• UK-Rwanda migration deal expanded

    THE United Kingdom’s Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Biruta, on Saturday, March 18, signed an addendum that will expand the scope of the existing UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.

    Braverman made the announcement at a press briefing in Kigali.

    She did not reveal details about the addendum.

    “Today, we have signed an addendum to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, which will expand the provision of support to people being relocated to Rwanda,” she said.

    In April 2022, UK and Rwanda signed a migration and economic development partnership that seeks to give a dignified life to people who leave their countries to seek asylum in European countries.

    Under the deal, some of these people will be relocated to Rwanda where they will be empowered through different initiatives.

    “There is a global migration crisis. Many countries around the world are grappling with unprecedented numbers of illegal migrants and I sincerely believe that this world leading partnership between two allies and two friends, the United Kingdom and Rwanda, will lead the way in finding a solution which is both humanitarian and compassionate and also fair and balanced,” said the UK Home Secretary.

    Earlier, she visited Norrsken Africa, a regional tech hub based in Kigali and Bwiza estates to assess the skills, services and the welfare program the migrants would be accorded upon arrival in Rwanda.

    “I’ve been incredibly impressed with my visit today, both to meet local innovators and entrepreneurs and to see the job and wealth creation going on in the vibrant economy of Rwanda. Also, I have been impressed with Bwiza estates; its extensive construction work, some of which (the estates) will be used for the resettlement and integration of migrants coming from the UK,” she said.

    Biruta believes the partnership between the two countries will contribute to addressing the global migration crisis.

    “This innovative partnership represents an important development in our efforts to address irregular migration and we are glad to be working closely with the UK on this. The UK is investing in Rwanda’s capability to offer better opportunities for migrants and Rwandans as well,” he said.

    In 2022, the UK received 45,000 migrants which reflected a 60 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

    “We look forward to working together to create a new model which helps to address the root causes of the global migration crisis. This will not only help dismantle criminal human smuggling networks but also save lives and contribute to correcting the global imbalance in human development opportunities,” he said.

    Under the UK-Rwanda migration deal, those who will benefit from the partnership will have the option of applying for asylum, locally, and be facilitated to resettle in Rwanda or to be facilitated to return to their home countries, having received support through the programme.

    The UK will fund the programme, initially releasing an upfront investment of £120 million, which will fund invaluable opportunities for the migrants and Rwandans as well.

    This includes “secondary qualifications, vocational and skills training, language lessons, and higher education.”

    The UK will also support in terms of accommodation prior to local integration and resettlement.

    According to the deal, they will be entitled to full protection under Rwandan law, equal access to employment, and enrollment in healthcare and social care services.

    https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/5888/news/rwanda/uk-rwanda-migration-deal-expanded

    #Angleterre #UK #asile #migrations #réfugiés
    #offshore_asylum_processing #externalisation #Rwanda

    –—

    voir la métaliste sur la mise en place de l’#externalisation des #procédures_d'asile au #Rwanda par l’#Angleterre :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/966443

    • #Addendum to the #Memorandum_of_Understanding

      Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding

      Between

      The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

      And

      The Government of the Republic of Rwanda

      For the Provision of a Partnership Arrangement to strengthen shared international commitments on the protection of refugees and migrants

      This document is an addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the “United Kingdom”) and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda (“Rwanda”), together the Participants and in singular the Participant, signed on 13th April 2022. The Participants,

      WISHING to continue the excellent bilateral relations between both countries and to develop new and evolving ways of addressing the illegal migration challenge, including bridging gaps in human capital, in order to counter the business model of the human smugglers, preventing people from taking dangerous journeys thereby preventing injury and loss of life, and protecting the most vulnerable;

      REAFFIRMING the commitments of both Participants under the arrangement to facilitate co-operation between the Participants in order to contribute to the prevention and combating of illegally facilitated and unlawful cross border migration, in a way that will also allow anyone with genuine protection needs to seek and be provided with safety and supported with opportunities to build a new life;

      HAVING regard to the Participants’ commitment to upholding fundamental human rights and freedoms without discrimination, as guaranteed by the Participants’ national legislation, by their strong histories of implementing the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and by their other respective international legal obligations;

      CONSIDERING the United Kingdom’s desire to encourage asylum seekers to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and deter dangerous onward travel and subsequent illegal entry;

      CONSIDERING the United Kingdom’s desire to respond to the current challenges presented by illegal migration and apply the principle of the partnership to all individuals who enter or arrive in the UK illegally regardless of whether they have made a protection claim, human rights claim or claim to be a victim of modern slavery or human smuggling and have not come directly from a territory where their life and freedom was threatened;

      REAFFIRMING the commitment to support people in need of protection through safe and legal routes, the United Kingdom will seek to maintain such routes and create more to redress the balance between illegal and legal migration routes;

      CONSIDERING Rwanda’s commitment to finding long-term solutions to the major challenge of illegal migration caused by the global imbalance in human capital that drive economic migrants to make perilous journeys. Rwanda will be providing development opportunities to migrants and Rwandans through sustainable bilateral partnerships;

      DECIDED as follows:
      1 Introduction, Definitions and Interpretations

      1.1 In this Addendum Arrangement:

      a. “Addendum Arrangement” means this Addendum Memorandum of Understanding to the Arrangement.

      b. “Arrangement” means the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Kingdom and Rwanda signed on 13th April 2022.

      c. “Joint Committee” means the committee established under paragraph 21 of the Arrangement.

      d. “Relocate” means the removal of an individual from the United Kingdom to Rwanda under this Addendum Arrangement.

      e. “Relocated Individual” means an individual who is being or has been removed from the United Kingdom and that the Participants have agreed is to be or has been relocated to Rwanda under the provisions of this Addendum Arrangement.

      1.2 References to the singular include the plural, and vice versa.

      1.3 References in this Addendum Arrangement to Paragraphs are references to the clauses and sub-clauses of this Addendum Arrangement unless otherwise specified.

      1.4 The headings in this Addendum Arrangement are for ease of reference only and will not affect the interpretation or construction of the Addendum Arrangement.

      1.5 Any references to policy bulletins, enactments, orders, statutes, rules, regulations or other similar instruments will be construed as a reference to the policy bulletin, enactment, order, statute, rules, regulation or instrument as amended or replaced by any subsequent policy bulletin, enactment, order, statute, rules, regulation, or instrument.

      1.6 This Addendum Arrangement will not be binding in international law.
      2 Objectives

      2.1 The objective of this Addendum Arrangement is to create a mechanism for the relocation to Rwanda of individuals arriving illegally in the United Kingdom, who do not make an asylum claim or raise a formal application for protection in the United Kingdom, with the aims of:

      2.1.1 deterring dangerous and illegal journeys which are putting people’s lives at risk;

      2.1.2 disrupting the business model of people smugglers who are exploiting vulnerable people;

      2.1.3 providing an option for people who desire asylum or protection to make such a claim in Rwanda or otherwise make another type of immigration application in accordance with Rwandan domestic law, the Refugee Convention, current international standards, including in accordance with international human rights law.

      2.2 For the avoidance of doubt, the commitments set out in this Addendum Arrangement are made by the United Kingdom to Rwanda and vice versa and do not create or confer any right on any individual, nor shall compliance with this Addendum Arrangement be justiciable in any court of law by third-parties or individuals.
      Part 1 : Relocation arrangements
      3 Details of relocation arrangements

      The Participants will make arrangements for the relocation of Relocated Individuals under this Addendum Arrangement in the same manner as provided for individuals in Part 1 of the Arrangement.
      Part 2: Responsibilities of the participants
      4 Application of the terms of the Arrangement

      4.1 Paragraphs 4 to 8, 11, 12, 14 and 17 of the Arrangement will apply in respect of Relocated Individuals and their relocation under this Addendum Arrangement in the same manner as those provisions apply in respect of those relocated and their relocation under the Arrangement, except that the reference in paragraph 5.1 to “asylum seekers” will be read as “individuals”.

      4.2 Personal data shared between the Participants for the purpose of relocation of individuals or to give effect to this Addendum Arrangement will be subject to the same controls and safeguards as personal data shared under the Arrangement. In particular, Part 3 and Annex A of the Arrangement will have effect.
      5 Assurances as to treatment of Relocated Individuals under this Addendum Arrangement

      5.1 Rwanda will provide Relocated Individuals arriving under the terms of this Addendum Arrangement with information detailing how to raise a claim for asylum or humanitarian protection upon arrival and adequate opportunity to raise such a claim.

      5.2 In the case of a Relocated Individual who raises an asylum or humanitarian protection claim once they have arrived in Rwanda, the assurances and processes set out in paragraphs 9.1.1 to 9.1.3 and paragraph 10 of the Arrangement will be followed in the case of the Relocated Individual.

      5.3 In the case of a Relocated Individual who does not raise an asylum claim or a protection claim in Rwanda, Rwanda will:

      5.3.1 offer an opportunity for the Relocated Individual to apply for permission to remain in Rwanda on any other basis in accordance with its domestic immigration laws and ensure the Relocated Individual is provided with the relevant information needed to make such an application;

      5.3.2 ensure the Relocated Individual has the same rights as other individuals making an application under Rwandan immigration laws;

      5.3.3 provide adequate support and accommodation for the Relocated Individual’s health and security until such a time as their status is regularised or they leave or are removed from Rwanda; and

      5.3.4 for those Relocated Individuals who have no basis upon which to remain in Rwanda, only remove such a person to a country in which they have a right to reside. If there is no prospect of such removal occurring for any reason Rwanda will regularise that person’s immigration status in Rwanda.
      6 Monitoring of assurances

      6.1 Implementation of the assurances in this Addendum Arrangement will be monitored by the Joint Committee and the Monitoring Committee established under the Arrangement in the same way those Committees monitor the implementation of the assurances in the Arrangement.

      6.2 The access and other arrangements in paragraph 13 of the Arrangement will apply equally to monitoring of the relocation of Relocated Individuals under this Addendum Arrangement.
      Part 3: Financial arrangements
      7 Financial arrangements

      The Participants will make financial arrangements in support of the relocation of individuals prior to any relocations under this Addendum Arrangement.
      Part 4: Other arrangements
      8 Amendments to the Addendum Arrangement

      This Addendum Arrangement may be amended by the written consent of both Participants.
      9 Disputes

      The Participants will make all reasonable efforts to resolve between them all disputes concerning this Addendum Arrangement. Neither Participant will have recourse to a dispute resolution body outside of this.
      10 Duration and Effect

      10.1 This Addendum Arrangement will last for the duration of the Arrangement, unless it ceases to have effect by virtue of paragraph 10.3.

      10.2 During any period referred to in paragraph 23.3.1 and paragraph 23.3.2 of the Arrangement, the terms of this Addendum Arrangement will continue to apply in relation to a Relocated Individual who has been relocated in accordance with its provisions.

      10.3 This Addendum Arrangement will cease to have effect upon agreement by both Participants.
      11 Coming into effect

      This Addendum Arrangement will come into effect upon signature by both Participants.

      In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto by the respective Governments, have signed this Arrangement.

      Signed in Kigali, 18 March 2023
      The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

      The Rt Hon Suella Braverman MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department
      The Government of the Republic of Rwanda

      Vincent Biruta, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-Operation

      https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/memorandum-of-understanding-mou-between-the-uk-and-rwanda/addendum-to-the-memorandum-of-understanding

  • Boris Johnson annonce avoir signé un accord avec Kigali pour envoyer des demandeurs d’asile au #Rwanda

    Ce projet, susceptible de s’appliquer à toutes les personnes entrées illégalement sur le territoire, a suscité des réactions scandalisées des organisations de défense des droits humains.

    Le premier ministre britannique, Boris Johnson, a décidé de durcir la politique migratoire du Royaume-Uni, en prenant une décision pour le moins controversée. Le Royaume-Uni a annoncé, jeudi 14 avril, avoir pour projet d’envoyer au Rwanda des demandeurs d’asile arrivés illégalement, espérant ainsi dissuader les traversées clandestines de la Manche, qui sont en pleine augmentation.

    Ce projet, susceptible de s’appliquer à toutes les personnes entrées illégalement sur le territoire, d’où qu’elles viennent (Iran, Syrie, Erythrée…), a suscité des réactions scandalisées. Des organisations de défense des droits humains ont dénoncé son « inhumanité ». L’opposition a jugé que le premier ministre tentait de détourner l’attention après l’amende qu’il a reçue pour une fête d’anniversaire en plein confinement. Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a, de son côté, fait part de « sa forte opposition » :

    « Les personnes fuyant la guerre, les conflits et les persécutions méritent compassion et empathie. Elles ne devraient pas être échangées comme des marchandises et transférées à l’étranger pour être traitées. »
    Un projet chiffré à 144 millions d’euros

    Alors que M. Johnson avait promis de contrôler l’immigration, un des sujets-clés dans la campagne du Brexit, le nombre de traversées illégales de la Manche a triplé en 2021, année marquée notamment par la mort de vingt-sept personnes dans un naufrage à la fin de novembre. Londres reproche régulièrement à Paris de ne pas en faire assez pour empêcher les traversées.

    « A partir d’aujourd’hui (…), toute personne entrant illégalement au Royaume-Uni ainsi que celles qui sont arrivées illégalement depuis le 1er janvier pourront désormais être transférées au Rwanda », a annoncé le dirigeant conservateur dans un discours dans le Kent (sud-est de l’Angleterre). Le Rwanda pourra accueillir « des dizaines de milliers de personnes dans les années à venir », a-t-il ajouté, décrivant ce pays d’Afrique de l’Est comme l’un des « plus sûrs du monde, mondialement reconnu pour son bilan d’accueil et d’intégration des migrants ».

    En vertu de l’accord annoncé jeudi, Londres financera dans un premier temps le dispositif à hauteur de 144 millions d’euros. Le gouvernement rwandais a précisé qu’il proposerait la possibilité « de s’installer de manière permanente au Rwanda [à ces personnes si elles] le souhaitent ».

    Désireux de regagner en popularité avant des élections locales le mois prochain, M. Johnson et son gouvernement cherchent depuis des mois à conclure des accords avec des pays tiers où envoyer les clandestins en attendant de traiter leur dossier.
    Le contrôle de la Manche confié à la marine

    « Notre compassion est peut-être infinie, mais notre capacité à aider des gens ne l’est pas », a déclaré M. Johnson, qui anticipe des recours en justice contre le dispositif. « Ceux qui essaient de couper la file d’attente ou d’abuser de notre système n’auront pas de voie automatique pour s’installer dans notre pays mais seront renvoyés de manière rapide et humaine dans un pays tiers sûr ou leur pays d’origine », a-t-il ajouté.

    Les migrants arrivant au Royaume-Uni ne seront plus hébergés dans des hôtels, mais dans des centres d’accueil, à l’image de ceux qui existent en Grèce, avec un premier centre « ouvrant bientôt », a annoncé M. Johnson.

    Dans le cadre de ce plan, qui vient compléter une vaste loi sur l’immigration actuellement au Parlement et déjà critiqué par l’Organisation des Nations unies (ONU), le gouvernement confie dès jeudi le contrôle des traversées illégales de la Manche à la marine, équipée de matériel supplémentaire. En revanche, il a renoncé à son projet de repousser les embarcations entrant dans les eaux britanniques, mesure décriée côté français.
    Les ONG scandalisées

    En envoyant des demandeurs d’asile à plus de 6 000 kilomètres du Royaume-Uni, Londres veut décourager les candidats à l’immigration, toujours plus nombreux : 28 500 personnes ont effectué ces périlleuses traversées en 2021, contre 8 466 en 2020, selon des chiffres du ministère de l’intérieur.

    Amnesty International a critiqué « une idée scandaleusement mal conçue » qui « fera souffrir tout en gaspillant d’énormes sommes d’argent public », soulignant aussi le « bilan lamentable en matière de droits humains » du Rwanda.

    Daniel Sohege, directeur de l’organisation de défense des droits humains Stand For All, a déclaré à l’Agence France-Presse que l’initiative du gouvernement était « inhumaine, irréalisable et très coûteuse », recommandant plutôt d’ouvrir des voies d’entrée au Royaume-Uni « plus sûres » car celles qui existent sont « très limitées ».

    https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/04/14/londres-a-signe-un-accord-avec-kigali-pour-envoyer-des-demandeurs-d-asile-au

    #Angleterre #UK #asile #migrations #réfugiés
    #offshore_asylum_processing

    –-

    ajouté à la métaliste sur les différentes tentatives de différentes pays européens d’#externalisation non seulement des contrôles frontaliers, mais aussi de la #procédure_d'asile dans des #pays_tiers
    https://seenthis.net/messages/900122

    et ajouté à la métaliste sur la mise en place de l’#externalisation des #procédures_d'asile au #Rwanda par l’#Angleterre (2022) :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/900122

    • UN Refugee Agency opposes UK plan to export asylum

      Following public announcements made today, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, expressed strong opposition and concerns about the United Kingdom’s plan to export its asylum obligations and urged the UK to refrain from transferring asylum seekers and refugees to Rwanda for asylum processing.

      “UNHCR remains firmly opposed to arrangements that seek to transfer refugees and asylum seekers to third countries in the absence of sufficient safeguards and standards. Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs.

      “People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.”

      UNHCR urged both countries to re-think the plans. It also warned that instead of deterring refugees from resorting to perilous journeys, these externalization arrangements will only magnify risks, causing refugees to seek alternative routes, and exacerbating pressures on frontline states.

      While Rwanda has generously provided a safe haven to refugees fleeing conflict and persecution for decades, the majority live in camps with limited access to economic opportunities. UNHCR believes that wealthier nations must show solidarity in supporting Rwanda and the refugees it already hosts, and not the other way around.

      The UK has an obligation to ensure access to asylum for those seeking protection. Those who are determined to be refugees can be integrated, while those who are not and have no other legal basis to stay, can be returned in safety and dignity to their country of origin.

      Instead, the UK is adopting arrangements that abdicate responsibility to others and thus threaten the international refugee protection regime, which has stood the test of time, and saved millions of lives over the decades.

      The UK has supported UNHCR’s work many times in the past and is providing important contributions that help protect refugees and support countries in conflicts such as Ukraine. However, financial support abroad for certain refugee crises cannot replace the responsibility of States and the obligation to receive asylum seekers and protect refugees on their own territory – irrespective of race, nationality and mode of arrival.

      While UNHCR recognizes the challenges posed by forced displacement, developed countries are host to only a fraction of the world’s refugees and are well resourced to manage claims for asylum in a humane, fair and efficient manner.

      https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/4/62585e814/un-refugee-agency-opposes-uk-plan-export-asylum.html

    • The Border is a Colonial Wound: The Rwanda Deal and State Trafficking in People

      The border is a “colonial wound” that is designed for #bordering and #ordering#b/ordering – of the racialised and illegalised people by any means. The UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill and its subsequent offshore detention deal to deport people desperately seeking refugee to Rwanda is enactment of this exclusive b/ordering regime. One does not need to read between the lines to understand the objectives of the UK’s so-called “#Arrangement” with Rwanda as set out in article 2.1 and 2.2 of the #Memorandum_of_Understanding:

      2.1 The objective of this Arrangement is to create a mechanism for the relocation of asylum seekers whose claims are not being considered by the United Kingdom, to Rwanda, which will process their claims and settle or remove (as appropriate) individuals after their claim is decided…

      2.2 For the avoidance of doubt, the commitments set out… do not create or confer any right on any individual, nor shall compliance with this Arrangement be justiciable in any court of law by third-parties or individuals.

      These b/ordering arrangements pushes refugees and people seeking asylum into spaces of exception and extra-legality through a discriminatory policing at national (e.g., the Nationality and Borders Bill) and bilateral (e.g., the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Rwanda) levels. It does so in newly designated detention spaces like Manston, like the mandatory dispersal to Local Authorities announced at the same time as the Rwanda deal, and expansion of the securitised detention estate. Without doubt, these b/ordering arrangements have already become sources of ambivalence, anxiety and uncertainty. They are a source of terror to those who wish to seek asylum and are already arrayed in a precarious state. And if you had seen our direct messages as the announcement was leaked to the press and the fear expressed you can be in no doubt that the aim of terrorising people already placed in highly vulnerable immigration statuses is having a chilling effect.

      John Vine, the UK’s First Independent Chief Inspector of Borders cand Immigration, speaking on Sky News after the Prime Minister’s announcement of the Migration and Economic Partnership Deal with Rwanda, underscored the costs, not only economically, which have been calculated as far exceeding the cost of placing people in the Ritz, but the costs to the human body and the body politic. Deportation can only be affected by using often violent restraint and against the will of the individual. Jimmy Mbenga is the name every activist in the anti-deportation sector holds close when thinking of the ways restrains are effected on the deportees body, with the danger of asphyxiation. Nicolas Proctor’s as inspector of the Australian detention estate, where such off shoring mechanisms have been long in use, writes of the exponential rise in suicide and self harm under such conditions of deportation and detention. The deal is the official instigation of necropolitics, long written of by Achille Mbembe, but now instituted in ‘deals’ and ‘schemes’ and very likely indeed, unless prevented by the House of Lords, to be enacted into law.

      Indeed, the goal of the new national and bilateral arrangements is to create “discounted bodies” or ‘bodies at the limits of life, trapped in uninhabitable worlds and inhospitable places’. In this case, uninhabitability and inhospitality are designed and deliberate. The intention is simply to hold life in a permanent ‘state of injury’ outside any realms of protection and political intelligibility. Whether it be rendering people inadmissible through the legislation or “processing” them in offshore containment spaces, they all amount to necropolitical experimentation.

      Behrouz Boochani’s multi award winning book No Friend But The Mountains documents the destituting of human beings in such centres as the UK has now chosen to replicate. Even more so, his extraordinary film, Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time,

      ‘After a year or two years I found out that the journalism language is not powerful enough to tell the suffering and to tell the history of this prison, and what Australian government is doing in this island’, said Boochani.

      A chauka is a small bird native to Manus Island and is also the name of the high-security prison within the camp. The chauka is a symbol of the island and allows locals to tell the time from the chauka’s regular singing.In a sinister twist, it is pronounced the same as the English word “choker.”

      On April 15, the U.K. joined Australia in becoming a state that traffics people, destituting the bodies and lives of those who claim their right of asylum, and instituting a reign of necropolitics.

      This decision is against the spirit and letter of the Refugee Convention and the legal opinion of UNHCR UK has already expressed grave concerns about the U.K’s obligations as a state as a signatory of the 1951 Convention. In fact, the UNHCR has condemned the deal; ‘People seeking safety and protection, who have few alternatives, should not be penalized’.

      That this is likely to be contested in law and through the courts and will be the site of a great deal of opposition is not in doubt; or that it will eventually be overturned, as with Israel’s failed Rwanda deal and Australia’s failed Manus and Nauru project. But until then, we all have hard work to do.

      https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2022/04/border-colonial
      #discriminations #extra-légalité #coût #violence #santé_mentale #suicides #nécropolitique #inhospitalité #inhabitabilité

    • Rwanda genocide orphans to be booted out of home to make way for UK asylum seekers

      Orphans of Rwanda’s civil war say they have nowhere to go after being turfed out of a hostel under Priti Patel’s cruel Rwanda refugee scheme

      Orphans of the Rwandan genocide will lose their home to make way for refugees being booted out of Britain by Home Secretary Priti Patel.

      Some 22 residents are being turfed out of Hope House hostel to make room for asylum seekers sent to the African country under the proposed scheme.

      As more migrants landed in Dover yesterday, Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said the evictions were “cruel and heartless”.

      Orphans of Rwanda’s civil war say they have nowhere to go after being turfed out of a hostel under Patel’s cruel Rwanda refugee scheme.

      A shelter for traumatised victims of the 1994 conflict is being emptied to make way for asylum seekers being sent from the UK under the controversial Tory plan.

      Although now in their late 20s, the 22 survivors have no money or family and some face lifelong mental health battles. They were given a fortnight’s notice to ship out of the hostel – ironically named Hope House – in capital city Kigali.

      Tonight one vulnerable woman who has lived at the shelter for eight years said: “I barely know any other home. I was only told about moving out a few days ago. I have not figured out where I will go.”

      https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/rwanda-genocide-orphans-booted-out-26728311

    • Le Royaume-Uni signe un accord avec Kigali pour envoyer des demandeurs d’asile au Rwanda

      Le Rwanda a signé un accord controversé avec Londres pour accueillir sur son sol des migrants et demandeurs d’asile de diverses nationalités acheminés du Royaume-Uni, a annoncé jeudi Kigali à l’occasion d’une visite de la ministre anglaise de l’Intérieur, Priti Patel. Le Haut Commissariat de l’ONU pour les réfugiés (HCR) a fait part de « sa forte opposition » au projet britannique.

      Le Royaume-Uni a annoncé, jeudi 14 avril, un projet controversé d’envoyer au Rwanda les demandeurs d’asiles arrivés illégalement sur son territoire et confié la surveillance de la Manche à la Royal Navy, espérant dissuader les traversées de clandestins qui ne cessent d’augmenter.

      Alors que le Premier ministre Boris Johnson avait promis de contrôler l’immigration, un des sujets clés de la campagne du Brexit, le nombre de traversées illégales, très dangereuses, a triplé en 2021 et continue d’augmenter. Londres reproche régulièrement à Paris de ne pas en faire assez pour les empêcher.

      « À partir d’aujourd’hui (...), toute personne entrant illégalement au Royaume-Uni ainsi que ceux qui sont arrivés illégalement depuis le 1er janvier pourront désormais être relocalisés au Rwanda », a annoncé le dirigeant conservateur lors d’un discours dans un aéroport du Kent (sud-est de l’Angleterre).

      Le Rwanda pourra accueillir « des dizaines de milliers de personnes dans les années à venir », a-t-il ajouté, affirmant que ce pays d’Afrique de l’Est est « l’un des pays les plus sûrs au monde, mondialement reconnu pour son bilan d’accueil et d’intégration des migrants ».

      Ce projet, susceptible donc de s’appliquer à tous les clandestins d’où qu’ils viennent (Iran, Syrie, Érythrée...), a suscité des réactions scandalisées des organisations de défense des droits humains, qui dénoncent son « inhumanité ». L’opposition a jugé que le Premier ministre tentait de détourner l’attention après avoir reçu une amende pour une fête d’anniversaire en plein confinement.
      Un accord à 144 millions d’euros

      Désireux de regagner en popularité avant des élections locales en mai, Boris Johnson et son gouvernement cherchent depuis des mois à conclure des accords avec des pays tiers où envoyer les migrants en attendant de traiter leur dossier.

      Une telle mesure est déjà appliquée par l’Australie avec des îles éloignées du Pacifique, une politique très critiquée. Par ailleurs, le Danemark avait également envisagé d’envoyer ses demandeurs d’asile vers des pays africains.

      En vertu de l’accord annoncé jeudi, Londres financera dans un premier temps le dispositif à hauteur de 120 millions de livres sterling (144 millions d’euros). Le gouvernement rwandais a précisé qu’il proposerait aux personnes accueillies la possibilité « de s’installer de manière permanente au Rwanda » si elles « le souhaitent ».

      « Notre compassion est peut-être infinie mais notre capacité à aider des gens ne l’est pas », a déclaré Boris Johnson. Le chef du gouvernement britannique a ajouté que « ceux qui essayent de couper la file d’attente ou abuser de notre système n’auront pas de voie automatique pour s’installer dans notre pays mais seront renvoyés de manière rapide, humaine, dans un pays tiers sûr ou leur pays d’origine ».

      Les migrants arrivant au Royaume-Uni ne seront plus hébergés dans des hôtels mais dans des centres d’accueil à l’image de ceux existant en Grèce, avec un premier centre « ouvrant bientôt », a annoncé Boris Johnson.
      Migrants échangés « comme des marchandises »

      Dans le cadre de ce plan, qui vient compléter une vaste loi sur l’immigration actuellement au Parlement et déjà critiqué par l’ONU, le gouvernement confie dès jeudi le contrôle des traversées illégales de la Manche à la Marine, équipée de matériel supplémentaire. Il a renoncé en revanche à son projet de repousser les embarcations entrant dans les eaux britanniques, mesure décriée côté français.

      En envoyant des demandeurs d’asile à plus de 6 000 kilomètres du Royaume-Uni, le gouvernement veut décourager les candidats au départ vers le Royaume-Uni, toujours plus nombreux : 28 500 personnes ont effectué ces périlleuses traversées en 2021, contre 8 466 en 2020... et seulement 299 en 2018, selon des chiffres du ministère de l’Intérieur.

      Amnesty International a critiqué une « idée scandaleusement mal conçue » qui « fera souffrir tout en gaspillant d’énormes sommes d’argent public », soulignant aussi le « bilan lamentable en matière de droits humains » de la nation africaine.

      Pour le directeur général de Refugee Action, Tim Naor Hilton, c’est une « manière lâche, barbare et inhumaine de traiter les personnes fuyant la persécution et la guerre ».

      Le Haut Commissariat de l’ONU pour les réfugiés (HCR) a fait également part de « sa forte opposition » au projet britannique. « Les personnes fuyant la guerre, les conflits et les persécutions méritent compassion et empathie. Elles ne devraient pas être échangées comme des marchandises et transférées à l’étranger pour voir leur dossiers traités », a déclaré le HCR dans un communiqué.

      Même dans les rangs conservateurs, les critiques ont fusé, le député Tobias Ellwood estimant sur la BBC qu’il s’agit d’une « énorme tentative de détourner l’attention » des déboires de Boris Johnson dans le « Partygate », ces fêtes organisées dans les cercles du pouvoir pendant les confinements.

      https://www.france24.com/fr/europe/20220414-le-royaume-uni-signe-un-accord-avec-kigali-pour-envoyer-des-deman

    • Le Rwanda déjà engagé dans des projets d’accueil de migrants avec d’autres pays

      Le Rwanda serait-il en train de devenir un sous-traitant de la prise en charge des demandeurs d’asile pour les pays européens ? Le pays vient de signer jeudi 15 avril un accord très controversé avec le Royaume-Uni, qui souhaite y déporter ses migrants clandestins. Pour Kigali, ce n’est pas exactement une première, puisque le Rwanda est déjà engagé depuis plusieurs années dans divers projets d’accueil et de réinstallation de migrants.

      Dès 2014, un accord très opaque avec #Israël crée la polémique. Il prévoit déjà l’envoi de demandeurs d’asiles vers l’#Ouganda et le Rwanda. Mais une fois arrivés en Afrique centrale, beaucoup de ces migrants sont vite repartis. Kigali parle aujourd’hui d’un projet pilote rapidement abandonné, explique notre correspondante à Kigali, Laure Broulard.

      En 2019, Rwanda accepte d’accueillir des réfugiés évacués de #Libye par le HCR, le temps que leur demande d’asile soit examiné par des pays occidentaux. Quelques centaines d’entre eux sont actuellement logés dans un centre d’accueil dans l’Est du pays.

      Plus récemment, Kigali a également reçu des Afghans fuyant les talibans, notamment les élèves et le personnel d’un internat pour jeunes filles. Enfin, le pays est en discussions avec le #Danemark, qui souhaite y externaliser ses demandes d’asile. « Nous sommes disposés à explorer des décisions difficiles avec des partenaires de bonne foi pour pouvoir trouver une solution durable à ces questions de migration illégale », explique le ministre des Affaires étrangères rwandais, Vincent Biruta.

      Autant d’initiatives qui permettent au Rwanda de Paul Kagame, critiqué pour sa répression de la liberté d’expression et de l’opposition, de se faire connaître comme un pays « sûr », accueillant et comme un partenaire intéressant. Dans le cas de l’accord avec le Royaume-Uni, c’est aussi une #opportunité_économique, puisque Londres a déjà promis un investissement de près de 145 millions d’euros pour soutenir le #développement du pays.

      Londres s’attend à des recours en justice

      Mais les réactions d’indignation se multiplient. L’ONU parle d’un projet « irréaliste, immoral et discriminatoire ». Le gouvernement de Boris Johnson pense que son partenariat avec le Rwanda, pour y envoyer les demandeurs d’asile arrivés illégalement au Royaume-Uni, pourra débuter dans les prochaines semaines. Londres s’attend à des recours en justice, mais l’opposition pourrait même venir du sein même du ministère de l’Intérieur, explique notre correspondante à Londres, Emeline Vin.

      Pour faire approuver le partenariat migratoire entre le Royaume-Uni et le Rwanda, Priti Patel a utilisé une #directive_ministérielle, un mécanisme qui lui permet de passer outre l’opposition de son directeur de cabinet. C’est seulement le deuxième recours par le ministère de l’Intérieur depuis 30 ans.

      Officiellement, il s’agit de contourner les réserves des fonctionnaires, non affiliés politiquement, sur le financement. Le ministère n’a pas de chiffrage précis et certains officiels pensent que « relocaliser », vers le Rwanda, des migrants arrivés illégalement en Grande-Bretagne pour y demander l’asile, risque de coûter plus cher à long terme.

      Mais pour les syndicats, cela montre surtout le caractère ultra-polémique du projet, un élu le qualifiant de « purement inhumain ». Selon un autre, Priti Patel est passée en force, car elle savait qu’elle n’avait pas le soutien de ses équipes. Or, un #fonctionnaire n’a que le choix d’appliquer les politiques de son ministère ou de quitter son poste. Le gouvernement a présenté le programme à la veille du weekend pascal, qui dure du vendredi au lundi ici, mais s’attend à des recours en justice. 160 ONG l’ont déjà appelé à renoncer.

      https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20220416-le-rwanda-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-engag%C3%A9-dans-des-projets-d-accueil-de-migr
      #sous-traitance #réfugiés_afghans #Afghanistan #passage_en_force

    • Arrangement Royaume-Uni/Rwanda : externaliser l’asile en Afrique, arme de dissuasion massive en Europe

      Par une mesure urgente de suspension du 14 juin 2022, la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme vient rappeler au Royaume-Uni qu’il est toujours soumis au respect du droit international de l’asile. Que ce soit au Royaume-Uni ou dans les Etats membres de l’Union européenne, l’heure n’est plus à l’accueil et la course au renvoi des personnes exilées bat son plein.

      L’externalisation de l’asile au Rwanda était l’une des principales mesures du « plan immigration » du Royaume-Uni, présentée le 14 avril 2022, et censée dissuader les traversées « irrégulières » de la Manche. Mais les recours des plaignant.e.s – majoritairement originaires de Syrie, Irak et Iran – et de leurs soutiens, auront finalement payé : le 14 juin, par des mesures provisoires, la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme a empêché in extremis le départ du premier vol de demandeur.se.s d’asile « transféré.e.s » du Royaume-Uni au Rwanda [1], sauvant ce qu’il reste du principe de non-refoulement. Mais au vu de la détermination britannique, ce n’est sans doute que partie remise…

      Car les velléités « d’accueillir » les exilé.e.s au plus loin du territoire européen sont profondes et anciennes [2]. Dès 1986, le Danemark proposait un système de gestion des demandes d’asile dans des centres de traitement régionaux, administrés par les Nations Unies, dans lesquels auraient été systématiquement placé.e.s les demandeur.se.s d’asile ayant franchi la frontière « irrégulièrement ». En 2003, s’inspirant de la décriée « Solution pacifique » australienne [3], Blair évoquait des « centres de transit » hors Europe pour y envoyer les demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile avant qu’ils et elles n’atteignent le sol européen.
      En 2022, c’est devenu une réalité pour le Royaume-Uni de Johnson : les exilé.e.s pourront voir leur demande de protection jugée irrecevable s’ils ou elles sont arrivé.e.s sur le sol britannique en dehors des postes frontières habilités, après un voyage "dangereux", ou en provenance d’un pays tiers sûr, et pourront être envoyé.e.s au Rwanda, où ils et elles pourront déposer une demande d’asile. Si la décision est positive, le Rwanda deviendrait alors pays d’accueil et de protection pendant cinq ans, dans le cadre du protocole d’accord entre les deux pays, en échange de 120 millions de livres versées par le Royaume-Uni [4]
      Avec cet arrangement, le Royaume-Uni fait un pas de plus dans la violation du principe de non-refoulement, pierre angulaire du droit d’asile.
      Il n’est pas, loin s’en faut, le seul État à avancer dans cette direction. Depuis plusieurs années, les États européens ont choisi leur « accueil », normalisant les refoulements aux frontières de l’Europe et multipliant les accords formels ou non avec les pays du Sud global, sous le regard placide des institutions européennes et/ou avec leur participation.

      Un cap a été franchi en la matière en 2016 avec la Déclaration UE/Turquie, permettant le renvoi vers la Turquie des exilé.e.s arrivé.e.s sur les îles grecques, y compris celles et ceux pour qui la Turquie était considérée comme un pays tiers sûr. En 2018, la Commission européenne propose d’instaurer dans les pays d’Afrique du Nord des « plateformes de débarquement régionales » pour « sauver des vies » et trier les exilé.e.s en amont des eaux et du territoire européens [5], mais doit abandonner le projet face au refus de la Tunisie, du Maroc et de l’Algérie de jouer le jeu.
      Mais en février 2020, dans une décision favorable aux autorités espagnoles – qui avaient procédé en 2017 à des refoulements à la frontière terrestre avec le Maroc –, la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme entérine – au mépris de la Convention de Genève (art. 31) – l’impossibilité de déposer une demande d’asile en cas de « franchissement illégal d’une frontière » [6] . En octobre 2021, la Pologne légalise à sa frontière les refoulements de celles et ceux qui l’auraient traversée « illégalement », n’hésitant pas à cette occasion à remettre en cause la primauté du droit européen sur le droit national [7].

      Ici, de nouveau sous le prétexte fallacieux de « sauver des vies » en leur évitant les risques d’une traversée périlleuse, le Royaume-Uni valide la « relocalisation » vers le Rwanda d’exilé.e.s déjà présent.e.s sur le sol européen, et dont les demandes de protection ont été jugées irrecevables sans examen au fond. Ce faisant, le Royaume-Uni part du principe que le Rwanda – qui accueille depuis 2019 le programme d’urgence du HCR visant à évacuer les personnes les plus vulnérables des centres de détention libyens pour les placer dans des centres de transit d’urgence (dans le cadre du mécanisme de transit d’urgence - ETM) – est un pays tiers « sûr », tant pour ses ressortissant.e.s que pour les personnes étrangères qui y sont renvoyées. Ce, malgré les vives critiques de l’opposition politique sur les atteintes aux droits in situ, notamment à la liberté d’expression et des personnes LGBTI+ [8].

      Le Brexit aura sans doute permis au Royaume-Uni de s’affranchir en partie du socle européen de la protection internationale et de se défausser de ses responsabilités en matière d’accueil.
      Mais l’asile est attaqué de toutes parts, y compris par les États membres de l’Union. Ainsi, le Danemark a-t-il également conclu en avril 2021 un Protocole d’entente avec le Rwanda, et adopté en juin 2021 une loi lui permettant d’externaliser l’examen de la demande d’asile, en transférant les demandeur⋅euse⋅s qui seraient déjà arrivé⋅e⋅s sur son territoire vers des centres situés hors UE, moyennant finances [9]

      En pratique, l’externalisation de l’asile revient, pour les États, à piétiner leurs obligations en matière d’accueil et de protection internationale, et à vider de son sens les principaux instruments de protection internationaux (Convention de Genève et Convention européenne des droits de l’Homme) – auxquels le Royaume-Uni est toujours soumis, comme vient de lui rappeler la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme.
      Cette logique de marchandage propre à l’externalisation permet aussi à des régimes autoritaires non-européens de se renflouer économiquement et d’être réhabilités au niveau diplomatique en tant que partenaires légitimes auprès de l’UE, ici le Rwanda vivement critiqué sur la restriction des libertés de ses ressortissant.e.s.

      L’externalisation de l’asile est contraire à la lettre et à l’esprit de la Convention de Genève, et sape le régime mondial d’accueil des réfugié.e.s. Elle est contraire à la liberté de chacun.e de choisir librement le pays d’accueil dans lequel il ou elle souhaite demander une protection et s’établir, et est en outre aux antipodes de la solidarité : le Royaume-Uni et le Danemark comptent parmi les pays les plus riches du monde et accueillent beaucoup moins d’exilé.e.s que de nombreux autres États bien plus pauvres, notamment en Afrique. Selon le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, [10].

      La politique cruelle et éhontée consistant à renvoyer depuis le Nord les demandeurs et demandeuses d’asile vers un pays du Sud situé à des milliers de kilomètres doit être condamnée et combattue avec détermination, au nom de l’accueil de tou.te.s, et pour que vive le droit d’asile.

      https://migreurop.org/article3108

    • Le président rwandais instrumentalise les droits des réfugiés

      Le Royaume-Uni devrait annuler l’accord sur les demandeurs d’asile

      Cette semaine, le président rwandais Paul Kagame a lancé un avertissement sans ambages aux réfugiés fuyant la recrudescence de la violence en République démocratique du Congo : « Nous ne pouvons pas continuer à accueillir des réfugiés pour lesquels, plus tard, nous serons tenus responsables d’une manière ou d’une autre, ou attaqués. »

      La déclaration du président illustre crûment la politisation des droits des réfugiés opérée par le gouvernement rwandais. Elle intervient à un moment où le Rwanda vient de conclure un accord peu scrupuleux d’un montant de 120 millions de livres (environ 145 millions de dollars) avec le Royaume-Uni pour accueillir des demandeurs d’asile arrivés au Royaume-Uni par des voies « irrégulières ». Outre avoir tenté d’édulcorer le bilan du Rwanda en matière de droits humains, les autorités britanniques ont cherché à justifier leur politique en affirmant que le Rwanda a une solide expérience en ce qui concerne l’accueil de réfugiés – dont environ 76 000 sont issus de la RD Congo voisine. En réalité, le gouvernement britannique ignore délibérément les faits.

      Comme il le faisait déjà il y a dix ans, le Rwanda soutient la rébellion du M23 dans l’est de la RD Congo. La reprise des hostilités par le M23, l’armée congolaise et divers autres groupes armés a contraint plus de 520 000 personnes à fuir leurs foyers, selon les Nations Unies. De récentes enquêtes menées par le groupe d’experts des Nations Unies sur le Congo, ainsi que des recherches de Human Rights Watch, ont identifié des preuves selon lesquelles le Rwanda ne se contente pas seulement de fournir un soutien logistique au M23, mais intervient également directement sur le sol congolais avec ses propres troupes pour renforcer les rangs du groupe armé ou combattre à ses côtés.

      Les propos de Paul Kagame font peut-être référence aux meurtres d’au moins 12 réfugiés congolais dans le camp de réfugiés de Kiziba, au Rwanda, en février 2018, lorsque la police a tiré à balles réelles sur des réfugiés qui protestaient devant le bureau de l’agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (UNHCR) du district de Karongi, dans la province de l’Ouest.

      Ses dernières déclarations témoignent du refus des autorités de prendre leurs responsabilités et d’assurer que justice soit rendue pour les abus perpétrés par les forces de sécurité rwandaises, y compris à l’encontre de réfugiés. L’enquête de la commission nationale des droits humains sur les meurtres de 2018 a étouffé l’affaire et personne n’a été tenu pour responsable à ce jour. Au lieu de cela, la police rwandaise a arrêté plus de 60 réfugiés et les a accusés de participer à des manifestations illégales, de se livrer à des violences contre les autorités publiques et à des actes de rébellion, puis de désobéir aux forces de l’ordre. Certains ont également été accusés de « propagation d’informations mensongères en vue de provoquer l’hostilité de l’opinion internationale vis-à-vis de l’État rwandais ».

      Les dernières attaques de Paul Kagame contre les droits humains, cette fois contre ceux des réfugiés, ne font que s’ajouter à la liste des preuves attestant que le Rwanda n’est pas un partenaire international fiable et de bonne foi, et que le projet du Royaume-Uni d’envoyer des demandeurs d’asile au Rwanda est fondé sur des contre-vérités et une politique cynique.

      https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2023/01/11/le-president-rwandais-instrumentalise-les-droits-des-refugies

      #Paul_Kagame #Kagame #responsabilité

  • #Leonardo sbarca in #Somalia, la sua fondazione promuove l’italiano e addestra l’esercito

    Leonardo punta a rafforzare la propria presenza in Corno d’Africa e affida l’affaire all’ex ministro dell’Interno Marco Minniti (Pd), alla guida della Fondazione Med-Or costituita dall’holding del complesso militare-industriale italiano per promuovere progetti di “cooperazione” e scambi culturali-accademici con i Paesi del cosiddetto Mediterraneo allargato (Med) e del Medio ed Estremo Oriente (Or).

    Il 21 dicembre 2021 è stato firmato a Roma un Memorandum of Understanding tra la Fondazione Med-Or e la Repubblica Federale di Somalia per la “promozione della lingua italiana in Somalia e il sostegno all’alta formazione, attraverso l’erogazione di borse di studio e corsi di formazione professionale”.

    A sottoscrivere l’accordo Marco Minniti e il Ministro degli Affari Esteri somalo Abdisaid Muse Ali, ma all’evento erano presenti pure il Ministro degli Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale Luigi Di Maio, il Ministro della Pubblica Istruzione somalo Abdullahi Abukar Haji e l’intero stato maggiore di Leonardo S.p.A., il presidente Luciano Carta (generale ritirato della Guardia di finanza), l’amministratore delegato Alessandro Profumo, il direttore generale Valerio Cioffi e Letizia Colucci, direttrice generale della Fondazione Med-Or.

    “La Somalia è un Paese strategico nei complessi equilibri dell’Africa Orientale ed è un partner fondamentale per noi nel Corno d’Africa”, ha dichiarato l’ex ministro Minniti. “L’interesse e l’impegno di Med-Or verso l’ex colonia italiana sono in linea con quanto fatto nel corso degli ultimi anni. Consolideremo la cooperazione in numerosi campi e le relazioni comuni, insieme alle istituzioni somale”.

    Il Memorandum firmato con la Repubblica di Somalia segue altri due progetti promossi e finanziati in Africa dalla Fondazione di Leonardo: il primo con la Mohammed VI Polytechnic University di Rabat (finanziamento di alcune borse di studio presso la LUISS “Guido Carli” di Roma, destinate a studenti provenienti dal Marocco); il secondo con la consegna alla Repubblica del Niger di una cinquantina di concentratori di ossigeno per alcune strutture sanitarie impegnate nell’assistenza a malati di Covid-19.

    La presenza a Roma alla firma dell’accordo di “cooperazione” dei massimi vertici di Leonardo S.p.A., conferma l’intenzione del gruppo di penetrare nel redditizio mercato dei sistemi d’arma del martoriato Corno d’Africa. Risale a tre anni fa l’ultima importante commessa nella regione, la fornitura al governo federale somalo di sistemi ATC – Air Traffic Control. Nello specifico, la controllata Selex ES Technologies Limited (SETL) con sede in Kenya, ha installato nel 2018 a Mogadiscio un Centro Nazionale ACC (Air Control Centre) per l’integrazione degli strumenti operativi di controllo aereo e tre torri radar in altrettanti aeroporti del Paese per un totale di 16 postazioni operatore, oltre a un sistema radio VHF e una rete satellitare.

    Una trattativa per la fornitura di un sofisticato sistema radar è in corso tra Leonardo e le autorità militari di Gibuti, la piccola enclave tra Eritrea, Etiopia e Somaliland, strategica per il controllo dello Stretto Bab El Mandeb che separa il Mar Rosso dal Golfo di Aden, principale rotta commerciale e petrolifera tra l’Asia e l’Europa.

    Il 30 gennaio 2020 i manager del gruppo italiano hanno accompagnato una delegazione della Repubblica di Gibuti (presenti tra gli altri il ministro della Difesa Hassan Omar Mohamed e l’ambasciatore a Parigi Ayeid Mousseid Yahya) in visita alla 4ª Brigata Telecomunicazioni e Sistemi per la Difesa Aerea e l’Assistenza al Volo dell’Aeronautica Militare di Borgo Piave, l’ente responsabile della realizzazione, installazione e manutenzione dei sistemi radar, di telecomunicazioni e radio assistenze al volo e alla navigazione aerea.

    “Gli ospiti sono stati accolti dal Comandante della 4ª Brigata, generale Vincenzo Falzarano”, riporta la nota dell’ufficio stampa dell’Aeronautica italiana. “La visita ha interessato il Sistema FADR (Fixed Air Defence Radar, modello RAT–31DL, prodotto da Leonardo, nda) che costituisce la struttura portante del sistema di Difesa Aerea. Il FADR è un radar di sorveglianza a lungo raggio (oltre 470 chilometri) e l’Aeronautica Militare, grazie alla sinergia con il mondo industriale nazionale, lo ha utilizzato per il rinnovamento tecnologico di dodici radar fissi a copertura dell’intero spazio aereo nazionale”.

    Come nel caso del Niger, la Fondazione Med-Or di Leonardo S.p.A. sembra voler privilegiare le regioni del continente africano dove operano stabilmente le forze armate italiane. In Corno d’Africa l’Italia è presente nell’ambito di due missioni internazionali, EUTM Somalia (European Union Training Mission to contribute to the training of Somali security forces) e MIADIT.

    L’operazione EUTM ha preso il via nell’aprile 2010 dopo la decisione dell’Unione Europea di “contribuire al rafforzamento del Governo Federale di Transizione della Somalia attraverso l’addestramento delle Forze di sicurezza somale”. Inizialmente il personale militare UE era schierato in Uganda e operava in stretta collaborazione con le forze armate ugandesi.

    Furono costituititi un quartier generale a Kampala, una base addestrativa a Bihanga (250 km a ovest della capitale) e un ufficio di collegamento a Nairobi (Kenya). Quando le condizioni di sicurezza in Somalia sembrarono migliori, EUTM inaugurò un centro di formazione presso l’aeroporto internazionale di Mogadiscio (aprile 2013) e, dall’inizio del 2014, sia il quartier generale sia i centri addestrativi furono trasferiti in territorio somalo.

    “Focus iniziale della Missione EUTM è stato l’addestramento delle reclute somale e la formazione di istruttori delle Somali National Security Forces, capaci di gestire in proprio l’addestramento di sottufficiali e della truppa”, spiega il Ministero della Difesa italiano. “Con il crescente impegno della Comunità Internazionale e dell’UE nel processo di stabilizzazione del Corno d’Africa, è stato previsto un ulteriore sviluppo della missione. Dall’aprile 2015, con il 4° mandato, essa si è concentrata sempre più sulla componente legata alla consulenza operativa, logistica e amministrativa del Ministero della Difesa e dello Stato Maggiore somalo”. Dal 15 febbraio 2014 il Comando di EUTM è assegnato all’Italia e il contingente nazionale impiegato è di 148 militari e 20 mezzi terrestri.

    Dal 2013 le forze armate italiane sono impegnate pure nella Missione Bilaterale di Addestramento delle Forze di Polizia somale e gibutiane – MIADIT. “La missione è volta a favorire la stabilità e la sicurezza della Somalia e dell’intera regione del Corno d’Africa, accrescendo le capacità nel settore della sicurezza e del controllo del territorio da parte delle forze di polizia somale”, spiega ancora il Ministero della Difesa. “L’obiettivo a lungo termine è quello di rigenerare la polizia federale somala mettendola innanzitutto in grado di operare nel complesso scenario e successivamente, con i corsi training of trainers, portarla gradualmente all’autosufficienza formativa”.

    Il contingente nazionale impiegato è di 53 militari e 4 mezzi dell’Arma dei Carabinieri. I moduli addestrativi sono diretti a 150-200 agenti somali e gibutini alla volta e hanno una durata di 12 settimane.

    Le attività spaziano dall’addestramento individuale al combattimento, agli interventi nei centri abitati, alle tecniche di controllo del territorio e gestione della folla, alla ricerca e neutralizzazione di armi ed esplosivi. Sempre secondo la Difesa, gli istruttori dei Carabinieri hanno già addestrato oltre 2.600 unità appartenenti alla Polizia Somala, alla Polizia Nazionale e alla Gendarmeria Gibutiana, contribuendo inoltre alla ristrutturazione dell’Accademia di Polizia di Mogadiscio.

    https://www.africa-express.info/2021/12/24/leonardo-sbarca-in-somalia-la-sua-fondazione-promuove-litaliano-e-a

    #Italie #néo-colonialisme
    #Minniti #Marco_Minniti #Fondazione_Med-Or #complexe_militaro-industriel #Mediterraneo_allargato #Memorandum_of_Understanding #accord #langue #langue_italienne #formation_professionnelle #bourses_d'étude #Abdisaid_Muse_Ali #Luigi_Di_Maio #Abdullahi_Abukar_Haji #Luciano_Carta #Alessandro_Profumo #Valerio_Cioffi #Letizia_Colucci #Corne_d'Afrique #coopération #aide_au_développement #ATC #Air_Traffic_Control #Selex_ES_Technologies_Limited (#SETL) #ACC (#Air_Control_Centre) #radar #système_radar #Bab-el-Mandeb #Vincenzo_Falzarano #Sistema_FADR (#Fixed_Air_Defence_Radar) #RAT–31DL #défense_aérienne #Aeronautica_Militare #armée #EUTM_Somalia #European_Union_Training_Mission_to_contribute_to_the_training_of_Somali_security_forces #MIADIT #Bihanga #Nairobi #Somali_National_Security_Forces #Missione_Bilaterale_di_Addestramento_delle_Forze_di_Polizia_somale_e_gibutiane (#MIADIT) #training_of_trainers #formation #Carabinieri #police

  • Australia signs deal with Nauru to keep asylum seeker detention centre open indefinitely

    Australia will continue its policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers indefinitely, with the home affairs minister signing a new agreement with Nauru to maintain “an enduring form” of offshore processing on the island state.Since 2012 – in the second iteration of the policy – all asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat seeking protection have faced mandatory indefinite detention and processing offshore.

    There are currently about 108 people held by Australia on Nauru as part of its offshore processing regime. Most have been there more than eight years. About 125 people are still held in Papua New Guinea. No one has been sent offshore since 2014.

    However, Nauru is Australia’s only remaining offshore detention centre.PNG’s Manus Island centre was forced to shut down after it was found to be unconstitutional by the PNG supreme court in 2016. Australia was forced to compensate those who had been illegally detained there, and they were forcibly moved out, mostly to Port Moresby.

    But the Nauru detention facility will remain indefinitely.

    In a statement on Friday, home affairs minister #Karen_Andrews said a new #memorandum_of_understanding with Nauru was a “significant step forwards” for both countries.

    “Australia’s strong and successful border protection policies under #Operation_Sovereign_Borders remain and there is zero chance of settlement in Australia for anyone who arrives illegally by boat,” she said.“Anyone who attempts an illegal maritime journey to Australia will be turned back, or taken to Nauru for processing. They will never settle in Australia.”Nauru president, #Lionel_Aingimea, said the new agreement created an “enduring form” of offshore processing.

    “This takes the regional processing to a new milestone.

    “It is enduring in nature, as such the mechanisms are ready to deal with illegal migrants immediately upon their arrival in Nauru from Australia.”Australia’s offshore processing policy and practices have been consistently criticised by the United Nations, human rights groups, and by refugees themselves.

    The UN has said Australia’s system violates the convention against tortureand the international criminal court’s prosecutor said indefinite detention offshore was “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” and unlawful under international law.

    At least 12 people have died in the camps, including being murdered by guards, through medical neglect and by suicide. Psychiatrists sent to work in the camps have described the conditions as “inherently toxic” and akin to “torture”.In 2016, the Nauru files, published by the Guardian, exposed the Nauru detention centre’s own internal reports of systemic violence, rape, sexual abuse, self-harm and child abuse in offshore detention.

    The decision to extend offshore processing indefinitely has been met with opprobrium from those who were detained there, and refugee advocates who say it is deliberately damaging to those held.

    Myo Win, a human rights activist and Rohingyan refugee from Myanmar, who was formerly detained on Nauru and released in March 2021, said those who remain held within Australia’s regime on Nauru “are just so tired, separated from family, having politics played with their lives, it just makes me so upset”.

    “I am out now and I still cannot live my life on a bridging visa and in lockdown, but it is 10 times better than Nauru. They should not be extending anything, they should be stopping offshore processing now. I am really worried about everyone on Nauru right now, they need to be released.

    ”Jana Favero from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said the new memorandum of understanding only extended a “failed system”.“An ‘enduring regional processing capability’ in Nauru means: enduring suffering, enduring family separation, enduring uncertainty, enduring harm and Australia’s enduring shame.

    “The #Morrison government must give the men, women and children impacted by the brutality of #offshore processing a safe and permanent home. Prolonging the failure of #offshore_processing on Nauru and #PNG is not only wrong and inhumane but dangerous.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/24/australia-signs-deal-with-nauru-to-keep-asylum-seeker-detention-centre-

    #Australie #Pacific_solution #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Nauru #externalisation #île #détention #emprisonnement

    • Multibillion-dollar strategy with no end in sight: Australia’s ‘enduring’ offshore processing deal with Nauru

      Late last month, Home Affairs Minister #Karen_Andrews and the president of Nauru, #Lionel_Aingimea, quietly announced they had signed a new agreement to establish an “enduring form” of offshore processing for asylum seekers taken to the Pacific island.

      The text of the new agreement has not been made public. This is unsurprising.

      All the publicly available information indicates Australia’s offshore processing strategy is an ongoing human rights — not to mention financial — disaster.

      The deliberate opaqueness is intended to make it difficult to hold the government to account for these human and other costs. This is, of course, all the more reason to subject the new deal with Nauru to intense scrutiny.
      Policies 20 years in the making

      In order to fully understand the new deal — and the ramifications of it — it is necessary to briefly recount 20 years of history.

      In late August 2001, the Howard government impulsively refused to allow asylum seekers rescued at sea by the Tampa freighter to disembark on Australian soil. This began policy-making on the run and led to the Pacific Solution Mark I.

      The governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea were persuaded to enter into agreements allowing people attempting to reach Australia by boat to be detained in facilities on their territory while their protection claims were considered by Australian officials.

      By the 2007 election, boat arrivals to Australia had dwindled substantially.

      In February 2008, the newly elected Labor government closed down the facilities in Nauru and PNG. Within a year, boat arrivals had increased dramatically, causing the government to rethink its policy.

      After a couple of false starts, it signed new deals with Nauru and PNG in late 2012. An expert panel had described the new arrangements as a “necessary circuit breaker to the current surge in irregular migration to Australia”.

      This was the Pacific Solution Mark II. In contrast to the first iteration, it provided for boat arrivals taken to Nauru and PNG to have protection claims considered under the laws and procedures of the host country.

      Moreover, the processing facilities were supposedly run by the host countries, though in reality, the Australian government outsourced this to private companies.

      Despite the new arrangements, the boat arrivals continued. And on July 19, 2013, the Rudd government took a hardline stance, announcing any boat arrivals after that date would have “have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees”.
      New draconian changes to the system

      The 1,056 individuals who had been transferred to Nauru or PNG before July 19, 2013 were brought to Australia to be processed.

      PNG agreed that asylum seekers arriving after this date could resettle there, if they were recognised as refugees.

      Nauru made a more equivocal commitment and has thus far only granted 20-year visas to those it recognises as refugees.

      The Coalition then won the September 2013 federal election and implemented the military-led Operation Sovereign Borders policy. This involves turning back boat arrivals to transit countries (like Indonesia), or to their countries of origin.

      The cumulative count of interceptions since then stands at 38 boats carrying 873 people. The most recent interception was in January 2020.

      It should be noted these figures do not include the large number of interceptions undertaken at Australia’s request by transit countries and countries of origin.

      What this means is the mere existence of the offshore processing system — even in the more draconian form in place after July 2013 — has not deterred people from attempting to reach Australia by boat.

      Rather, the attempts have continued, but the interception activities of Australia and other countries have prevented them from succeeding.

      No new asylum seekers in Nauru or PNG since 2014

      Australia acknowledges it has obligations under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees — and other human rights treaties — to refrain from returning people to places where they face the risk of serious harm.

      As a result, those intercepted at sea are given on-water screening interviews for the purpose of identifying those with prima facie protection claims.

      Those individuals are supposed to be taken to Nauru or PNG instead of being turned back or handed back. Concerningly, of the 873 people intercepted since 2013, only two have passed these screenings: both in 2014.

      This means no asylum seekers have been taken to either Nauru or PNG since 2014. Since then, Australia has spent years trying to find resettlement options in third countries for recognised refugees in Nauru and PNG, such as in Cambodia and the US.

      As of April 30, 131 asylum seekers were still in PNG and 109 were in Nauru.

      A boon to the Nauruan government

      Australia has spent billions on Pacific Solution Mark II with no end in sight.

      As well as underwriting all the infrastructure and operational costs of the processing facilities, Australia made it worthwhile for Nauru and PNG to participate in the arrangements.

      For one thing, it promised to ensure spillover benefits for the local economies by, for example, requiring contractors to hire local staff. In fact, in 2019–20, the processing facility in Nauru employed 15% of the country’s entire workforce.

      And from the beginning, Nauru has required every transferee to hold a regional processing centre visa. This is a temporary visa which must be renewed every three months by the Australian government.

      The visa fee each time is A$3,000, so that’s A$12,000 per transferee per year that Australia is required to pay the Nauruan government.

      Where a transferee is found to be a person in need of protection, that visa converts automatically into a temporary settlement visa, which must be renewed every six months. The temporary settlement visa fee is A$3,000 per month — again paid by the Australian government.

      In 2019-20, direct and indirect revenue from the processing facility made up 58% of total Nauruan government revenue. It is no wonder Nauru is on board with making an “enduring form” of offshore processing available to Australia.

      ‘Not to use it, but to be willing to use it’

      In 2016, the PNG Supreme Court ruled the detention of asylum seekers in the offshore processing facility was unconstitutional. Australia and PNG then agreed to close the PNG facility in late 2017 and residents were moved to alternative accommodation. Australia is underwriting the costs.

      Australia decided, however, to maintain a processing facility in Nauru. Senator Jim Molan asked Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo about this in Senate Estimates in February 2018, saying:

      So it’s more appropriate to say that we are not maintaining Nauru as an offshore processing centre; we are maintaining a relationship with the Nauru government.

      Pezzullo responded,

      the whole purpose is, as you would well recall, in fact not to have to use those facilities. But, as in all deterrents, you need to have an asset that is credible so that you are deterring future eventualities. So the whole point of it is actually not to use it but to be willing to use it.

      This is how we ended up where we are now, with a new deal with the Nauru government for an “enduring” — that is indefinitely maintained — offshore processing capability, at great cost to the Australian people.

      Little has been made public about this new arrangement. We do know in December 2020, the incoming minister for immigration, Alex Hawke, was told the government was undertaking “a major procurement” for “enduring capability services”.

      We also know a budget of A$731.2 million has been appropriated for regional processing in 2021-22.

      Of this, $187 million is for service provider fees and host government costs in PNG. Almost all of the remainder goes to Nauru, to ensure that, beyond hosting its current population of 109 transferees, it “stands ready to receive new arrivals”.

      https://theconversation.com/multibillion-dollar-strategy-with-no-end-in-sight-australias-enduri
      #new_deal

  • Latest Tactic to Push Migrants From Europe ? A Private, Clandestine Fleet

    The government of Malta enlisted three privately owned fishing trawlers to intercept migrants in the Mediterranean, and force them back to a war zone, officials and a boat captain say.

    With the onset of the coronavirus, Malta announced that it was too overwhelmed to rescue migrants making the precarious crossing of the Mediterranean Sea, where the tiny island nation has been on the front line of the maritime migration route over the past decade.

    In secret, however, the Maltese authorities have worked hard to make sure no migrants actually reach the island.

    It dispatched a small fleet of private merchant vessels in April to intercept migrants at sea and return them by force to a war zone in Libya, according to information provided by the captain of one of the boats, a senior commander in the Libyan Coast Guard, and a former Maltese official involved in the episode.

    The three repurposed fishing trawlers are privately owned, but acted on the instructions of the Armed Forces of Malta, the captain and the others said.

    The clandestine operation, which some experts consider illegal under international law, is just the latest dubious measure taken by European countries in recent years to stem the migration from Africa and the Middle East that has sown political chaos in Europe and fueled a populist backlash.

    Since 2017, European states, led by Italy, have paid the Libyan government to return more migrants to Libya, hassled the private rescue organizations that try to bring them to Europe, and asked passing merchant vessels to intercept them before they enter European waters.

    But Malta’s latest tactic may be among the most egregious, maritime experts say, because it involved a designated flotilla of private vessels, based in a European port, that intercepted and expelled asylum seekers from international waters that fall within the responsibility of European coast guards.

    “Against a pattern of increased abuses against asylum seekers in recent years, this newest approach stands out,” said Itamar Mann, an expert in maritime and refugee law at the University of Haifa in Israel. “Its methods chillingly resemble organized crime, and indeed the operations of people smugglers, which European policymakers so adamantly denounce.”

    “The facts available raise serious concerns that we are seeing the emergence of a novel systematic pattern, such that may even put Maltese state officials in danger of criminal liability, at home or abroad,” Dr. Mann added.

    The Maltese government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    The activity was first documented on the evening of April 12, when three aging blue trawlers left the Grand Harbour in Valletta, the Maltese capital, within an hour of each other. The three boats — the Dar Al Salam 1, the Salve Regina and the Tremar — departed at the request of the Maltese authorities, according to the captain of the Tremar, Amer Abdelrazek.

    A former Maltese official, Neville Gafa, said he was enlisted by the government that same night to use his connections in Libya to ensure the safe passage of the first two boats to Libya.

    The boats did not submit paperwork to the immigration police, and switched off their satellite tracking devices soon after leaving port, maritime databases show.

    But their mission had already been determined, said Mr. Gafa, who said he had been asked by the Maltese prime minister’s chief of staff, Clyde Caruana, to help coordinate the operation. Mr. Caruana did not respond to requests for comment, but a government spokesman told The Times of Malta that Mr. Gafa had been asked to liaise with Libya on a separate matter that was unconnected to the episode.

    The trawlers were sent to intercept a migrant vessel attempting to reach Malta from Libya — and which had been issuing mayday calls for some 48 hours — and then return its passengers to Libya, Mr. Gafa said.

    The stricken migrant vessel was still in international waters, according to coordinates provided by the migrants by satellite phone to Alarm Phone, an independent hotline for shipwrecked refugees. But it had reached the area of jurisdiction of Malta’s armed forces, making it Malta’s responsibility under international maritime law to rescue its passengers and provide them with sanctuary.

    Two of the trawlers — the Dar Al Salam 1 and the Tremar — reached the migrant vessel early on April 14, guided by a Maltese military helicopter, Mr. Abdelrazek said. Several of the migrants had already drowned, according to testimony later gathered by Alarm Phone.

    The roughly 50 survivors were taken aboard the Dar Al Salam 1, Mr. Abdelrazek said.

    The Dar Al Salam 1 and the Salve Regina sailed to Tripoli on April 15, the former carrying the migrants and the latter carrying several tons of food and water, as a show of appreciation to the Libyan government, Mr. Abdelrazek and Mr. Gafa said. The Tremar waited in international waters, Mr. Abdelrazek said.

    The Maltese authorities told their Libyan counterparts that the Dar Al Salam 1 was in fact a Maltese vessel called the Maria Cristina, said Commodore Masoud Abdalsamad, who oversees international operations at the Libyan Coast Guard. To further obscure its identity, the boat’s crew had also painted over the ship’s name and flew a Maltese flag to confuse the Libyan Coast Guard.

    Though based physically in Malta and owned by a Maltese shipowner, the vessel is legally registered in Tobruk, a port in east Libya controlled by opponents of the authorities in Tripoli. The crew did not want to risk upsetting the Tripoli government by broadcasting its links to Tobruk, leading it to hide its name and home port, Mr. Abdelrazek said.

    After disembarking, the migrants were taken to a notorious detention center run by a pro-government militia, where migrants are routinely tortured, held for ransom or sold to other militias. The detention cells stand close to an arms depot, and the surrounding area was hit by shelling in December.

    Conditions at the detention center are “utterly appalling,” said Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, an arm of the United Nations. “People are caged in overcrowded hangars with barely any access to food or sanitation facilities.”

    “Many tell us of the abuse they endure and the inhumane ways in which they are exploited,’’ Ms. Msehli added. ‘‘Reports of migrants being used to load weapons, and the detention center’s proximity to a military facility, raise serious concerns over the safety of people detained there arbitrarily.”

    After departing Tripoli, the Dar Al Salam 1 turned its satellite identification system back on, and the boat resurfaced off the coast of Libya on the evening of April 15, data provided by Marine Traffic, a maritime database, shows.

    The owner of the Salve Regina, Dominic Tanti, declined to comment through an intermediary, and the owner of the Tremar, Yasser Aziz, did not return a message seeking comment.

    The owner of the Dar Al Salam 1, Carmelo Grech, did not to respond to multiple requests for comment sent by text, voice message and a letter hand-delivered to his apartment. But he has confirmed his boat’s involvement to a Maltese newspaper, and several outlets have already highlighted its role, including the Italian newspaper, Avvenire, and the Maltese blogger Manuel Delia.

    Mr. Grech and his boat have colorful histories, raising questions in Malta about why the government involved them in a state-led operation.

    Mr. Grech has previously recounted how he used the boat, then known as the Mae Yemanja, to bring supplies to Libyan rebels during the Libyan revolution in 2011. In 2012, court records show it was impounded after Mr. Grech was accused, though later acquitted, of smuggling contraband cigarettes from Libya to Malta.

    In 2015, Mr. Grech was detained by a Libyan faction for several days for what he later described as a misunderstanding over his visas.

    Maltese ship records obtained by The Times show that Mr. Grech canceled his boat’s registration in Malta last February, before repainting it to show it had been re-registered in Tobruk, for undisclosed reasons.

    Mr. Abdelrazek also has a criminal history, having been convicted in 2014 of forging documents, court records show.

    After appearing briefly in Malta last week, the Dar Al Salam 1 and the Salve Regina returned again to sea on Sunday.

    Their satellite trackers were once again switched off shortly afterward.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/world/europe/migrants-malta.html
    #privatisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #Malte #Méditerranée #push-backs #refoulement #refoulements #Libye

    –—

    Commentaire de @isskein via la mailing-list Migreurop :

    Depuis avril fonctionne une méthode pro-active : une #flotte_privée de 3 bateaux qui se chargent d’arrêter les bateaux de migrants et de les renvoyer vers la Libye.

    Un ancien officiel maltais, #Neville_Gafà, a été engagé par le Premier Ministre pour monter l’affaire avec ses contacts libyens

    il est entre autres responsable de la #tragédie_de_Pâques : le gouvernement a ignoré durant 48h un bateau qui se trouvait dans sles eaux internationales (mais dans la juridiction des Forces armées maltaises) , puis envoyé sa flotte privée, qui a pris à son bord 51 migrants dont 8 femmes et 3 enfants, à bord 5 cadavres ; 7 migrants s’étaient noyés auparavant. Ils ont été ramenés à Tripolii
    voir https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/the-faces-and-names-of-a-migration-tragedy.788723

    #mourir_en_mer #morts #décès

    –---
    Dans le mail reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop, Conni parle de #hotspot_mobile :

    Yesterday we got news from the Maltese media about a new strategy of the authorities to keep rescued migrants out: a floating hotspot on a cruise ship off their coast:
    https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/102051/rescued_migrants_to_be_kept_on_captain_morgan_vessel_outside_territor

    https://www.tvm.com.mt/en/news/rescued-migrants-will-remain-on-vessel-13-miles-outside-maltese-territorial-

    via @isskein

    • Rappel de Sara Prestianni sur l’utilisation des #hotspots_mobiles en #Italie (via mailing-list Migreurop, 01.05.2020) :

      The “hotspot boat” is the same system , used by Italy from April 17 , only for migrants have been intercepted by ships flying foreign flags, as decided in the inter-ministerial decree of 7 April.
      On board of the ship “hotspot” Rubattino - positioned in front of Palermo - there are at this moment almost 200 migrants, of the two rescues carried out by the ships Alan Kurdi and Aita Mari. All of them were negative to the Covid test, but it is not clear how long they will have to stay on the ship and where they will be transferred (at the beginning of the procedure there was talk of a relocation to Germany).
      Yesterday the Guarantor for the Rights of Italian Prisoners, in his bulletin, expressed concern about the establishment of these “floating” hotspots.
      http://www.garantenazionaleprivatiliberta.it/gnpl

      “The implementation of quarantine measures in extraordinary and exceptional places cannot lead to a situation of ’limbo’: migrant people are under the jurisdiction of the Italian State for the purposes of the health measures imposed on them, but at the same time they do not have the possibility - and for a period of time not indifferent - to exercise the rights that our country recognizes and protects. They cannot apply for asylum, they are not de facto - and at least temporarily - protected as victims of trafficking or unaccompanied foreign minors, nor can they have timely access to procedures for family reunification under the Dublin Regulation. - procedures which, moreover, have their own intrinsic deadlines.”
      The Guarantor also indicated that the experience of the ship “Rubattino” would not seem to remain an isolated case as the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport launched on 19 April a procedure for the chartering of vessels to be used for the assistance and health surveillance of migrants rescued at sea or arrived on the national territory as a result of autonomous boats.

      –---

      –-> sur les hotspots mobiles, voir aussi : https://seenthis.net/tag/hotspot_mobile

    • Abela admits coordinating private boats that returned migrants to Libya

      PM says Easter manoeuvre was a ’rescue’ not a pushback.

      Prime Minister Robert Abela has admitted commissioning a boat that returned migrants to war-torn Libya on Easter weekend but has insisted it was a rescue mission and not a pushback.

      A boat commissioned by Maltese authorities picked up a group of migrants in the search and rescue area earlier this month and returned them to the North African country.

      It is a crime under international law for states to return asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to face persecution.

      Speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time on Friday, Abela admitted the manoeuvre and defended the government’s actions.

      "There was no pushback,"he said.

      "There was a rescue of migrants. Had the Maltese government not coordinated, tens of lives would have died, because a [EU coastguard] Frontex plane just flew overhead and kept on going.

      “Malta’s ports are closed but it coordinated this rescue and ensured that the irregular migrants were taken to the port that was open.”

      The country, along with Italy, closed its ports, citing concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

      Former OPM official Neville Gafa claimed under oath this week that he had coordinated the pushback.

      Asked Gafa’s involvement, Abela said his only involvement was liaising with a contact he was claiming to have in Libya so that the rescue could be facilitated. He said Gafa was not paid or promised anything.

      Abela defended using a private boat, saying that a Search and Rescue convention stipulates the legal obligations of individual states that are not obliged to carry out the actual rescues but to coordinate such rescues.

      The obligations also state that countries can use their own assets or else send private assets to rescue boats in distress, he said.

      This week, Malta has commissioned a Captain Morgan tourist boat Europa II, to house migrants until a solution for their disembarkation is found.

      “We are ready to do anything to save lives. We have nothing to be ashamed of,” Abela said, adding that the cost for the Captain Morgan boat being used to temporarily house migrants outside Maltese waters will come from aid by the EU.

      “Malta’s position is clear and we know what our obligations are. We are going to remain firm on this. We are not a safe port and we cannot guarantee our resources for rescues.

      "We are duty bound to stick to this position. It is counterproductive to close port and airports to tourists but then open ports for irregular migrants. There are hundreds of thousands of people on the Libyan coast wanting to leave there and come to Lampedusa and Malta. We are obeying international rules,” he insisted.

      He said the migration problem should not be “Malta’s alone” and called for the EU to intervene.

      Earlier on Friday, Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo told Times of Malta that “the EU was responsible for a huge push back of migrants to Malta”.

      He said its failure to set up an effective and fair solidarity mechanism to share the burden of welcoming irregular migrants means that Malta had borne a huge burden over the years.

      He quoted a letter from a United Nations official to him in which he admitted that Europe needed to adopt a more principled migration policy that will serve European needs, that does not penalise those seeking to cross, and that does not leave countries like Malta, which are trying to do the right thing, on their own.

      “If we continue to fail, more people, Libyans and non-Libyans, will be compelled to seek safety on the European side” because of the ongoing war and the economic consequences of Covid-19.

      Bartolo said that in the first three months of the year, 3,600 irregular migrants left the Libyan coast through the Central Mediterranean route. This is over 400 per cent more than in the same period in 2019. Some 1,200 came to Malta.

      He said Malta’s centres were “overflowing” and there is no room for more migrants.

      https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/abela-admits-coordinating-private-boats-that-returned-migrants-to.7893

    • Malte a affrété des navires privés pour renvoyer les embarcations de migrants vers la Libye

      Une enquête du New York Times révèle que les autorités maltaises ont affrété, depuis le mois d’avril, une flotte de navires privés afin d’empêcher les migrants d ’atteindre l’île et les renvoyer en Libye. Selon plusieurs experts, cette action est illégale.

      En pleine pandémie de coronavirus, Malte fait tout pour empêcher les embarcations de migrants d’atteindre l’île. A tel point que le gouvernement a discrètement dépêché en avril une flotte de navires marchands privés pour intercepter les migrants et les renvoyer en Libye, a révélé une enquête du New York Times publiée jeudi 30 avril.

      Selon le quotidien américain - qui s’appuie sur les témoignages d’un capitaine de l’un de ces bateaux, commandant en chef des garde-côtes libyens, et d’un ancien responsable maltais impliqué dans l’opération - les trois chalutiers de pêche affrétés appartiennent à des particuliers mais ont agi sur les instructions des forces armées maltaises.
      Une opération sur ordre du Premier ministre maltais

      L’opération a été documentée pour la première fois dans la soirée du 12 avril, écrit le New York Times, quand trois chalutiers ont quitté le port de la Valette, la capitale maltaise, sur ordre des autorités. Un ancien responsable maltais, Neville Gafa, a déclaré qu’il avait été enrôlé par le gouvernement le soir même pour utiliser ses relations en Libye et assurer le passage en toute sécurité des deux premiers chalutiers vers les ports libyens.

      Le Dar As Salam 1 et le Tremar, ont ainsi été envoyés pour intercepter une embarcation de migrants présente dans les eaux maltaises - qui avait émis des appels de détresse depuis deux jours - afin de les renvoyer en Libye, a précisé Neville Gafa. A bord du canot, se trouvait cinq cadavres.

      Le 15 avril, l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) avait pourtant affirmé que les migrants avaient été interceptés par un navire marchand puis remis à des garde-côtes qui les avaient alors amenés au port de Tripoli.

      Le troisième chalutier, le Salve Regina, a quant à lui navigué vers Tripoli le 15 avril, transportant plusieurs tonnes de nourriture et d’eau, en guise de remerciement au gouvernement libyen, assure au quotidien américain le capitaine du Tremar, Amer Abdelrazek.

      Devant la justice maltaise, à la suite de la plainte lancée par plusieurs ONG contre le Premier ministre sur sa responsabilité dans la mort des cinq migrants, Neville Gafa a déclaré sous serment qu’il avait agi sur ordre du cabinet du Premier ministre.

      Une opération illégale

      « Dans une tendance à l’augmentation des abus contre les demandeurs d’asile ces dernières années, cette nouvelle approche se démarque », déclare au New York Times Itamar Mann, expert en droit maritime et des réfugiés à l’université de Haïfa, en Israël. « Ces méthodes ressemblent de façon effrayante au crime organisé, aux opérations de passeurs, que les décideurs européens dénoncent avec tant de fermeté », continue le chercheur pour qui cette opération est illégale eu égard au droit international.

      En effet, comme écrit le quotidien américain, une flotte de navires privées, basée dans un port européen, qui intercepte et expulse des demandeurs d’asile des eaux internationales relèvent de la responsabilité des garde-côtes européens.

      Cette opération « pourrait mettre les fonctionnaires de l’Etat maltais en danger de responsabilité pénale, dans le pays ou à l’étranger », signale encore Itamar Mann.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/24485/malte-a-affrete-des-navires-prives-pour-renvoyer-les-embarcations-de-m

    • Malta-Libya #deal sets up centres ’against illegal migration’

      Coastguard, UN centres, EU help among items discussed

      Malta and Libya will be setting up units to coordinate operations against illegal migration, the government said on Thursday.

      These centres are expected to start operating within the coming weeks, however, the government provided no additional information.

      The announcement followed an unannounced trip by Prime Minister Robert Abela, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo to Tripoli, where they discussed migration with the Libyan government.

      The three met Fayez al-Sarraj who heads the UN-backed Government of National Accord as well as Mohammed Sheibani, deputy minister responsible for migration at the meeting in Tripoli.

      It was Abela’s first trip to war-torn Libya as prime minister.

      Sources said the meeting was held on the back of a new wave of Malta-Libya relations, and a change in approach.

      Discussions revolved around the need to push the EU to help Libya to train its coastguard, obtain funding for reception camps manned by the UN, as well as to build a realistic strategy to slow down the flow of migrants into Libya.

      “It was a positive meeting, though of course that doesn’t mean we’ve resolved the migration issue,” a source told Times of Malta.

      “Malta could be Libya’s bridge to the EU. We need to stop human trafficking as well as save lives at sea,” the source said.

      Valletta, diplomatic sources say, has been trying to build new bridges with the Libyan authorities to stem the tide of migrants leaving the North African coast.
      800,000 migrants in Libya

      In a statement issued later on Thursday, the government said that during the meeting Abela reiterated Malta’s position on the need to address and stop human trafficking. Malta, he added, was facing unprecedented and disproportionate flows and burdens.

      Meanwhile, al-Sarraj said that 800,000 migrants were currently in Libya and the country needed an effective long-term and holistic approach.

      Both leaders spoke about the need to strengthen cooperation to ensure that lives are not lost at sea and to combat human traffickers on the ground and at sea.

      According to Abela, the solution lies in concrete action on Libyan shores and its southern border. This would be done through addressing and stopping human trafficking, rather than focusing just on relocation of migrants to other countries.

      Signing a #memorandum_of_understanding, Malta and Libya agreed to set up a coordination unit in each country to assist in operations against illegal migration.

      The agreement also stipulates that Malta supports Libya when it comes to financial assistance through the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework.

      https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/abela-ministers-return-from-libya-after-positive-migration-talks.79484

      #accord #centres

    • Mer méditerranée : Malte renforce sa coopération avec la Libye pour lutter contre « l’immigration illégale »

      Malte a signé un accord avec le gouvernement d’union nationale (GNA) libyen dans le but de renforcer « la lutte contre l’immigration illégale » en mer Méditerranée. Le texte prévoit la création de « centres de coordination » à Tripoli et La Valette qui seront opérationnels dès le mois de juillet.

      Malte tente par tous les moyens de limiter le flux de migrants qui débarquent sur ses côtes. Pour ce faire, les autorités maltaises et libyennes viennent d’acter la création de « centres de coordination » à Tripoli et à La Valette.

      Ces deux centres « offriront le soutien nécessaire à la lutte contre l’immigration illégale en Libye et dans la région méditerranéenne », selon un protocole d’accord entre Malte et le gouvernement d’union nationale (GNA) de Fayez al-Sarraj, et présenté au Parlement maltais mercredi 3 juin (https://www.independent.com.mt/file.aspx?f=206640).

      Financé par le gouvernement maltais, ces structures seront chacune dirigées par trois fonctionnaires et limiteront leur travail « au soutien et à la coordination », indique cet accord valable pour trois ans. Les centres devraient voir le jour dès le mois de juillet.
      « L’UE a la responsabilité de parvenir à un accord global avec la Libye »

      Malte, le plus petit État de l’Union européenne (UE), de par sa taille et sa population, se plaint depuis longtemps d’être obligé d’assumer à lui seul l’arrivée des migrants en provenance de la Libye, pays en guerre.

      Actuellement, plus de 400 migrants secourus en Méditerranée sont bloqués sur quatre navires touristiques affrétés par Malte juste à la limite de ses eaux territoriales, La Valette exigeant qu’ils soient ensuite pris en charge par d’autres pays européens.

      Le ministre maltais des Affaires étrangères, Evarist Bartolo, a déclaré au Parlement mercredi que « l’UE a la responsabilité de parvenir à un accord global avec la Libye afin de limiter l’immigration clandestine ».

      « Le nombre d’immigrants arrivant à Malte est disproportionné par rapport aux autres pays européens », a insisté le ministre. Selon lui, depuis 2005 l’Europe n’a accueilli que 1 700 migrants, tandis que 22 000 sont arrivés à Malte - seuls 8% des migrants en situation irrégulière sur l’île ont été relocalisés dans d’autres pays européens.

      Selon le protocole d’accord, Malte proposera à la Commission européenne une augmentation du soutien financier pour aider le GNA à sécuriser ses frontières sud et à démanteler les réseaux de trafiquants d’êtres humains.

      La Valette proposera également le financement de « moyens maritimes supplémentaires nécessaires » pour contrôler et intercepter les passeurs de migrants en Méditerranée.


      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/25175/mer-mediterranee-malte-renforce-sa-cooperation-avec-la-libye-pour-lutt

    • Accordo Malta-Libia: insieme daranno la caccia ai migranti. Con i soldi Ue

      Centrali operative e pattugliamenti congiunti. Fonti Onu: è una regolazione dei respingimenti illegali. Intanto Frontex smentisce l’inchiesta di Malta sulla “#Strage_di_Pasquetta

      Dopo la scoperta degli accordi segreti con Tripoli, siglati tre anni fa, Malta ha deciso di uscire allo scoperto negoziando un memorandum siglato dal premier Robert Abela, fresco di archiviazione per le accuse di respingimento, e il presidente libico Fayez al Sarraj.

      I due Paesi daranno insieme la caccia ai migranti nel Mediterraneo, ma con nuovi fondi Ue da destinare a Tripoli.

      SCARICA QUI IL DOCUMENTO COMPLETO: https://www.avvenire.it/c/attualita/Documents/MOU%20with%20Libya.pdf

      E’ prevista la creazione di «centri di coordinamento» nel porto di Tripoli e a La Valletta che saranno operativi da luglio. In realtà le operazioni congiunte andavano avanti da anni, ma adesso sono state ufficializzate. Le strutture congiunte «forniranno il sostegno necessario alla lotta contro l’immigrazione clandestina in Libia e nella regione del Mediterraneo», si legge. Inizialmente Malta finanzierà interamente l’attivazione delle centrali operative, ognuna delle quali sarà guidata da tre funzionari dei rispettivi governi. Fin da subito, però, il premier Abela si impegna a ottenere dall’Ue fondi aggiuntivi da destinare alla cosiddetta Guardia costiera libica, che verrà ulteriormente equipaggiata.

      Nessuna menzione si fa riguardo alla necessità di ristabilire il rispetto dei diritti umani nei campi di prigionia libici. L’unico scopo, come del resto è sempre stato in questi anni anche per Italia e Ue, è quello di trattenere i profughi in cattività, a qualunque costo. «L’UE ha la responsabilità di raggiungere un accordo globale con la Libia», c’è scritto nell’accordo che, di fatto, appalta a Malta e Libia il controllo dell’intero Canale di Sicilia, ad esclusione delle ultime 12 miglia territoriali dalla costa di Lampedusa. Malta, lo stato più piccolo dell’Unione Europea (Ue) per dimensioni e popolazione, si è lamentato da tempo di essere costretto ad assumere da solo la responsabilità dell’arrivo dei migranti dalla Libia, un paese in guerra che secondo l’Onu in alcun modo può essere ritenuto un “porto sicuro”.

      Nelle settimane scorse una nuova serie di inchieste giornalistiche internazionali ha permesso di accertare che non solo Malta ha messo in mare da tempo una flottiglia di “pescherecci fantasma” incaricati di intercettare i barconi e ricondurli in Libia, ma che spesso le Forze armate dell’isola equipaggiano i gommoni, anche con motori nuovi, affinché raggiungano le coste siciliane.

      Nei giorni scorsi il Tribunale dell’isola aveva archiviato il procedimento contro il premier laburista Robert Abela e il capo delle forze armate, accusati della morte di 12 migranti nella “strage di Pasquetta”. Forte di questa “assoluzione”, Abela si è recato a Tripoli per sigillare l’intesa con il presidente al-Sarraj. Ma proprio uno dei punti chiave utilizzati dal giudice Joe Mifsud per cestinare le accuse, ieri è stato categoricamente smentito dall’agenzia Ue Frontex che ha risposto per iscritto alle domande di Avvenire. Secondo il magistrato, infatti, il coordinamento dei soccorsi in qualche misura era attribuibile non a Malta ma a Frontex che aveva individuato con un suo aereo i barconi. Da Varsavia, rispondendo con una nota ad “Avvenire”, l’agenzia ha precisato che “è il centro di salvataggio appropriato, non Frontex, a decidere se chiedere assistenza a qualsiasi nave della zona. E Frontex non aveva navi vicino a quest’area”. La responsabilità di intervenire, dunque, era di innanzitutto di Malta che invece per giorni ha ignorato gli Sos e ha poi inviato un motopesca quando oramai 7 persone erano affogate e altre 5 sono morte di stenti durante il respingimento dalle acque maltesi verso la Libia.

      Nel fine settimana di Pasqua l’aeroobile Eagle 1, tracciato e segnalato dal giornalista Sergio Scandura di Radio Radicale “stava svolgendo - spiegano da Frontex - una missione di sorveglianza ben al di fuori dell’area operativa dell’Operazione Themis di Frontex”. Nella nota un portavoce dell’agenzia Ue precisa poi che “Frontex gestisce operazioni congiunte, nonché la sorveglianza pre-frontaliera, che veniva eseguita dall’aereo in questione”. Secondo questa ricostruzione, che avrebbe meritato maggiore puntiglio investigativo anche per accertare eventuali responsabilità esterne a Malta, “in linea con il diritto internazionale, Frontex ha avvisato i centri di soccorso competenti dell’avvistamento di una nave che riteneva necessitasse di assistenza”, si legge ancora. Parole che hanno un significato preciso e costituiscono un’accusa verso chi era stato informato e doveva prestare quell’assistenza negata per giorni. Le autorità italiane hanno apposto il segreto alle comunicazioni intercorse. Silenzio che potrebbe essere presto scardinato da indagini giudiziarie. Lo stesso per Malta, che neanche nell’atto conclusivo dell’inchiesta ha voluto rendere pubbliche le comunicazioni con Roma e con Frontex che a sua volta ribadisce ad Avvenire che “è il centro di salvataggio appropriato, non Frontex, a decidere se chiedere assistenza a qualsiasi nave della zona. Tuttavia, desidero sottolineare qui che Frontex non aveva navi vicino a quest’area”.

      Il memorandum sta creando non poco dibattito nei vertici della Marina militare italiana. A Tripoli, infatti, si trova la nave Gorgona, ufficialmente incaricata di assistere la cosiddetta guardia costiera libica per conto di Roma. E certo i marinai italiani non vogliono finire a fare gli addetti alla manutenzione delle motovedette donate dall’Italia ma che tra pochi giorni si coordineranno con Malta. «Mentre l’obiettivo dichiarato nell’accordo vi è il benessere del popolo libico e di quello maltese, il benessere delle principali vittime, cioè migranti, richiedenti asilo e rifugiati, non viene mai menzionato», ha commentato sul portale cattolico Newsbook il giudice maltese Giovanni Bonelli, già membro della Corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo. «Si potrebbe pensare - aggiunge - che questo memorandum si riferisca all’estrazione di minerali, non a degli esseri umani».Fonti delle Nazioni Unite contattate da “Avvenire” hanno reagito a caldo considerando l’intesa come una «regolamentazione di fatto dei respingimenti illegali».

      Negli anni scorsi più volte Avvenire ha documentato, anche con registrazioni audio, il collegamento diretto tra la Marina italiana e la Guardia costiera libica. Ma ora Malta si spinge oltre, ufficializzando una alleanza operativa che inoltre rischierà di causare conflitti con l’operazione navale europea Irini a guida italiana. Fonti delle Nazioni Unite contattate da Avvenire hanno reagito a caldo considerando l’intesa come una “regolamentazione di fatto dei respingimenti illegali”.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/accordo-malta-libia-respingimento-migranti

    • Malta: Illegal tactics mar another year of suffering in central Mediterranean

      The Maltese government has resorted to dangerous and illegal measures for dealing with the arrivals of refugees and migrants at sea, which are exposing countless people to appalling suffering and risking their lives, Amnesty International revealed today in a report “Waves of impunity: Malta’s violations of the rights of refugees and migrants in the Central Mediterranean”. As Amnesty is launching this new report, despair is growing aboard the Maersk Etienne, which has been denied a port to disembark for over a month, after rescuing 27 people on a request from Maltese authorities

      The Maltese government’s change in approach to arrivals in the central Mediterranean in 2020 has seen them take unlawful, and sometimes unprecedented, measures to avoid assisting refugees and migrants. This escalation of tactics included arranging unlawful pushbacks to Libya, diverting boats towards Italy rather than rescuing people in distress, illegally detaining hundreds of people on ill-equipped ferries off Malta’s waters, and signing a new agreement with Libya to prevent people from reaching Malta.

      “Malta is stooping to ever more despicable and illegal tactics to shirk their responsibilities to people in need. Shamefully, the EU and Italy have normalized cooperation with Libya on border control, but sending people back to danger in Libya is anything but normal,” said Elisa De Pieri, Regional Researcher at Amnesty International.

      “EU member states must stop assisting in the return of people to a country where they face unspeakable horrors.”

      Some of the actions taken by the Maltese authorities may have involved criminal acts being committed, resulting in avoidable deaths, prolonged arbitrary detention, and illegal returns to war-torn Libya. The authorities also used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to declare that Malta was not a safe place to disembark – to discourage people from seeking safety and a decent life in Europe.

      The abusive practices by Malta are part and parcel of wider efforts by EU member states and institutions to outsource the control of the central Mediterranean to Libya, in order that EU-supported Libyan authorities might intercept refugees and migrants at sea before they reach Europe.

      People are then returned to Libya and arbitrarily detained in places where torture and other ill-treatment is highly likely. From the beginning of January to 27 August 2020 7,256 people were ‘pulled back’ to Libya by the EU-supported Libyan Coast Guard, which was often alerted of the presence of boats at sea by airplanes engaged in Frontex and other EU operations.

      The Easter Monday pushback

      The case of the “Easter Monday pushback” illustrates the desperate lengths to which the Maltese authorities are willing to go to prevent people arriving on their shores.

      On 15 April 2020, a group of 51 people, including seven women and three children, were unlawfully returned to Tripoli after being rescued in Malta’s search and rescue region by the commercial fishing boat Dar Al Salam 1.

      The boat, which had been contracted by the Maltese government, took those onboard back to Libya and handed them over to the Libyan authorities, exposing refugees and migrants – who had just survived a deadly shipwreck – to further risks to their life.

      Five people were dead when the vessel reached Libya, and the survivors reported that a further seven people were missing at sea. Survivors reported that those on board were not given medical assistance. In an official statement the Maltese authorities confirmed they had coordinated the operation.

      Lack of accountability in Malta

      While a magisterial inquiry into the case was conducted, it left many questions unanswered. It is still unknown how the 12 people died and how 51 were returned to Libya despite it being illegal to transfer people there. The magistrate conducting the inquiry did not hear the testimonies of the 51 people transferred to Libya, nor probe the chain of responsibility to contract the Dar El Salam 1 and instruct it to transfer people to Libya.

      The NGO Alarm Phone has evidence that other pushbacks by Maltese authorities may also have occurred in 2019 and 2020, which have not been investigated.

      EU and Italian cooperation with Libya

      Italy in particular has worked closely with Libya, having provided support to Libyan maritime authorities by providing vessels, training and assistance in the establishment of a Libyan SAR region to facilitate pullbacks by the Libyan coastguard.

      Despite intensifying conflict and the arrival of COVID-19 threatening the humanitarian situation of refugees and migrants in Libya, Italy has continued to implement policies to keep people in Libya. These include extending its Memorandum of Understanding on Migration with Libya aimed at boosting Libyan authorities’ resources to prevent departures, for another three years, extending its military operations in the region focusing on supporting Libya’s maritime authorities, and maintaining legislation and practices aimed at the criminalization of NGOs rescuing people in the central Mediterranean.

      The central Mediterranean is the latest border on which Amnesty International is highlighting abuses by EU member states authorities. In 2020, Amnesty International has also documented abuses on the borders between Croatia and Bosnia, and Greece and Turkey. The EU urgently needs an independent and effective human rights monitoring system at its external borders to ensure accountability for violations and abuses.

      “The European Commission must turn the page when they launch the New Pact on Migration and Asylum after the summer and ensure European border control and European migration policies uphold the rights of refugees and migrants,” said Elisa De Pieri.

      “The horrors faced by people returned to Libya must caution European leaders against cooperating with countries which don’t respect human rights. By continuing to empower abusers and to hide their heads in the sand when violations are committed, those EU leaders share responsibility for them.”

      https://www.amnesty.eu/news/malta-illegal-tactics-mar-another-year-of-suffering-in-central-mediterranean/#:~:text=The%20Maltese%20government%20has%20resorted,Malta's%20violations%20

  • Le 2 novembre 2019, l’#accord de #2017 entre #Italie et #Libye se renouvellera automatiquement...

    Des ONG en Italie essaie de l’arrêter...
    NO al rinnovo del #Memorandum Italia – Libia

    INTERSOS chiede programma di ricerca e salvataggio europeo e canali di ingresso regolari
    Il 2 novembre, in mancanza di un intervento del Governo, scatterà la proroga automatica del memorandum d’intesa siglato nel febbraio del 2017 con la Libia. Accordo sulla base del quale, l’Italia continua a sostenere con milioni di euro la cosiddetta Guardia Costiera libica e i centri di detenzione in Libia.
    Come organizzazione umanitaria operativa a Tripoli e nel Sud della Libia con programmi di aiuto e protezione per i minori, chiediamo con forza che il Governo italiano annulli il memorandum del 2017 e i precedenti accordi con il Governo libico e che, fatti salvi gli interventi di natura umanitaria, non vengano rifinanziati quelli di supporto alle autorità libiche nella gestione e controllo dei flussi migratori.
    Nelle relazioni con la Libia per la gestione dei flussi migratori è il momento della discontinuità. Occorre un nuovo inizio, che rimetta al centro la ricerca di soluzioni finalizzate alla tutela della vita delle persone e del diritto internazionale che ne è garanzia. Chiediamo che si stabilisca un programma efficace di ricerca e salvataggio in mare a livello europeo e che si prevedano canali di ingresso regolari, in modo che le persone non siano più costrette ad affidarsi ai trafficanti.
    Quanto accaduto in questi anni non può non essere preso in considerazione. È dimostrato come i finanziamenti italiani siano andati a sostegno anche di veri e propri criminali, come il trafficante di esseri umani Bija, sottoposto a sanzioni dal Consiglio di Sicurezza ONU per i crimini contro l’umanità su cui indaga la Corte penale internazionale.
    È dimostrato come i migranti intercettati in mare dalla Guardia Costiera libica e riportati forzatamente in Libia vengano rinchiusi nei centri di detenzione, in condizioni disumane, e siano sistematicamente sottoposti a torture, stupri e violenze. Quando tentano di opporsi al ritorno in Libia, gli ufficiali libici non esitano a sparare e a uccidere.
    Come dichiarato dalle Nazioni Unite, dal Consiglio d’Europa e dalla Commissione europea nonché dalla stessa magistratura italiana, la Libia non può in alcun modo essere considerato un Paese sicuro e dunque le persone che tentano di fuggire non possono essere rimandate in quel Paese. Lo vietano il diritto internazionale e la nostra Costituzione. I respingimenti “delegati” dalle autorità italiane alla Guardia costiera libica comportano esattamente le stesse violazioni per le quali l’Italia è già stata condannata dalla Corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo nel 2012.

    https://www.intersos.org/intersos-no-al-rinnovo-del-memorandum-italia-libia

    –--------

    Plus d’informations sur le memorandum de 2017 sur ce fil :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/600874

    Et plus en général sur l’#externalisation_des_frontières en Libye :
    https://seenthis.net/messages/705401

    #externalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #Méditerranée

    ping @isskein

    • Memorandum. Accordo Italia-Libia sui migranti: il mistero dei 5 miliardi (per Tripoli)

      Equipaggiamenti, elicotteri, gommoni, milizie.... Nessuno sa quanti soldi siano partiti dalle cancellerie europee verso Tripoli, né quanti altri prenderanno la stessa via. Un segreto ben custodito.

      È il segreto meglio custodito sui rapporti con la Libia. Nessuno sa esattamente quanti soldi siano partiti dalle cancellerie europee verso Tripoli, ne quanti altri prenderanno la via del deserto libico. Perciò, fermare il rinnovo automatico del Memorandum italo-libico significa anche rischiare di mettere a nudo una contabilità da svariati miliardi di euro.

      Nel corso del colloquio con Avvenire il guardacoste e presunto trafficante Abdurahman al Milad, nome di battaglia Bija, aveva accennato a una «trattativa di anni» tra Italia e Tripoli poi approfondita nella lunga intervista a «l’Espresso». Bija sapeva quel che diceva. Proprio nel 2008, infatti, il trattato di amicizia firmato da Gheddafi e Berlusconi prevedeva che l’Italia impiegasse cinque miliardi di dollari in aiuti. Un impegno mai rimangiato. In cambio, Tripoli si sarebbe impegnata a intensificare i pattugliamenti in mare e via terra per fermare i migranti.

      Nonostante tutte le accertate violazioni dei diritti umani, nel 2012 l’Italia aveva rinnovato l’accordo con Tripoli, ribadito poi con il Memorandum del 2017 e che verrà prorogato per altri tre anni senza condizioni. Di certo c’è che negli ultimi anni Roma ha elargito ai libici almeno 150 milioni solo per la cosiddetta Guardia costiera e per “migliorare” le condizioni dei diritti umani. Risultato: per l’Onu e per l’Ue i campi di prigionia sono irriformabili, e vanno tutti chiusi. Milioni di euro degli italiani letteralmente spariti tra le dune, non meno di quanto non avvenga con i fondi europei. A Tripoli sanno di impugnare il coltello dalla parte del manico.

      Il 20 marzo del 2017 il premier libico al Sarraj ha presentato una lista della spesa mai ritoccata. Valore, oltre 800 milioni di euro: 10 navi, 10 motovedette, 4 elicotteri, 24 gommoni, 10 ambulanze, 30 fuoristrada, 15 automobili accessoriate, almeno 30 telefoni satellitari ed equipaggiamento militare non sottoposto all’embargo sulle armi votato dall’Onu. Nello stesso periodo il governo italiano assicurava che entro il 2020 sarebbero stati investiti oltre 280 milioni solo per le autorità marittime.

      C’è poi il capitolo milizie. Un contratto, visionato da «Avvenire», riporta l’accordo tra il governo riconosciuto dall’Onu e le principali milizie anti Haftar. Ci sono poi benefit a costo zero. L’Europa ha ritirato gli assetti navali dell’operazione Sophia, così proprio da Zawyah - ha rivelato ieri Euronews – continuano a operare senza alcun rischio di ispezione le 236 navi sospettate di essere coinvolte nel traffico di carburante.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/i-soldi-a-tripoli-accordo-migranti

    • Italy to renew anti-migration deal with Libya

      Foreign minister says deal has reduced number of arrivals and deaths at sea

      Italy is to renew its deal with the UN-backed government in Libya under which the Libyan coastguard stops migrant boats at sea and sends their passengers back to the north African country, where aid agencies say they face torture and abuse.

      The foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, told the lower house of parliament it would be “unwise for Italy to break off its agreement with Libya on handling asylum seekers and combating human trafficking”.

      The deal was agreed in February 2017 in an attempt to stem the flow of refugees and migrants to Sicily’s shores. Italy agreed to train, equip and finance the Libyan coastguard, including providing four patrol vessels.

      The deal, due to expire on Saturday, will be renewed automatically unless one of the parties opts out. Di Maio said: “The document can be amended but it is undeniable that it has reduced the number of arrivals and deaths at sea.”

      Sources close to the Italian government said amendments should include evacuation programmes to resettle asylum seekers and measures to ensure the presence of humanitarian organisations in Libyan detention centres. It is not clear whether Tripoli would agree to such changes.

      Médecins Sans Frontières said the proposed changes would serve only to “perpetuate policies of rejection and detention” in Libya.

      “The only possible solution is to completely overcome the arbitrary detention system and end the support offered to the Libyan authorities that feed suffering, violations of international law and the odious work of smugglers,” said Marco Bertotto, MSF’s head of advocacy.

      Early in October the Italian newspaper Avvenire revealed that a man described as one of the world’s most notorious human traffickers attended a series of meetings in Italy in May 2017 between Italian officials and a Libyan delegation to discuss controls on migration flows from north Africa. The alleged trafficker, Abd al-Rahman Milad, nicknamed Bija, is a captain of the Libyan coastguard.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/31/italy-to-renew-anti-migration-deal-with-libya

    • L’Italie renouvelle son accord controversé sur les garde-côtes libyens

      Malgré de nombreuses critiques, l’accord controversé signé en 2017 entre l’Italie et la Libye a été renouvelé mercredi 30 octobre par le chef de la diplomatie italienne. Soutenu par l’Union européenne, le texte prévoit une aide financière et la formation des garde-côtes libyens pour bloquer les départs de migrants.

      L’annonce a été faite au Parlement mercredi 30 octobre par le chef de la diplomatie italienne Luigi di Maio. L’Italie renouvelle l’accord controversé signé avec la Libye en 2017 afin de stopper les départs de migrants depuis les côtes libyennes. Le texte prévoit, une nouvelle fois, une aide financière et la formation des garde-côtes libyens.

      « Une réduction de l’assistance italienne [à la Libye] pourrait se traduire par une suspension de l’activité des garde-côtes libyens, avec pour conséquence : davantage de départs, des tragédies en mer et une détérioration des conditions des migrants dans les centres d’accueil », a justifié le ministre des Affaires étrangères. « Le texte fonctionne » et « personne ne peut nier qu’il a permis de passer de 170 000 débarquement [de migrants en 2016] à 2 200 en seulement deux ans ».

      L’accord est ainsi prolongé pour trois ans à partir du 2 novembre.

      Face aux critiques, Luigi di Maio a promis que le gouvernement « travaille pour améliorer » les termes de l’accord : selon le chef de la diplomatie, Rome va chercher à « impliquer davantage les Nations unies et la société civile dans l’amélioration de l’assistance aux migrants » en élargissant l’accès des ONG aux centres de détention libyens, à augmenter les fonds pour le rapatriement vers les pays d’origine quand ils sont considérés comme sûrs comme la Tunisie et pour financer des projets de coopération.

      « La seule solution humanitaire possible est de mettre un terme au système de détention arbitraire »

      Médecins sans frontières (MSF) ne croit pas en ces « modifications envisagées ». C’est du « maquillage humanitaire » car elles sont « difficilement réalisables » estime Marco Bertollo de MSF/Italie dans un communiqué. Le gouvernement italien dit « vouloir améliorer la situation mais en réalité, on perpétue des politiques de renvoi et de détention », a-t-il encore insisté.

      MSF a ainsi demandé à l’Italie et à la communauté internationale de « cesser d’apporter un soutien aux autorités et aux garde-côtes libyens qui ne fait qu’alimenter les souffrances, les violations des droits de l’Homme et l’odieuse activité des trafiquants d’êtres humains, à terre et en mer ».

      L’ONG est présente en Libye et fournit une assistance médico-humanitaire aux migrants présents dans les centres de détention. « La seule solution possible est de mettre un terme au système de détention arbitraire », et d’évacuer les migrants et réfugiés, a ajouté MSF, soulignant que le Haut-commissariat des Nations unies aux réfugiés (HCR).
      L’accord italo-libyen avait été négocié par Marco Minniti, un ancien communiste passé par les services secrets, et devenu ministre de l’Intérieur en décembre 2016, du gouvernement de Paolo Gentiloni (en place jusqu’au printemps 2018). Fort de vieux contacts en Libye, il avait signé un « mémorandum » avec les autorités de Tripoli mais aussi avec des milices pour bloquer les migrants.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/20545/l-italie-renouvelle-son-accord-controverse-sur-les-garde-cotes-libyens

    • Italy’s Libyan Conundrum: The Risks of Short-Term Thinking

      In early November, Italy decided not to withdraw from the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in February 2017. The MoU established a framework for cooperation between Libya and Italy “in the development sector, combating illegal immigration, human trafficking and contraband, and strengthening border security”. Although it covers several topics, the agreement is widely interpreted as having been negotiated with a single aim: to reduce the number of irregular migrants travelling from Libya to Europe. But the MoU also includes political commitments that have often been overlooked.

      On migration, the agreement committed Italy to provide training and equipment to the Libyan Coast Guard, as well as to co-fund projects (with the European Union) to improve conditions in Libya’s migrant detention centres, which currently hold an estimated 4,400 people. The debate on the MoU has revolved around these practical implications of the arrangement more than anything else.

      However, despite much fanfare, the MoU is largely a political symbol – and should be treated as such. Aside from prompting Italy to hand several ships over to the Libyan Coast Guard, the MoU had few practical consequences. Indeed, the Italian authorities began to empower the coast guard long before the MoU was signed: the force intercepted roughly the same number of migrants – 15,000 – and brought them back to Libya in 2016 and 2017, the year the MoU was signed. Although there was a sudden drop in migrant departures from Libya in mid-July 2017, this was primarily due to many Libyan militias’ decision to hold migrants in formal and informal detention centres for longer periods.

      Overall, independently from the MoU, the strategy put in place by Italy and the EU since 2016 has been effective at convincing Libyan militias to stop or defer migrant departures. These departures fell by 80 percent in the first year of the strategy and are now down by 95 percent since 2016. Thus, the decline in departures has persisted throughout 2019 even as Libya spiralled into civil war again, with the forces of general Khalifa Haftar directly attacking the Libyan capital.

      Yet the fact that European cooperation with militias has achieved its main aim should not obscure two important facts. Firstly, the deals Italy and the EU have struck with militias may have both reduced the flow of irregular migrants and protected energy infrastructure – including the GreenStream natural gas pipeline, which connects Italy to Libyan oil and natural gas facilities – but they have not co-opted the groups at the political level. As such, the militias do not operate under any kind of national reconciliation plan or a disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration process, but have gained the upper hand over their European partners. They do not appear to be willing to engage in talks designed to bring them back under state control.

      Secondly, in dealing with militias as potential political actors, Italy and the EU have failed to make them more responsive to requests that they protect the human rights and dignity of people they hold in detention. Despite engaging in intensive contact and frequent training and capacity-building activities with the militias, Italy and the EU have failed to convince these groups to change the way in which they conduct interceptions at sea or manage detention centres. Crucially, the militias have been unwilling or unable to sideline some of their most brutal members.

      By prioritising short-term gains in irregular migration and energy security, Italy and the EU have helped create an unsustainable security and political situation. This could jeopardise the progress they have made, as the volatile situation in Libya requires constant European monitoring (and, sometimes, action). It is hard for Italy and the EU to create a sustainable solution to a single policy problem when they decouple it from broader efforts to restore stable political and security conditions in Libya.

      While their attempts to co-opt militias are not inherently wrong, Italy and the EU should have approached the task very differently. They should have worked to support Libya’s central authorities, providing them with the tools they needed to negotiate with strong militias while keeping them in check. Instead, European deals with militiamen have speeded up the process but have also helped strengthen already powerful local actors relative to the central government. In this way, Italy and the EU have inadvertently delegitimised the GNA.

      Meanwhile, instead of protecting vulnerable people from abuse, European support has empowered non-state actors to subject them to further human rights violations. Renewed conflict in Libya has made it even more difficult for international institutions – particularly the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – to return to work safely in the Tripolitania or Fezzan regions.

      The evidence suggests that Rome is abandoning its attempts to play a constructive, visible role in Libya. For example, it appears to have chosen to talk with Haftar more closely. The Italian government had a muted response to Haftar’s recent launch of several airstrikes on Misrata airport (where an Italian military hospital is located), suggesting that its relationship with the general is becoming more ambiguous. Similarly, when Haftar’s forces allegedly bombed a detention centre in Tajoura, in Tripoli, in early July – killing at least 60 migrants there – Rome mildly condemned the attack and took no action against its perpetrators.

      This apparent rapprochement between Italy and Haftar is taking place long after other international actors – such as Egypt, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and especially France – developed a privileged relationship with the general. In this way, Italy risks losing credibility among both those who support the general and the remaining international allies of president Fayez al-Sarraj’s GNA. Indeed, most observers appear to have interpreted Rome’s willingness to talk with Haftar’s supporters as a tacit admission that its earlier strategy – of supporting Sarraj and the UN mission in Libya – was failing.

      To remedy the situation, Italy should seize on discussions on the MoU to establish much clearer political guidelines for its Libya strategy. Rome should use the renegotiation of the MoU to foster national dialogue and reconciliation, demonstrating that it still supports the GNA. And, if Italy really wants to improve its relations with Haftar, it should use the MoU talks to do so within a larger diplomatic context.

      Italy should use its support for Sarraj’s government to push for much more credible commitments to human rights protections in Libya. Rome has been at the forefront of the European effort to help migrants stuck in Libya, working consistently with international organisations to establish humanitarian corridors to Europe, emergency evacuations to Niger and Rwanda, and assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin. Italy should pursue such efforts within a broader EU framework, systematically involving other European partners and the Libyan authorities.

      Finally, Italy and the EU need to continue to look for long-term political solutions in Libya. For several years, policy experts have advocated for a pragmatic national dialogue in the country. This dialogue should include pivotal actors such as militias, despite their involvement in human rights abuses. It is imperative that Italy and the EU communicate the need for this kind of realistic approach to European voters. However, they should also ensure that their attempts to involve militias in national reconciliation come with conditions that contribute to the goal of disarming these groups and turning them into exclusively political actors.

      It is in Italy’s national interest to bring peace and stability to Libya. But it should do so with a set of clear goals in mind. Italy should focus on long-term stability, not short-term gains. It should not necessarily shy away from controversial decisions, but acknowledge that experts’ criticism of its approach has often been accurate. And Italy should make its utmost efforts to ensure that, during this painstaking and complex process, civilians in Libya do not pay for its mistakes.

      https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/italys-libyan-conundrum-risks-short-term-thinking-24469

    • Proposition pour un nouveau accord Italie-Libye :

      https://www.avvenire.it/c/attualita/Documents/Avvenire-%20memorandum.pdf

      Commentaire de Sara Prestianni via la mailing-list Migreurop :

      Pas beaucoup de nouveautés par rapport a celui de 2017, entre autres:
      – continuité dans la collaboration avec le “gardes cotes libyennes”
      – dangereuse référence à l’art 19 du #MoU de 2008, qui prévoyait l’installation d’un système de contrôle à la frontière sud «Sempre in tema di lotta all’immigrazione clandestina, le due Partì promuovono la realizzazione di un sistema di controllo delle frontiere terrestri libiche, da affidare a società italiane in possesso delle necessarie competenze tecnologiche. Il Governo italiano sosterrà il 50% dei costi, mentre per il restante 50% le due Parti chiederanno all’Unione Europea di farsene carico, tenuto conto delle Intese a suo tempo intervenute tra la #Grande Giamahiria e la ’Commissione Europea.»
      – nommer les camps d’enfermement libyens “centres d’accueil”

      #memorandum_of_understanding #contrôles_frontaliers #frontières #privatisation #Gran_Giamahiria_Araba_Libica_Popolare_Socialista #Jamahiriya_arabe_libyenne

    • La Commissaire appelle l’Italie à suspendre ses activités de coopération avec les garde-côtes libyens et à intégrer des mesures de protection des droits de l’homme dans la future coopération relative aux migrations

      Dans une lettre adressée au ministre des Affaires étrangères de l’Italie, Luigi Di Maio, rendue publique aujourd’hui, la Commissaire appelle le Gouvernement italien à intégrer des garanties en matière de droits de l’homme dans le mémorandum d’entente entre l’Italie et la Libye.

      Tout en prenant note des discussions en cours qui visent à améliorer le respect des droits de l’homme dans l’avenir, la Commissaire appelle l’Italie à tenir compte de la réalité qui prévaut actuellement sur le terrain en Libye et à suspendre ses activités de coopération avec les garde-côtes libyens qui entraînent le renvoi en Libye des personnes interceptées en mer.

      Dans ce contexte, la Commissaire attire l’attention du gouvernement sur les principales garanties dont doit être assortie toute coopération avec des pays tiers dans le domaine migratoire pour que les droits de l’homme soient effectivement respectés. Rappelant sa recommandation intitulée « Sauver des vies. Protéger les droits. Combler le manque de protection des réfugiés et des migrants en Méditerranée » (recommandation en Italien),

      elle souligne la nécessité d’évaluer les risques d’atteinte aux droits des migrants et des demandeurs d’asile que présente toute activité de coopération relative aux migrations, de concevoir des stratégies d’atténuation de ces risques, de mettre en place des mécanismes de suivi indépendants et d’établir un système de recours effectif.

      Dans sa lettre, la Commissaire indique aussi qu’elle continuera à appeler les États membres du Conseil de l’Europe à se montrer plus solidaires avec les pays qui, comme l’Italie, sont en première ligne face aux mouvements migratoires dirigés vers l’Europe, et à mieux coopérer pour préserver la vie et protéger les droits de l’homme des personnes en mer, y compris en prenant leur part de responsabilité pour assurer des moyens de sauvetage suffisants et un débarquement rapide des personnes secourues.

      https://www.coe.int/fr/web/commissioner/-/commissioner-urges-italy-to-suspend-co-operation-activities-with-libyan-coast-g

    • Memorandum Italia-Libia prorogato: una vergogna
      Rinnovato dal 2 febbraio. Assenti le modifiche annunciate

      Domenica 2 febbraio il #memorandum Italia-Libia, firmato nel 2017, è stato prorogato automaticamente alle stesse condizioni, per altri tre anni.

      Si tratta del memorandum stipulato durante il governo Gentiloni, e che i successivi governi Conte hanno mantenuto finora: esso ha ‘regolato’ la politica tra i due Paesi in tema di immigrazione, stabilendo una stretta collaborazione con la Guardia costiera libica, i cui membri sono stati accusati ripetutamente dalle agenzie Onu di traffico e detenzione di esseri umani.
      Lo stesso memorandum, negli stessi tre anni, è stato condannato dalle organizzazioni e dalle agenzie internazionali per i diritti umani per le accertate condizioni disumane e di tortura ai danni delle persone migranti. Nei giorni scorsi in tanti, noi compresi, avevamo chiesto di sospendere il Memorandum e di smettere la complicità con un Paese colpevole di simili trattamenti.

      Il governo rassicura: il rinnovo automatico non preclude l’avvio dei negoziati con Tripoli, preannunciati l’11 novembre dal premier Conte alle controparti libiche, ma le preoccupazioni sono evidenti per lo stato di guerra in Libia e per il tempo assolutamente improduttivo trascorso fino a oggi.

      E nel frattempo la Libia, come sottolinea la decisione dell’Unhcr di sospendere le attività, è precipitata in una situazione di totale instabilità: dopo lo scoppio della guerra, dal 4 aprile scorso, in un Paese di 5 milioni di abitanti, ci sono stati quasi 350mila sfollati. I più vulnerabili sono i rifugiati e i migranti presenti nel Paese nordafricano: circa 3200 rifugiati e migranti si trovano nei centri di detenzione gestiti dal Dipartimento per il contrasto all’immigrazione illegale (Ministero dell’Interno) e dalle milizie. Tra loro circa 2mila si trovano in aree esposte ai combattimenti (soprattutto a Tripoli e nei dintorni).

      L’Italia, ignorando i numerosi appelli, si avvia all’investimento di ingenti risorse di cui non è possibile verificare l’impiego.

      https://www.arci.it/memorandum-italia-libia-prorogato-una-vergogna
      #renouvellement

  • Rwanda to receive over 500 migrants from Libya

    Rwanda and Libya are currently working out an evacuation plan for some hundreds of migrants being held in detention centres in the North African country, officials confirmed.

    Diyana Gitera, the Director General for Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation told The New Times that Rwanda was working on a proposal with partners to evacuate refugees from Libya.

    She said that initially, Rwanda will receive 500 refugees as part of the commitment by President Paul Kagame in late 2017.

    President Kagame made this commitment after revelations that tens of thousands of different African nationalities were stranded in Libya having failed to make it across the Mediterranean Sea to European countries.

    “We are talking at this time of up to 500 refugees from Libya,” Gitera said, without revealing more details.

    She however added that the exact timing of when these would be brought will be confirmed later.

    It had earlier been said that Rwanda was ready to receive up to 30,000 immigrants under this arrangement.

    Rwanda’s intervention came amid harrowing revelations that the migrants, most of them from West Africa, are being sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya.

    The immigrants are expected to be received under an emergency plan being discussed with international humanitarian agencies and other partners.

    Gitera highlighted that the process was being specifically supported by the African Union (AU) with funding from European Union (EU) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

    The proposal comes as conflict in war-torn North African country deepens.

    The United Nations estimates almost 5,000 migrants are in detention centres in Libya, about 70 per cent of them refugees and asylum seekers, most of whom have been subjected to different forms of abuse.

    This is however against the backdrop of accusations against the EU over the plight of migrants.

    Already, thousands of the migrants have died over the past few years while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European countries where they hope for better lives.

    Human rights groups have documented multiple cases of rape, torture and other crimes at the facilities, some of which are run by militias.

    Rwanda hopes to step in to rescue some of these struggling migrants in its capacity.

    The Government of Rwanda has been generously hosting refugees for over two decades and coordinates the refugee response with UNHCR, as well as providing land to establish refugee camps and ensuring camp management and security.

    Generally, Rwanda offers a favourable protection environment for refugees.

    They have the right to education, employment, cross borders, and access to durable solutions (resettlement, local integration and return) is unhindered.

    Camps like Gihembe, Kigeme, Kiziba, Mugombwa and Nyabiheke host thousands of refugees, especially from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi where political instabilities have forced people to leave their countries.

    https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/rwanda-receive-over-500-migrants-libya
    #Libye #évacuation #Rwanda #asile #migrations #réfugiés #union_africaine #plan_d'urgence #UE #EU #externalisation #Union_européenne #HCR #UNHCR

    via @pascaline

    • Europe Keeps Asylum Seekers at a Distance, This Time in Rwanda

      For three years, the European Union has been paying other countries to keep asylum seekers away from a Europe replete with populist and anti-migrant parties.

      It has paid Turkey billions to keep refugees from crossing to Greece. It has funded the Libyan Coast Guard to catch and return migrant boats to North Africa. It has set up centers in distant Niger to process asylum seekers, if they ever make it that far. Most don’t.

      Even as that arm’s-length network comes under criticism on humanitarian grounds, it is so overwhelmed that the European Union is seeking to expand it, as the bloc aims to buttress an approach that has drastically cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

      It is now preparing to finish a deal, this time in Rwanda, to create yet another node that it hopes will help alleviate some of the mounting strains on its outsourcing network.
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      Critics say the Rwanda deal will deepen a morally perilous policy, even as it underscores how precarious the European Union’s teetering system for handling the migrant crisis has become.

      Tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers remain trapped in Libya, where a patchwork of militias control detention centers and migrants are sold as slaves or into prostitution, and kept in places so packed that there is not even enough floor space to sleep on.

      A bombing of a migrant detention center in July left 40 dead, and it has continued to operate in the months since, despite part of it having been reduced to rubble.

      Even as the system falters, few in the West seem to be paying much attention, and critics say that is also part of the aim — to keep a problem that has roiled European politics on the other side of Mediterranean waters, out of sight and out of mind.

      Screening asylum seekers in safe, remote locations — where they can qualify as refugees without undertaking perilous journeys to Europe — has long been promoted in Brussels as a way to dismantle smuggler networks while giving vulnerable people a fair chance at a new life. But the application by the European Union has highlighted its fundamental flaws: The offshore centers are too small and the pledges of refugee resettlement too few.

      European populists continue to flog the narrative that migrants are invading, even though the European Union’s migration policy has starkly reduced the number of new arrivals. In 2016, 181,376 people crossed the Mediterranean from North Africa to reach Italian shores. Last year, the number plummeted to 23,485.

      But the bloc’s approach has been sharply criticized by humanitarian and refugee-rights groups, not only for the often deplorable conditions of the detention centers, but also because few consigned to them have any real chance of gaining asylum.

      “It starts to smell as offshore processing and a backdoor way for European countries to keep people away from Europe, in a way that’s only vaguely different to how Australia manages it,” said Judith Sunderland, an expert with Human Rights Watch, referring to that country’s policy of detaining asylum seekers on distant Pacific islands.

      Such criticism first surfaced in Europe in 2016, when the European Union agreed to pay Turkey roughly $6 billion to keep asylum seekers from crossing to Greece, and to take back some of those who reached Greece.

      On the Africa front, in particular in the central Mediterranean, the agreements have come at a lower financial cost, but arguably at a higher moral one.
      Image
      A migrant detention center in Tripoli, Libya, in 2015.

      Brussels’ funding of the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept migrant boats before they reach international waters has been extremely effective, but has left apprehended migrants vulnerable to abuses in a North African country with scant central governance and at the mercy of an anarchic, at-war state of militia rule.

      A handful are resettled directly out of Libya, and a few thousand more are transferred by the United Nations refugee agency and its partner, the International Organization for Migration, to a processing center in Niger. Only some of those have a realistic shot at being granted asylum in Europe.

      With many European Union member states refusing to accept any asylum seekers, Brussels and, increasingly, President Emmanuel Macron of France have appealed to those willing to take in a few who are deemed especially vulnerable.

      As Italy has continued to reject migrant rescue vessels from docking at its ports, and threatened to impose fines of up to 1 million euros, about $1.1 million, on those who defy it, Mr. Macron has spearheaded an initiative among European Union members to help resettle migrants rescued in the Mediterranean. Eight nations have joined.

      But ultimately, it’s a drop in the bucket.

      An estimated half a million migrants live in Libya, and just 51,000 are registered with the United Nations refugee agency. Five thousand are held in squalid and unsafe detention centers.

      “European countries face a dilemma,” said Camille Le Coz, an expert with the Migration Policy Institute in Brussels. “They do not want to welcome more migrants from Libya and worry about creating pull factors, but at the same time they can’t leave people trapped in detention centers.”
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      The United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, mostly using European Union funding, have evacuated about 4,000 people to the transit center in Niger over the past two years.

      Niger, a country that has long served as a key node in the migratory route from Africa to Europe, is home to some of the world’s most effective people-smugglers.

      The capacity of the center in Agadez, where smugglers also base their operations, is about 1,000. But it has at times held up to three times as many, as resettlement to Europe and North America has been slack.

      Fourteen countries — 10 from the European Union, along with Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the United States — have pledged to resettle about 6,600 people either directly from Libya or from the Niger facility, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

      It has taken two years to fulfill about half of those pledges, with some resettlements taking up to 12 months to process, a spokesman for the agency said.

      Some countries that made pledges, such as Belgium and Finland, have taken only a few dozen people; others, like the Netherlands, fewer than 10; Luxembourg has taken none, a review of the refugee agency’s data shows.

      Under the agreement with Rwanda, which is expected to be signed in the coming weeks, the east African country will take in about 500 migrants evacuated from Libya and host them until they are resettled to new homes or sent back to their countries of origin.

      It will offer a way out for a lucky few, but ultimately the Rwandan center is likely to run into the same delays and problems as the one in Agadez.

      “The Niger program has suffered from a lot of setbacks, hesitation, very slow processing by European and other countries, very low numbers of actual resettlements,” said Ms. Sunderland of Human Rights Watch. “There’s not much hope then that the exact same process in Rwanda would lead to dramatically different outcomes.”

      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/world/europe/migrants-africa-rwanda.html

    • Vu des États-Unis.L’UE choisit le Rwanda pour relocaliser les demandeurs d’asile

      L’Union européenne va conclure un accord avec le Rwanda pour tenir les demandeurs d’asile à l’écart de ses frontières. Déchirée sur la question des migrants, l’Europe poursuit une politique déjà expérimentée et critiquée, analyse The New York Times.

      https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/vu-des-etats-unis-lue-choisit-le-rwanda-pour-relocaliser-les-

    • Le Rwanda, un nouveau #hotspot pour les migrants qui fuient l’enfer libyen

      Comme au Niger, le Haut-commissariat aux réfugiés de l’ONU va ouvrir un centre de transit pour accueillir 500 migrants détenus en Libye. D’autres contingents d’évacués pourront prendre le relais au fur et à mesure que les 500 premiers migrants auront une solution d’installation ou de rapatriement.

      Quelque 500 migrants actuellement enfermés en centres de détention en Libye vont être évacués vers le Rwanda dans les prochaines semaines, en vertu d’un accord signé mardi 10 septembre par le gouvernement rwandais, le Haut-commissariat aux réfugiés de l’ONU (HCR), et l’Union africaine (UA).

      Il s’agira principalement de personnes originaires de la corne de l’Afrique, toutes volontaires pour être évacuées vers le Rwanda. Leur prise en charge à la descente de l’avion sera effectuée par le HCR qui les orientera vers un centre d’accueil temporaire dédié.

      Situé à 60 km de Kigali, la capitale rwandaise, le centre de transit de Gashora a été établi en 2015 “pour faire face, à l’époque, à un afflux de migrants burundais” fuyant des violences dans leur pays, explique à InfoMigrants Elise Villechalane, représentante du HCR au Rwanda. D’une capacité de 338 places, l’édifice implanté sur un terrain de 26 hectares a déjà accueilli, au fil des années, un total de 30 000 Burundais. “Des travaux sont en cours pour augmenter la capacité et arriver à 500 personnes”, précise Elise Villechalane.

      Les premiers vols d’évacués devraient arriver dans les prochaines semaines et s’étaler sur plusieurs mois. Le HCR estime que le centre tournera à pleine capacité d’ici la fin de l’année. À l’avenir, d’autres contingents d’évacués pourront prendre le relais au fur et à mesure que les 500 premiers migrants quitteront les lieux.

      Certains réfugiés "pourraient recevoir l’autorisation de rester au Rwanda"

      “Une fois [les migrants] arrivés sur place, nous procéderons à leur évaluation [administrative] afin de trouver une solution au cas par cas”, poursuit Elise Villechalane. “En fonction de leur parcours et de leur vulnérabilité, il pourra leur être proposé une réinstallation dans un pays tiers, ou dans un pays où ils ont déjà obtenu l’asile avant de se rendre en Libye, mais aussi un retour volontaire dans leur pays d’origine quand les conditions pour un rapatriement dans la sécurité et la dignité sont réunies.”

      Dans des cas plus rares, et si aucune solution n’est trouvée, certains réfugiés "pourraient recevoir l’autorisation de rester au Rwanda", a indiqué Germaine Kamayirese, la ministre chargée des mesures d’Urgence, lors d’une déclaration à la presse à Kigali.

      Le Rwanda a décidé d’accueillir des évacués de Libye à la suite d’un discours du chef de l’État rwandais Paul Kagame le 23 novembre 2017, peu après la diffusion d’un document choc de CNN sur des migrants africains réduits en esclavage en Libye. “Le président a offert généreusement d’accueillir des migrants, ce qui a, depuis, été élargi pour inclure les réfugiés, les demandeurs d’asile et toutes les autres personnes spécifiées dans le mémorandum d’accord”, affirme Olivier Kayumba, secrétaire du ministère chargé de la Gestion des situations d’urgence, contacté par InfoMigrants.

      Le pays reconnaît, en outre, qu’il existe actuellement en Libye “une situation de plus en plus complexe et exceptionnelle conduisant à la détention et aux mauvais traitements de ressortissants de pays tiers”, continue Olivier Kayumba qui rappelle qu’en tant que signataire de la Convention de 1951 relative au statut des réfugiés, son pays s’est senti le devoir d’agir.

      Le Rwanda prêt à accueillir jusqu’à 30 000 africains évacués

      Plus de 149 000 réfugiés, principalement burundais et congolais, vivent actuellement au Rwanda qui compte une population de 12 millions d’habitants. “Les Rwandais sont habitués à vivre en harmonie avec les réfugiés”, ajoute Olivier Kayumba. “Grâce à la mise en place d’une stratégie d’inclusion, les enfants de réfugiés vont à l’école avec les locaux, les communautés d’accueil incluent aussi les réfugiés dans le système d’assurance maladie et d’accès à l’emploi.”

      Le gouvernement rwandais se dit prêt à accueillir jusqu’à 30 000 Africains évacués de Libye dans son centre de transit, mais uniquement par groupes de 500, afin d’éviter un engorgement du système d’accueil.

      "C’est un moment historique, parce que des Africains tendent la main à d’autres Africains", s’est réjouie Amira Elfadil, commissaire de l’Union africaine (UA) aux Affaires sociales, lors d’une conférence de presse. "Je suis convaincue que cela fait partie des solutions durables".

      L’UA espère désormais que d’autres pays africains rejoindront le Rwanda en proposant un soutien similaire aux évacués de Libye.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/19455/le-rwanda-un-nouveau-hotspot-pour-les-migrants-qui-fuient-l-enfer-liby

    • Signing of MoU between the AU, Government of Rwanda and UNHCR

      Signing of the MoU between the @_AfricanUnion, the Government of #Rwanda and the United Nations High Commissioner for @Refugees (UNHCR) to establish an Emergency Transit Mechanism #ETM in Rwanda for refugees and asylum-seekers stranded in #Libya

      https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion/status/1171307373945937920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E11
      Lien vers la vidéo:
      https://livestream.com/AfricanUnion/events/8813789/videos/196081645
      #Memorandum_of_understanding #signature #vidéo #MoU #Emergency_Transit_Mechanism #Union_africaine #UA

    • Le HCR, le Gouvernement rwandais et l’Union africaine signent un accord pour l’évacuation de réfugiés hors de la Libye

      Le Gouvernement rwandais, le HCR, l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, et l’Union africaine ont signé aujourd’hui un mémorandum d’accord qui prévoit de mettre en œuvre un dispositif pour évacuer des réfugiés hors de la Libye.

      Selon cet accord, le Gouvernement rwandais recevra et assurera la protection de réfugiés qui sont actuellement séquestrés dans des centres de détention en Libye. Ils seront transférés en lieu sûr au Rwanda sur une base volontaire.

      Un premier groupe de 500 personnes, majoritairement originaires de pays de la corne de l’Afrique, sera évacué. Ce groupe comprend notamment des enfants et des jeunes dont la vie est menacée. Après leur arrivée, le HCR continuera de rechercher des solutions pour les personnes évacuées.

      Si certains peuvent bénéficier d’une réinstallation dans des pays tiers, d’autres seront aidés à retourner dans les pays qui leur avait précédemment accordé l’asile ou à regagner leur pays d’origine, s’ils peuvent le faire en toute sécurité. Certains pourront être autorisés à rester au Rwanda sous réserve de l’accord des autorités compétentes.

      Les vols d’évacuation devraient commencer dans les prochaines semaines et seront menés en coopération avec les autorités rwandaises et libyennes. L’Union africaine apportera son aide pour les évacuations, fournira un soutien politique stratégique en collaborant avec la formation et la coordination et aidera à mobiliser des ressources. Le HCR assurera des prestations de protection internationale et fournira l’aide humanitaire nécessaire, y compris des vivres, de l’eau, des abris ainsi que des services d’éducation et de santé.

      Le HCR exhorte la communauté internationale à contribuer des ressources pour la mise en œuvre de cet accord.

      Depuis 2017, le HCR a évacué plus de 4400 personnes relevant de sa compétence depuis la Libye vers d’autres pays, dont 2900 par le biais du mécanisme de transit d’urgence au Niger et 425 vers des pays européens via le centre de transit d’urgence en Roumanie.

      Néanmoins, quelque 4700 personnes seraient toujours détenues dans des conditions effroyables à l’intérieur de centres de détention en Libye. Il est urgent de les transférer vers des lieux sûrs, de leur assurer la protection internationale, de leur fournir une aide vitale d’urgence et de leur rechercher des solutions durables.


      https://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/press/2019/9/5d778a48a/hcr-gouvernement-rwandais-lunion-africaine-signent-accord-levacuation-refugie

    • ‘Life-saving’: hundreds of refugees to be evacuated from Libya to Rwanda

      First group expected to leave dire detention centres in days, as UN denies reports that plan is part of EU strategy to keep refugees from Europe

      Hundreds of African refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libyan detention centres will be evacuated to Rwanda under a “life-saving” agreement reached with Kigali and the African Union, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

      The first group of 500 people, including children and young people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, are expected to arrive in Rwanda over the coming days, out of 4,700 now estimated to be in custody in Libya, where conflict is raging. The measure is part of an “emergency transit mechanism”, to evacuate people at risk of harm in detention centres inside the county.

      Babar Baloch, UNHCR spokesman in Geneva, said the agreement was “a life-line” mechanism to allow those in danger to get to a place of safety.

      “This is an expansion of the humanitarian evacuation to save lives,” said Baloch. “The focus is on those trapped inside Libya. We’ve seen how horrible the conditions are and we want to get them out of harm’s way.”

      More than 50,000 people fleeing war and poverty in Africa remain in Libya, where a network of militias run overcrowded detention centres, and where there are reports that people have been sold as slaves or into prostitution.

      The UN denied reports the European Union were behind the agreement, as part of a strategy to keep migrants away from Europe. Vincent Cochetel, the special envoy for the UNHCR for the central Mediterranean, told Reuters the funding would mainly come from the EU, but also from the African Union which has received $20m (£16m) from Qatar to support the reintegration of African migrants. But he later said on Twitter that no funding had yet been received and that he was working on it “with partners” (https://twitter.com/cochetel/status/1171400370339373057).

      Baloch said: “We are asking for support from all of our donors, including the EU. The arrangement is between UNHCR, the African Union and Rwanda.”

      The EU has been criticised for funding the Libyan coastguard, who pick up escaped migrants from boats in the Mediterranean and send them back to centres where they face beatings, sexual violence and forced labour according to rights groups.

      In July, the bombing of a migrant detention centre in Tripoli left 44 people dead, leading to international pressure to find a safe haven for refugees.
      Fear and despair engulf refugees in Libya’s ’market of human beings’
      Read more

      Under the agreement, the government of Rwanda will receive and provide protection to refugees and asylum seekers in groups of about 50, who will be put up in a transit facility outside the capital of Kigali. After their arrival, the UNHCR will continue to pursue solutions for them. Some will be resettled to third countries, others helped to return to countries where asylum had previously been granted and others will stay in Rwanda. They will return to their homes if it is safe to do so.

      Cochetel said: “The government has said, ‘If you [UNHCR] think the people should stay long-term in Rwanda, no problem. If you think they should be reunited with their family, they should be resettled, no problem. You [UNHCR] decide on the solution.’”

      “Rwanda has said, ‘We’ll give them the space, we’ll give them the status, we’ll give them the residence permit. They will be legally residing in Rwanda as refugees.’”

      Rwanda, a country of 12 million, is the second African country to provide temporary refuge to migrants in Libya. It already supports around 150,000 refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.

      UNHCR has evacuated more than 2,900 refugees and asylum seekers out of Libya to Niger through an existing emergency transit mechanism. Almost 2,000 of them have been resettled, to countries in Europe, the US and Canada, the agency said, with the rest remaining in Niger.

      https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/10/hundreds-refugees-evacuated-libya-to-rwanda?CMP=share_btn_fb

    • INTERVIEW-African refugees held captive in Libya to go to Rwanda in coming weeks - UNHCR

      Hundreds of African refugees trapped in Libyan detention centres will be evacuated to Rwanda within the next few weeks as part of increasingly urgent efforts to relocate people as conflict rages in north African nation, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

      Vincent Cochetel, special envoy for the central Mediterranean for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), said 500 refugees will be evacuated to Rwanda in a deal signed with the small east African nation and the African Union on Tuesday.

      “The agreement with Rwanda says the number can be increased from 500 if they are satisfied with how it works,” Cochetel told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview ahead of the official U.N. announcement.

      “It really depends on the response of the international community to make it work. But it means we have one more solution to the situation in Libya. It’s not a big fix, but it’s helpful.”

      Libya has become the main conduit for Africans fleeing war and poverty trying to reach Europe, since former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

      People smugglers have exploited the turmoil to send hundreds of thousands of migrants on dangerous journeys across the central Mediterranean although the number of crossings dropped sharply from 2017 amid an EU-backed push to block arrivals.

      Many are picked up at sea by the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard which sends them back, often to be detained in squalid, overcrowded centres where they face beatings, rape and forced labour, according to aid workers and human rights groups.

      According to the UNHCR, there are about 4,700 people from countries such as Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan currently held in Libya’s detention centres, which are nominally under the government but often run by armed groups.

      A July air strike by opposition forces, which killed dozens of detainees in a centre in the Libyan capital Tripoli, has increased pressure on the international community to find a safe haven for the refugees and migrants.

      https://news.yahoo.com/interview-african-refugees-held-captive-100728525.html?guccounter=1&guce

    • Accueil de migrants évacués de Libye : « Un bon coup politique » pour le Rwanda

      Le Rwanda a signé il y a quelques jours à Addis-Abeba un accord avec le Haut-commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR) et l’Union africaine (UA) en vue d’accueillir des migrants bloqués dans l’enfer des centres de détention libyens. Camille Le Coz, analyste au sein du think tank Migration Policy Institute, décrypte cette annonce.

      Cinq cent personnes vont être évacuées de Libye vers le Rwanda « dans quelques semaines », a précisé mardi Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, représentante permanente du Rwanda à l’UA, lors d’une conférence de presse à Addis-Abeba où avait lieu la signature de l’accord.

      RFI : Le Rwanda accueille déjà près de 150 000 réfugiés venus de RDC et du Burundi. Et ce n’est pas vraiment la porte à côté de la Libye. Sans compter que le régime de Paul Kagame est régulièrement critiqué pour ses violations des droits de l’homme. Alors comment expliquer que cet État se retrouve à prendre en charge des centaines de migrants ?

      Camille Le Coz : En fait, tout commence en novembre 2017 après la publication par CNN d’une vidéo révélant l’existence de marchés aux esclaves en Libye. C’est à ce moment-là que Kigali se porte volontaire pour accueillir des migrants bloqués en Libye. Mais c’est finalement vers l’Europe et le Niger, voisin de la Libye, que s’organisent ces évacuations. Ainsi, depuis 2017, près de 4 000 réfugiés ont été évacués de Libye, dont 2 900 au Niger. La plupart d’entre eux ont été réinstallés dans des pays occidentaux ou sont en attente de réinstallation. Mais du fait de la reprise des combats en Libye cet été, ce mécanisme est vite apparu insuffisant. L’option d’organiser des évacuations vers le Rwanda a donc été réactivée et a donné lieu à des discussions avec Kigali, le HCR, l’UA mais aussi l’UE sur les aspects financiers.

      Quel bénéfice le Rwanda peut-il tirer de cet accord ?

      Pour le Rwanda, faire valoir la solidarité avec les migrants africains en Libye est un bon coup politique, à la fois sur la scène internationale et avec ses partenaires africains. La situation des migrants en Libye est au cœur de l’actualité et les ONG et l’ONU alertent régulièrement sur les conditions effroyables pour les migrants sur place. Donc d’un point de vue politique, c’est très valorisant pour le Rwanda d’accueillir ces personnes.

      Que va-t-il se passer pour ces personnes quand elles vont arriver au Rwanda ?

      En fait, ce mécanisme soulève deux questions. D’une part, qui sont les migrants qui vont être évacués vers le Rwanda ? D’après ce que l’on sait, ce sont plutôt des gens de la Corne de l’Afrique et plutôt des gens très vulnérables, notamment des enfants. D’autre part, quelles sont les solutions qui vont leur être offertes au Rwanda ? La première option prévue par l’accord, c’est la possibilité pour ces personnes de retourner dans leur pays d’origine. La deuxième option, c’est le retour dans un pays dans lequel ces réfugiés ont reçu l’asile dans le passé. Cela pourrait par exemple s’appliquer à des Érythréens réfugiés en Éthiopie avant de partir vers l’Europe. Ces deux options demanderont néanmoins un suivi sérieux des conditions de retour : comment s’assurer que ces retours seront effectivement volontaires, et comment garantir la réintégration de ces réfugiés ? La troisième option, ce serait la possibilité pour certains de rester au Rwanda mais on ne sait pas encore sous quel statut. Enfin, ce que l’on ne sait pas encore, c’est si des États européens s’engageront à relocaliser certains de ces rescapés.

      Cet accord est donc une réplique de celui conclu avec le Niger, qui accueille depuis 2017 plusieurs milliers de réfugiés évacués de Tripoli ?

      L’approche est la même mais d’après ce que l’on sait pour l’instant, les possibilités offertes aux réfugiés évacués sont différentes : dans le cas du mécanisme avec le Niger, les pays européens mais également les États-Unis, le Canada, la Norvège et la Suisse s’étaient engagés à réinstaller une partie de ces réfugiés. Dans le cas du Rwanda, on n’a pas encore eu de telles promesses.

      Cet accord est-il la traduction de l’évolution de la politique migratoire européenne ?

      Aujourd’hui, près de 5 000 migrants et réfugiés sont dans des centres de détention en Libye où les conditions sont horribles. Donc la priorité, c’est de les en sortir. Les évacuations vers le Rwanda peuvent participer à la résolution de ce problème. Mais il reste entier puisque les garde-côtes libyens, financés par l’Europe, continuent d’intercepter des migrants qui partent vers l’Italie et de les envoyer vers ces centres de détention. En d’autres termes, cet accord apporte une réponse partielle et de court terme à un problème qui résulte très largement de politiques européennes.

      On entend parfois parler d’« externalisation des frontières » de l’Europe. En gros, passer des accords avec des pays comme le Rwanda permettrait aussi d’éloigner le problème des migrants des côtes européennes. Est-ce vraiment la stratégie de l’Union européenne ?

      Ces évacuations vers le Rwanda sont plutôt un mécanisme d’urgence pour répondre aux besoins humanitaires pressants de migrants et réfugiés détenus en Libye (lire encadré). Mais il est clair que ces dernières années, la politique européenne a consisté à passer des accords avec des pays voisins afin qu’ils renforcent leurs contrôles frontaliers. C’est le cas par exemple avec la Turquie et la Libye. En échange, l’Union européenne leur fournit une assistance financière et d’autres avantages économiques ou politiques. L’Union européenne a aussi mis une partie de sa politique de développement au service d’objectifs migratoires, avec la création d’un Fond fiduciaire d’urgence pour l’Afrique en 2015, qui vise notamment à développer la capacité des États africains à mettre en œuvre leur propre politique migratoire et à améliorer la gestion de leurs frontières. C’est le cas notamment au Niger où l’Union européenne a soutenu les autorités pour combattre les réseaux de passeurs et contrôler les passages vers la Libye.

      Justement, pour le Rwanda, y a-t-il une contrepartie financière ?

      L’accord est entre le HCR, l’UA et le Rwanda. Mais le soutien financier de l’Union européenne paraît indispensable pour la mise en œuvre de ce plan. Reste à voir comment cela pourrait se matérialiser. Est-ce que ce sera un soutien financier pour ces 500 personnes ? Des offres de relocalisation depuis le Rwanda ? Ou, puisque l’on sait que le Rwanda a signé le Pacte mondial sur les réfugiés, l’Union européenne pourrait-elle appuyer la mise en œuvre des plans d’action de Kigali dans ce domaine ? Ce pourrait être une idée.

      La commissaire de l’UA aux affaires sociales Amira El Fadil s’est dite convaincue que ce genre de partenariat pourrait constituer des solutions « durables ». Qu’en pensez-vous ?

      C’est un signe positif que des pays africains soient plus impliqués sur ce dossier puisque ces questions migratoires demandent une gestion coordonnée de part et d’autre de la Méditerranée. Maintenant, il reste à voir quelles solutions seront offertes à ces 500 personnes puisque pour l’instant, le plan paraît surtout leur proposer de retourner dans le pays qu’elles ont quitté. Par ailleurs, il ne faut pas perdre de vue que la plupart des réfugiés africains ne sont pas en Libye, mais en Afrique. Les plus gros contingents sont au Soudan, en Ouganda et en Éthiopie et donc, les solutions durables sont d’abord et avant tout à mettre en œuvre sur le continent.

      ■ Un geste de solidarité de la part du Rwanda, selon le HCR

      Avec notre correspondant à Genève, Jérémie Lanche

      D’après le porte-parole du HCR Babar Baloch, l’accueil par Kigali d’un premier contingent de réfugiés est une « bouée de sauvetage » pour tous ceux pris au piège en Libye. L’Union européenne, dont les côtes sont de plus en plus inaccessibles pour les candidats à l’exil, pourrait financer une partie de l’opération, même si rien n’est officiel. Mais pour le HCR, l’essentiel est ailleurs. La vie des migrants en Libye est en jeu, dit Babar Baloch :

      « Il ne faut pas oublier qu’il y a quelques semaines, un centre de détention [pour migrants] a été bombardé en Libye. Plus de 50 personnes ont été tuées. Mais même sans parler de ça, les conditions dans ces centres sont déplorables. Il faut donc sortir ceux qui s’y trouvent le plus rapidement possible. Et à part le Niger, le Rwanda est le deuxième pays qui s’est manifesté pour nous aider à sauver ces vies. »

      Les réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile doivent être logés dans des installations qui ont déjà servi pour accueillir des réfugiés burundais. Ceux qui le souhaitent pourront rester au Rwanda et y travailler selon Kigali. Les autres pourront être relocalisés dans des pays tiers voire dans leur pays d’origine s’ils le souhaitent. Le Rwanda se dit prêt à recevoir en tout dans ses centres de transit jusqu’à 30 000 Africains bloqués en Libye.

