Libyan general threatens to bomb Italian vessels as chats between smugglers and NGOs surface
Libyan General Khalifa Haftar has ordered his faction to bomb Italian vessels deployed in a mission to provide naval support to Libya, according to a tweet published by broadcaster Al Arabiya. The announcement comes after Italy impounded a German NGO vessel on suspicion of human trafficking.
Published: August 4, 2017, 12:06 pm
Haftar’s order reportedly follows a vote of the Tobruk parliament tied to his faction, which expressed opposition to the Italian naval operation, saying the presence of foreign vessels in Libyan waters represented a “violation of national sovereignty”.
Since the summer of 2014, political power has been split between two rival governments in Tripoli and in Tobruk, with the latter having been recognised by the international community before the creation of the Presidential Council.
In mid-March 2011, Haftar entered Benghazi from Egypt to join the NATO-backed war on Libya. He took charge of the mercenary army.
The Italian Lower House and Senate Wednesday voted in favor of the government’s naval mission to support the Libyan coast guard to combating human traffickers and help stem a migrant flow that is causing massive strain on the Italian authorities.
With 328 in favor, the Italian parliament authorized the naval mission. Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said that the boats would only provide “technical support” and would not infringe on Libya’s sovereignty.
Most of the over 95 000 migrants who landed in Italy up to date, started their journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.
Haftar as well as Tripoli-based Premier Fayez Sarraj met with the French president in Paris on July 25, AFP reported. Emmanuel Macron, invited both Fayez al-Sarraj, the unelected head of the Western-backed Libyan Presidential Council, and Khalifa Hafter, head of the so-called Libyan National Army and an “asset” of the CIA.
Haftar continues to wield influence in Libya, despite his many battlefield failures. He had lived in the US for nearly twenty years before returning to Libya after the February 17 CIA-orchestrated insurrection.
The two men subsequently agreed to suspend their armed struggle and hold parliamentary elections in the spring of 2018. On Wednesday, Sarraj visited Italian government officials in Rome.
Italy seized the Iuventa, a boat operated by German NGO Jugend Rettet, and dispatched a navy patrol boat to Libya as part of an Italian attempt to end the Mediterranean migrant and refugee crisis.
The vessel was impounded on the Italian island of Lampedusa on the orders of a prosecutor based in Trapani, Sicily, the state police force said.
French #NGO #SosMediterranee's ship #Aquarius apparently approached Libyan coast and turned off transponder signal 1h50m ago#DefendEurope pic.twitter.com/b2T8sz6zcL
— Migration Watch MED (@migration_med) August 3, 2017
#iuventa One down, many more to go. Traffickers still sending their cargo to sea today. $$$ #DefendEurope pic.twitter.com/tki37YVyyY
— Triumph (@Westsea77) August 3, 2017
In Germany there has been a widespread willingness to assist and defend refugees. This readiness was confirmed a few weeks ago in a poll carried out by the European Broadcasting Agency. Almost 1 million young people between the ages of 18 and 35 were interviewed.
Nearly three quarters – 72 percent – said they were willing to actively support immigrants. Some 78 percent of respondents in Germany said they noticed growing nationalism, which they considered “a bad thing”.
But more than two-thirds – 67 percent – of young people in Germany and the overwhelming majority of young people surveyed said they were not ready to fight in a war.
Italian undercover agents were aboard some vessels, confirming suspicion of NGO’s conspiring with human traffickers, but nobody has yet been officially charged, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported.
The Iuventa, has become a taxi for the refugees, and traffickers. The operators of the vessel even returned the small crafts of smugglers so they could transport more migrants.
The German NGO was resisting, among other things, the demand of Italy to allow armed police on board the ships.
#NGOs want us to believe that this is not a planned invasion and they are simply rescuing shipwreck survivors#DefendEurope#STOPINVASIONE pic.twitter.com/l5FQN8AEXy
— Migration Watch MED (@migration_med) July 31, 2017
The 33-meter vessel operated by the charity Jugend Rettet, is said to have rescued and brought thousands of Africans to Europe last year. The vessel has been kept on the Italian island of Lampedusa since Tuesday evening.
The humanitarian groups say they are only interested in saving lives, but Ambrogio Cartosio, a public prosecutor from Trapani, announced that the authorities have been monitoring the activities of the Iuventa since last year.
They allegedly noted at least three incidents when, instead of being rescued at sea, the migrants were simply “handed over” to the crew by people smugglers.
“People on the Iuventa are believed to have taken on board, on at least two separate occasions, migrants escorted by Libyan traffickers whose lives were not in danger,” Cartosio said.
“The evidence is serious. We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat’s crew,” Cartosio added, as evidence of the alleged incidents was published by SkyTG24.
Cartosio said that, so far, no suspects had been singled out or legal charges pressed.
Investigators took some computers on board the Iuventa ship, which was seized yesterday at the disposition of the prosecutor in Trapani while he was in Lampedusa. On PCs the police will make technical inquiries. All the on-board tools that “tell” the movements of the boat involved in the rescue of migrants will also be examined by the investigators.
