EU to help Libya stem flow of migrants

Bloc to provide more training, equipment for North Africa nation’s coast guard

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a news conference Friday at an EU summit in Brussels in a demonstration of continental unity.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a news conference Friday at an EU summit in Brussels in a demonstration of continental unity.

BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders pledged Friday to boost their support for conflict-ravaged Libya as the number of people fleeing Africa on crowded, unsafe boats for better lives in Europe continues to rise.

European Council President Donald Tusk said the central Mediterranean Sea route to Italy for unauthorized migrants "remains critical in terms of irregular arrivals."

"While it is true that we are taking many of the right steps, the only result that really matters to us is to put a definitive end to this tragic situation," Tusk said on the second day of two-day EU summit in Brussels.

To help prevent people from setting out for Europe in unseaworthy boats, the leaders committed to step up their backing of the Libyan coast guard by providing more training and equipment.

The United Nation's migration agency estimates that around 70,000 people have arrived in Italy from Libya so far this year, compared with around 56,000 during the same period last year. Almost 1,900 people have died trying to make the perilous Mediterranean crossing in 2017.

"Loss of life and continuing migratory flows of primarily economic migrants on the Central Mediterranean route is a structural challenge and remains an issue of urgent and serious concern," the leaders said in their final summit statement.

"The EU and its member states will have to restore control to avoid a worsening humanitarian crisis."

But human-rights group Amnesty International said Libya's coast guard is returning the people it plucks from the sea to a country where they face detention and possibly torture or rape.

EU leaders "are increasing the capacity of the Libyan coast guard while turning a blind eye to the inherent grave risks of such cooperation," said Iverna McGowan, head of Amnesty's European office.

Libya is also appealing for help to secure its porous southern border, which is some 2,500 miles long.

The leader of Libya's unity government, Fayez Sarraj, has been in Brussels lobbying the Europeans and the NATO military alliance for help and money.

"As the number of migrants rises, the economic and social fabric of southern Libya is placed under very significant strain," he told reporters on Wednesday.

EU leaders, meanwhile, want to replicate with Libya a migration-deterrence deal it has with Turkey. Despite legal and human-rights concerns about the EU-Turkey agreement, it has reduced drastically the number of people crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece.

French President Emmanuel Macron said "the crisis that we are living is not a passing crisis. It's a long-term challenge which will find its response only in the solutions in Africa," notably in "stabilizing the Libyan borders."

But Amnesty's McGowan warned that "EU leaders need to urgently stop externalizing border control and asylum processing to foreign governments -- including some with appalling human-rights records."

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May's proposal to safeguard residency rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. met a tepid reception both in Europe and at home, with EU counterparts and London Mayor Sadiq Khan stressing that many issues remain unresolved.

May told EU leaders over dinner at a summit on Thursday that almost all 3 million EU citizens in the U.K. will be able to continue living there after Britain's exit from the bloc, saying she wanted to offer them as much certainty as possible about their futures.

"We've made what I believe is a very serious, a very fair offer which will give reassurance and confidence to EU citizens living in the United Kingdom about their future," May told reporters in Brussels on Friday. "Of course, there will be details of this arrangement which will be part of the negotiation process."

"It's a first step, but this step is not sufficient," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters on Friday.

London's Khan also called May's plans insufficient. "Her proposal doesn't go anywhere near giving the three million EU citizens living in Britain -- one million of whom are Londoners -- the certainty they need to make long-term plans for themselves or their families," Khan said on Facebook on Friday.

While they want to safeguard the rights of EU citizens, May's counterparts, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are making it clear that the U.K. exit shouldn't dominate Europe's agenda. In a demonstration of continental unity, Merkel and Macron planned to hold a joint news conference at the summit on Friday.

Information for this article was contributed by Lorne Cook and Angela Charlton of The Associated Press; and by Robert Hutton, Ian Wishart and staff members of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 06/24/2017

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