press statement on Friday (23 June). The delivery was made despite a series of recent reports documenting the links between the official Libyan coastguard and militia groups involved in the long-running civil war in the North African state. The EU delivered “two Currubia Class” vessels which, according to Radio Radicale journalist Sergio Scandura, were former Italian Finance Guard patrol boats. According to the report, the latter “are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants”. UN rights mission blasts EU on Libya migrant abuses European Union backing for Libyan authorities who stop and detain migrants means the bloc has “aided and abetted” rights violations against migrants, an investigator for a UN mission said on Monday (27 March).

Source: Libya Today June 23, 2023 15:03 UTC