These pics show German #NGO #SeaEye operates in the same way: coordinating with traffickers, towing back empty vessel to Libya#DefendEurope pic.twitter.com/dpTHEcI1W1
— Migration Watch MED (@migration_med) August 4, 2017
The impounding comes days after Jugend Rettet joined several NGOs which refused to sign a new code of conduct for Mediterranean activist groups.
Small summary of the code of conduct for #NGOs: it is very reasonable.
NGOs oppose transparency over operations#migrants#stopinvasione pic.twitter.com/Y063Y2QvBv— Migration Watch MED (@migration_med) July 28, 2017
Italian physician Stefano Spinelli, former co-ordinator of the Rainbow for Africa tells of a meeting in Rome in May among all the NGOs where Msf and Save the Children refused to retreat from the Libyan coast. “They have said that the proposal is unacceptable for staying at 24 miles means not to help no migrant.”
Contacts were allegedly made on WhatsApp by the German ship of Jugend Rettet, “always in the front row” according to insider Italian sources. Even the members of the security firm working on Vos Hestia, the ship of Save the Children, working alongside Iuventa were part of the messaging group.
Chat messages on Whattsapp among the team leaders of the humanitarian ships were very “suspiciuous”, Italian sources said.
Chats, according to the two security operators, from the Eritrean priest Don Mussie Zerai, who have always been the reference point for Eritreans who are trying to cross the border, often appeared.
The Italian authorities seized the ship on the suspicion of the illegal migration, as the Italian police confirmed on Wednesday.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
Europe
NOAA Predicts Zero Sunspots for Almost the Whole 2030s
CLIMATEThe United States' government scientific organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicts zero sunspots from 2031 to 2040. This is an extreme situation that has not occurred in as long as humanity has been counting sunspots, and it leads us into uncharted territory in terms of our solar system. However, this prediction aligns with the warnings of the world-renowned solar researcher Valentina Zharkova for many years, who indicated in 2019 various signs of this catastrophic phenomenon, including the extreme hailstorms we have seen in Europe and the world this summer. The forecast and various observations this year give cause for very significant concern. In this unique analysis, Free West Media explains why.
European Nationalist Parties Forge Cooperation Ahead of EU Elections
EUROPEAN ELECTIONSOn Saturday, August 26, representatives of six European nationalist parties gathered in Budapest. The meeting was initiated by the Hungarian party Mi Hazánk and took place in the national parliament. Representatives of the parties signed a joint declaration that not only reaffirms the parties' friendship but also their unity on a range of complex political issues. A surprisingly clear and radical manifesto was established. The hope is that this cooperation will lead to success in the EU elections and eventually result in the formation of a group in the European Parliament. For Swedish nationalism, this meeting marks a success as Sweden, for the first time, has a party represented in a leading nationalist cooperation in Europe. Free West Media was present at this historic event.
Turkey Believes Sweden Hasn’t Done Enough
Sweden will have to wait a bit longer for NATO membership, according to Turkey's Justice Minister Jilmaz Tunc. First, Sweden must extradite the "terrorists" Turkey wants and stop the desecration of the Quran.
Swedish Weapon Takes Down Russia’s Best Attack Helicopter
The Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 is considered one of the world's best and has struck fear in Ukraine, where it has hunted down tanks and other armored vehicles, often beyond the range of many light anti-aircraft systems. However, it has met its match in the Swedish air defense missile system RBS 70, which has quickly led to significant losses for the Russian helicopter forces.
Strong Confidence in German AfD
Alternative for Germany (AfD) held a party conference on July 29-30 to select candidates for the upcoming EU election next year. EU Parliament member Maximilian Krah, belonging to the party's more radical, ethnonationalist faction, was appointed as the top candidate. The party's two spokespersons delivered powerful speeches criticizing the EU's failed migration policy and trade sanctions that isolate Europe and Germany from the rest of the world. They argued that it's time for the EU to return a significant portion of its power to national parliaments. However, they have dropped the demand for Germany to exit the EU.
The Establishment Wants to Ban Germany’s Second Largest Party – for the Sake of Democracy
The rising popularity of AfD has raised strong concerns within the establishment. Despite lies and demonization in the media and isolation from the overall political establishment, the party continues to grow. Certain representatives of the party are accused of becoming increasingly "extreme," and in an unusual move, the influential weekly newspaper Der Spiegel demanded that AfD be "banned."
Dutch FvD break through the media blockade
What is happening in the Netherlands? It is often difficult to follow events in other countries, especially when distorted by system media. We give Forum for Democracy (FvD) the opportunity to speak out on the political situation in the Netherlands and the staunch resistance they face in trying to save the country.
The Ursula von der Leyen Affair
After a criminal complaint in Belgium against the President of the European Commission, the so-called SMS-case, now takes a new turn. The judge responsible for the investigation will likely gain access to the secret messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, at least if they haven't been deleted.
Publisher of Unique Literature Worldwide Blocked by International Distributor
Arktos has distinguished itself by publishing groundbreaking philosophers and social critics. Now, the publisher's international distributor has abruptly terminated the cooperation, and more than 400 already printed titles cannot reach their audience. There is strong evidence that the distributor has been under pressure, something that has also happened in Sweden. We have spoken with Arktos founder Daniel Friberg about the ongoing struggle for freedom of speech in a shrinking cultural corridor.
Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.