      "Depuis un demi-siècle, le Rwanda a produit beaucoup de réfugiés. Donc le fait qu’il y ait une telle tragédie, une telle détresse, de la part de nos frères et soeurs africains, cela nous interpelle en tant que Rwandais. Ce dont on parle, c’est un centre de transit d’urgence. Une fois [qu’ils seront] arrivés au Rwanda, le HCR va continuer à trouver une solution pour ces personnes. Certains seront envoyés au pays qui leur ont accordé asile, d’autres seront envoyés aux pays tiers et bien sûr d’autres pourront retourner dans leur pays si la situation sécuritaire le permet. Bien sûr, ceux qui n’auront pas d’endroits où aller pourront rester au Rwanda. Cela devra nécessiter bien sûr l’accord des autorités de notre pays." Olivier Nduhungirehe, secrétaire d’État en charge de la Coopération et de la Communauté est-africaine

      http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20190912-accord-accueil-migrants-rwanda-libye-politique

    • ‘Maybe they can forget us there’: Refugees in Libya await move to Rwanda

      Hundreds in detention centres expected to be transferred under deal partly funded by EU

      Hundreds of refugees in Libya are expected to be moved to Rwanda in the coming weeks, under a new deal partly funded by the European Union.

      “This is an expansion of the humanitarian evacuation to save lives,” said Babar Baloch, from the United Nations Refugee Agency. “The focus is on those trapped inside Libya. We’ve seen how horrible the conditions are and we want to get them out of harm’s way.”

      Many of the refugees and migrants expected to be evacuated have spent years between detention centres run by Libya’s Department for Combatting Illegal Migration, and smugglers known for brutal torture and abuse, after fleeing war or dictatorships in their home countries.

      They have also been victims of the European Union’s hardening migration policy, which involves supporting the Libyan coast guard to intercept boats full of people who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, returning those on board to indefinite detention in a Libya at war.
      Apprehension

      In Libyan capital Tripoli, refugees and migrants who spoke to The Irish Times by phone were apprehensive. They questioned whether they will be allowed to work and move freely in Rwanda, and asked whether resettlement spaces to other countries will be offered, or alternative opportunities to rebuild their lives in the long-term.

      “People want to go. We want to go,” said one detainee, with slight desperation, before asking if Rwanda is a good place to be. “Please if you know about Rwanda tell me.”

      “We heard about the evacuation plan to Rwanda, but we have a lot of questions,” said another detainee currently in Zintan detention centre, where 22 people died in eight months because of a lack of medical care and abysmal living conditions. “Maybe they can forget us there.”

      In a statement, UNHCR said that while some evacuees may benefit from resettlement to other countries or may be allowed to stay in Rwanda in the long term, others would be helped to go back to countries where they had previously been granted asylum, or to their home countries, if safe.

      The original group of evacuees is expected to include 500 volunteers.

      Rwanda’s government signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Refugee Agency and the African Union on September 10th to confirm the deal.

      In 2017, a year-long investigation by Foreign Policy magazine found that migrants and refugees were being sent to Rwanda or Uganda from detention centres in Israel, and then moved illegally into third countries, where they had no rights or any chance to make an asylum claim.

      Officials working on the latest deal say they are trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

      “We are afraid, especially in terms of time,” said an Eritrean, who witnessed a fellow detainee burn himself to death in Triq al Sikka detention centre last year, after saying he had lost hope in being evacuated.

      “How long will we stay in Rwanda? Because we stayed in Libya more than two years, and have been registered by UNHCR for almost two years. Will we take similar time in Rwanda? It is difficult for asylum seekers.”

      https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/maybe-they-can-forget-us-there-refugees-in-libya-await-move-to-rwanda-1.

    • Le Rwanda accueille des premiers migrants évacués de Libye

      Le Rwanda a accueilli ce jeudi soir le premier groupe de réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile en provenance de Libye, dans le cadre d’un accord signé récemment entre ce pays, le Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés et l’Union africaine.

      L’avion affrété par le Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés a atterri à Kigali cette nuit. À son bord, 59 hommes et 7 femmes, en grande majorité Erythréens, mais aussi Somaliens et Soudanais. Le plus jeune migrant en provenance des centres de détention libyens est un bébé de 2 mois et le plus âgé un homme de 39 ans.

      Ils ont été accueillis en toute discrétion, très loin des journalistes qui n’ont pas eu accès à l’aéroport international de Kigali. « Ce ne sont pas des gens qui reviennent d’une compétition de football avec une coupe et qui rentrent joyeux. Non, ce sont des gens qui rentrent traumatisés et qui ont besoin d’une certaine dignité, de respect. Ils étaient dans une situation très chaotique », justifie Olivier Kayumba, secrétaire permanent du ministère en charge de la gestion des Urgences.

      Des bus les ont ensuite acheminés vers le site de transit de Gashora, à quelque 60 km au sud-est de Kigali. Une structure qui peut accueillir pour le moment un millier de personnes, mais dont la capacité peut être portée rapidement à 8 000, selon le responsable rwandais.

      Des ONG ont accusé le Rwanda d’avoir monté toute cette opération pour redorer l’image d’un régime qui viole les droits de l’homme. Olivier Kayumba balaie cette accusation. « Nous agissons pour des raisons humanitaires et par panafricanisme », explique-t-il. Selon les termes de l’accord, 500 migrants coincés dans les camps en Libye doivent être accueillis provisoirement au Rwanda, avant de trouver des pays d’accueil.


      http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20190927-rwanda-accueille-premiers-migrants-evacues-libye

    • Évacués au Rwanda, les réfugiés de Libye continuent de rêver d’Europe

      Le Rwanda accueille depuis quelques semaines des demandeurs d’asile évacués de Libye, dans le cadre d’un accord avec le Haut Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés et l’Union africaine signé le mois dernier. Un programme d’urgence présenté comme une réponse à la crise des quelque 4 700 réfugiés et migrants bloqués dans ce pays en guerre. Reportage.

      Le centre de #Gashora est en pleine effervescence. Situé dans la région du #Bugesera, au sud de Kigali, il accueillait auparavant des réfugiés venus du Burundi. Aujourd’hui, des équipes s’affairent pour rénover et agrandir les structures afin d’héberger les quelque 500 réfugiés évacués de Libye que le Rwanda a promis d’accueillir dans un premier temps.

      Les 189 demandeurs d’asile déjà arrivés sont logés dans de petites maisons de briques disséminées dans les bois alentour. Un groupe de jeunes en jogging et baskets se passent la balle sur un terrain de volley. D’autres, le regard fuyant, parfois égaré, sont assis sur des bancs à l’ombre.

      « Je n’ai pas encore réalisé mon rêve »

      Rodouane Abdallah accepte de parler aux journalistes, arrivés en groupe dans un bus acheminé par le gouvernement rwandais. Originaire du Darfour, ce jeune homme de 18 ans au regard doux a posé le pied en Libye en 2017. Il a tenté sept fois de traverser la Méditerranée. Il a survécu par miracle.

      Aujourd’hui, il se souvient encore de toutes les dates avec précision : le nombre de jours et d’heures passées en mer, les mois en détention. Deux ans entre les mains de geôliers ou de passeurs. « Là bas, vous êtes nourris seulement une fois par jour, vous buvez l’eau des toilettes, vous ne pouvez pas vous doucher et vous devez travailler gratuitement sinon vous êtes battus », se souvient-il.

      Rodouane est aujourd’hui logé et nourri à Gashora. Il bénéficie également de soins médicaux et psychologiques. Cependant, il voit le Rwanda comme une simple étape : « Je suis heureux d’avoir eu la chance de pouvoir venir ici. C’est mieux qu’en Libye. Mais je ne suis pas arrivé à la fin de mon voyage, car je n’ai pas encore réalisé mon rêve. Je veux aller en Europe et devenir ingénieur en informatique », assure-t-il. Ce rêve, cette idée fixe, tous la martèlent aux journalistes. Pourtant les places en Europe risquent d’être limitées.

      « #Emergency_Transit_Mechanism »

      Dans le cadre de l’Emergency Transit Mechanism (#ETM), le nom donné à ce programme d’#évacuation d’urgence, les réfugiés de Gashora ont aujourd’hui plusieurs possibilités. Ils peuvent soit faire une demande d’asile dans un pays occidental, soit rentrer chez eux si les conditions sécuritaires sont réunies, soit bénéficier d’un processus de réinstallation dans un pays tiers sur le continent africain. Les mineurs non accompagnés pourraient ainsi rejoindre leur famille et les étudiants s’inscrire dans des universités de la région selon le HCR.

      « Ils ont beaucoup souffert pour atteindre l’Europe, c’est donc un objectif qui est encore très cher à leur cœur. Mais maintenant qu’ils sont au Rwanda, nous essayons d’identifier avec eux toute une palette de solutions », explique Élise Villechalane, chargée des relations extérieures du HCR au Rwanda.

      Mais la démarche inquiète déjà certains réfugiés : « Les pays européens dépensent beaucoup d’argent pour nous éloigner de la mer Méditerranée. Et si c’est pour cela qu’on a été amenés ici, ce serait honteux. La seule chose que je pourrais faire serait de retourner en Libye et de tenter de traverser la Méditerranée », explique un jeune Érythréen, qui préfère garder l’anonymat.

      Une solution viable ?

      Le Rwanda n’est pas le premier pays à mettre en place ce type de mécanisme. Le Niger a lui aussi lancé un ETM en 2017. Depuis, environ 2 900 réfugiés y ont été évacués de Libye. Environ 1 700 d’entre eux ont été réinstallés dans des pays occidentaux à ce jour. Aujourd’hui, l’Union africaine et le HCR appellent d’autres pays africains à suivre l’exemple. Mais certaines ONG sont sceptiques quant à la viabilité du système.

      Au Niger, le traitement des dossiers est long, ce qui crée des tensions. Le #Mixed_Migration_Center, un centre de recherche indépendant, rapporte que des réfugiés auraient ainsi attaqué un véhicule du HCR en signe de protestation dans le centre de transit d’Hamdallaye en juin dernier.

      Plus généralement, Johannes Claes, chef de projet Afrique de l’Ouest au MMC, dénonce une externalisation des obligations des pays occidentaux en matière de droit d’asile : « Avec ce type schéma, l’UE délègue une part de sa responsabilité au continent africain. C’est d’autant plus cynique quand on sait que l’Union européenne finance les garde-côtes libyens qui interceptent les migrants avant de les envoyer en centre de détention », explique-t-il.

      Du côté des signataires de l’accord, on présente le projet sous un jour différent : « Ce qui compte aujourd’hui, c’est que ces personnes sont en sécurité le temps que leurs dossiers soient traités. Et je suis fière que le Rwanda se soit porté volontaire », indique Hope Tumukunde, représentante permanente du Rwanda à l’Union africaine.

      Début septembre, au moment de la signature de l’accord, Vincent Cochetel, l’envoyé spécial du HCR pour la situation en Méditerranée, assurait à Reuters que la plus grande partie du financement de ce mécanisme d’évacuation d’urgence viendrait de l’Union européenne. Il est depuis revenu sur ces déclarations. Pour le moment, c’est le HCR qui assure la totalité du financement de l’opération.

      http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20191103-rwanda-refugies-libye-hcr-ua

    • Norway opens its doors to 600 people evacuated from Libya to Rwanda

      Refugees and asylum seekers who found respite in Rwanda camp after escaping conflict in Libya will be resettled in Norway.
      Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libyan detention centres to a transit camp in Rwanda are to be resettled this year in Norway, according to Rwanda’s foreign minister.

      Speaking at a news conference in Kigali on Wednesday, Rwanda’s foreign minister Vincent Biruta said the African nation was currently hosting more than 300 refugees and asylum seekers at the Gashora transit centre south of Kigali, most of whom hail from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, according to CGTN Africa.

      Only Norway and Sweden had so far agreed to resettle people from the camp, Biruta added. Norway agreed to resettle 600 people, while Sweden had so far accepted seven, according to Biruta.

      Rwanda signed a deal with the UN and African Union in September aimed at resettling people who had been detained in Libya while trying to reach Europe. More than 4,000 people are believed to still be living in Libyan detention centres, according to the latest figures.

      In a statement to Reuters, Norwegian justice minister Jøran Kallmyr said the plan to resettle 600 people proved that “we don’t support cynical people smugglers, and instead bring in people who need protection in an organised manner”.

      Kallmyr added: “A transit camp like the one in Rwanda will contribute to that effort.”

      Norway’s four-party government coalition agreed last year to accept a total of 3,000 refugees from UN camps in 2020.

      The UN in Libya has come under intense criticism for complying with EU migration policy, which entails funding the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats with refugees and migrants destined for Europe. Many people end up detained in militia-run centres and subjected to grave human rights abuses, including sexual abuse, denial of food and water, and forced recruitment into the on-going Libyan conflict.

      Elisabeth Haslund, Nordic spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, said that of the 4,000-plus people estimated to still be detained in Libyan centres, roughly 2,500 people are refugees and asylum-seekers.

      “As the violence and unrest have been intensifying in Libya and thousands of refugees are still at risk in the country, the evacuations of the most vulnerable refugees are more urgent than ever,” said Haslund.

      “UNHCR very much welcomes Norway’s decision to resettle refugees who have been evacuated to Rwanda and also notes the important and valuable financial contributions from Norway to help support the operation of the transit centre in Gashora.”

      As the 600 people who are expected to be resettled this year in Norway had not yet been chosen, Haslund added, it was impossible to give details on their age, gender or country of origin.

      https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/10/norway-opens-its-doors-to-600-people-evacuated-from-libya-to-rwanda

      ping @reka

    • Países europeos acogerán a más de 500 refugiados evacuados de Libia a Ruanda

      Noruega, Suecia y Francia han prometido acoger a más de medio millar de refugiados y solicitantes de asilo que fueron evacuados de Libia y están alojados de forma temporal en Ruanda, confirmaron hoy a Efe fuentes oficiales ruandesas.

      «Actualmente, tenemos a 306 que van a ser reubicados en Noruega, Suecia y Francia», dijo a Efe el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Ruanda, Vincent Biruta.

      Después de esa primera tanda, Ruanda enviará al siguiente grupo.

      Según Biruta, Noruega ha aceptado alojar a 500, Suecia a siete y Francia también acogerá a algunos (sin especificar la cifra).

      La reubicación producirá después de que Ruanda firmara el año pasado un acuerdo con la Agencia de Refugiados de la ONU (Acnur) y la Unión Africana (UA) para alojar temporalmente a refugiados y solicitantes de asilo que estaban atrapados en centros de detención en Libia.

      Los evacuados, incluidos bebés, procedían principalmente de la zona occidental de África -de naciones como Somalia, Sudán o Eritrea- y quedaban alojados en Ruanda bajo un Mecanismo de Tránsito de Emergencia.

      Ya en Ruanda, los refugiados podrían ser voluntariamente reubicados en terceros países, viajar a aquellos donde el asilo les haya sido concedido o regresar a sus naciones en caso de que se tratase de una alternativa segura.

      También se podían quedar a vivir en Ruanda si conseguían el permiso de las autoridades de este país, que acoge a más de 145.000 refugiados y solicitantes de asilo (principalmente de Burundi y de la República Democrática del Congo), según cifras de Acnur.

      «Hemos recibido compromisos de Francia, Noruega y Suecia. Siete personas ya se marcharon a Suecia en diciembre», confirmó a Efe Elise Villechalane, portavoz de Acnur en Kigali.

      También explicó que no está claro que la oferta de Noruega se refiera específicamente al grupo de rescatados de libia, aunque expresó esperanzas de que la mayor parte de plazas sean destinadas a ellos.

      «Lo que hacemos es procesar los casos, hacer entrevistas con ellos y, entonces, los casos son propuestos y enviados a Noruega. Pero, al final, la decisión la toma el Gobierno noruego», detalló.

      La prioridad será, según Villechalane, reubicar a 168 menores no acompañados que están bajo el Mecanismo de Tránsito de Emergencia ruandés, siempre que se haya determinado previamente que no hay alternativas mejores, como encontrar a sus padres.

      «Aunque algunos países han pedido específicamente a los menores no acompañados, tenemos que averiguar que sea en lo mejor para ellos», precisó la portavoz.

      El Mecanismo de Tránsito de Emergencia ruandés se estableció para dar alojamiento temporal a los evacuados de Libia, a la espera de encontrar soluciones duraderas para ellos, tales como la repatriación o la reubicación.

      Libia es un Estado fallido, víctima del caos y la guerra civil, desde que hace ocho años la OTAN contribuyera militarmente a la victoria de los heterogéneos grupos rebeldes sobre la dictadura de Muamar el Gadafi.

      https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20200109/472795695059/paises-europeos-acogeran-a-mas-de-500-refugiados-evacuados-de-libia-a-
      #Norvège #Suède #France

    • Le Rwanda reçoit des réfugiés évacués de Libye, « solution africaine aux problèmes africains »

      Depuis septembre 2019, 500 demandeurs d’asile ont atterri dans le petit Etat d’Afrique centrale en attendant que leur dossier soit traité dans un pays occidental.

      Autour d’un baby-foot, une dizaine de jeunes Erythréens luttent contre l’ennui, en savourant une liberté retrouvée. Il y a quatre mois encore, ils étaient en détention en Libye, sur la route de l’Europe, et les voilà redescendus 4 000 kilomètres plus au sud, dans un centre de transit du district de Gashora, dans l’est du Rwanda.

      Selon un accord signé en septembre 2019 avec le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) et l’Union africaine, ce petit pays d’Afrique centrale s’est engagé à accueillir un premier contingent de 500 réfugiés évacués de Libye, jusqu’à ce que leur demande d’asile soit traitée. Dans le cadre de ce programme appelé « Mécanisme de transit d’urgence » (ETM), ils pourront bénéficier de l’asile dans un pays occidental, être rapatriés dans leur pays d’origine, réinstallés dans un pays de la région ou rester au Rwanda. En 2017, le gouvernement rwandais s’était dit prêt à recevoir jusqu’à 30 000 migrants africains sur son sol, mais uniquement par groupe de 500, afin d’éviter tout débordement.
      Protéger des persécutions

      Ce système est présenté par le HCR comme une réponse à la crise des réfugiés en Libye : plus de 40 000 sont enregistrés dans le pays et quelque 4 000, parmi eux, sont actuellement bloqués dans des centres de détention, où l’accès des travailleurs humanitaires est restreint. « Notre but est de les protéger des persécutions dont ils sont victimes là-bas et de leur éviter une traversée dangereuse de la Méditerranée tout en leur proposant une palette de solutions », explique Elise Villechalane, porte-parole de l’agence onusienne à Kigali.

      Pour le Rwanda, qui accueille déjà 150 000 réfugiés venus principalement de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et du Burundi, c’est une manière de soutenir des « solutions africaines aux problèmes africains », l’un des mantras du président Paul Kagame. « C’est une question d’humanité. Nous portons une assistance aux autres Africains qui souffrent en Libye », ajoutait récemment Olivier Kayumba, secrétaire permanent au ministère de la gestion des urgences (Minema), lors d’une visite du centre de Gashora.

      Auparavant destiné à l’accueil de réfugiés burundais, le centre, situé dans la région du Bugesera, au sud de Kigali, a donc fait peau neuve. Les petites maisons de briques disséminées dans les bois hébergent 300 demandeurs d’asile, majoritairement originaires d’Erythrée, de Somalie, d’Ethiopie et du Soudan. Ils sont libres de se rendre dans les villages alentour, peuvent suivre des cours de langue et bénéficient d’un suivi psychologique et médical.

      Quatre mois après la première évacuation, sept réfugiés ont déjà bénéficié d’un processus de réinstallation vers la Suède, une trentaine d’autres se préparent à les suivre et deux ont fait une demande de retour vers la Somalie, leur pays d’origine. Les autres attendent d’être fixés sur leur sort. Parfois avec inquiétude.

      « Ils nous disent que certains vont rester au Rwanda, lâche Robiel, un jeune Erythréen de 24 ans, mais le Rwanda, ce n’est pas ma destination. J’ai trop souffert, perdu trop d’argent et trop de temps pour arriver en Europe. » Assis sur un banc, il écoute ses amis jouer du krar, un instrument à cordes traditionnel de la Corne de l’Afrique. Le regard fuyant, il égrène les innombrables étapes d’une errance de plus de quatre ans qui a coûté 14 000 dollars (12 700 euros) à sa famille. Son départ d’Erythrée en bateau vers Port-Soudan, puis l’Egypte, où il est emprisonné sept mois avant d’être renvoyé en Ethiopie. Un nouveau départ vers le Soudan, puis la Libye et sa tentative de traversée de la Méditerranée. Après vingt-trois heures en mer, son bateau est intercepté par des gardes-côtes libyens et il est envoyé en centre de détention.

      « Là-bas, c’est l’enfer sur Terre. Il y a beaucoup de maladies. J’ai vu des gens se faire torturer. Les policiers prennent des drogues la nuit et viennent pour battre les détenus », se souvient-il. