It is a recurrent debate, since theemergence, in 2014, of humanitarian associations chartering boats to go off the Libyan coast to pick up illegal immigrants on makeshift rafts in order to take them over and bring them to Italy. Are these NGOs, stakeholders in this extra-European immigration that is melting on our continent, in collusion with the smugglers who, we cannot say enough, are nothing but traffickers of human beings, slavers of modern times ?
The very serious Italian press agency Adnkronos has just thrown a stone into the pond: according to a confidential document from the Frontex agency, covering the period from 1er January to May 18, 2021 and which she was able to consult, ” migrants from Libya say constantly having checked, before their departure, the presence of NGOs in the region, explaining that, “in the absence of NGO ships in the Mediterranean, many refuse to leave” ”.
A “de facto” connivance is therefore established: how else can it be explained that these migrants were able to verify the presence of NGOs on the edge of Libyan territorial waters, if not through the intermediary of smugglers… visibly aware of the movements of humanitarian ships. A complicity established above all by the fact that the arrival of these migrants in Europe is methodically ensured by these NGOs, which thus serve as a guarantee of arriving safely.
Adnkronos continues: “Due to the reorganization of the routes of human traffickers, Libya, and Zuara in particular, have become a pole of attraction and the main embarkation towards Europe and Italy. »
And quoting the confidential Frontex document: “Libya is once again perceived by sub-Saharans as the last country to leave to join the EU. The fact that to date many of these migrants reported in the European naval operation Themis only need a period of six to seven months to reach Italy suggests that criminal networks have effectively adapted their modus operandi to “trafficking” migrants in Libya and beyond in Italy. »
Zuara, a Libyan port city 60 km from the Tunisian border, has therefore become “a traffic hub and the main place of last departure in Libya and the central Mediterranean region”this famous migratory corridor from which he left “about 40% of all reported migrants in the central Mediterranean”.
Finally, Adnkronos explains that, through debriefing interviews, Frontex observes “
increasing direct involvement of local authority militias in “trafficking” activity in Zuara. […] This area will likely continue to attract migrants seeking to reach Italy from Libya”concludes the report.
Curiously, while the boat ocean viking is heading for France, after Italy’s refusal to see it dock there, this revelation from the Italian press agency has not met with any echo in France. This would perhaps too visibly confirm the speech of Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni on the matter (approved by 63% of Italians) and would rekindle the conflict between Frontex, responsible for border control, and the NGOs responsible for bringing migrants from Libya to Europe. Let us recall, in this regard, that only 16% of migrants traveling along the central Mediterranean corridor arrive by the boats of these NGOs.
At the European Commission, an MEP from the Identity and Democracy group, Antonio Maria Rinaldi, a notorious figure in Matteo Salvini’s League, does not intend to let this “bomb” be buried. With in particular Marco Zanni, president of ID, he formulated a question with a request for a written answer on this subject: “Is the Commission aware of this confidential document? Furthermore, for the sake of transparency, does it not consider it necessary to publish this document? Finally, if these revelations were confirmed by the Frontex document, does she not think that these elements should be considered as a priority in the context of the current reform contained in the “European Pact on Asylum”? »
In relation to a notizie giornalistiche su un rapporto riservato di FRONTEX sulle attività delle ONG nel Mediterraneo, ho presentato una interrogazione alla Commissione insieme a@Marcozanni86 @MCampomenosi @TardinoAnnalisae@alepanzaoff pic.twitter.com/W9CRpGVXVF
— Antonio M. Rinaldi (@Rinaldi_euro) November 9, 2022
More broadly, this report opportunely leaked by Frontex seriously undermines the moralizing and at the same time falsely firm but really lax discourse of the great consciences of the left and the government.
The king is naked and it’s starting to show.
NGOs and smugglers: this confidential Frontex report that agitates Italy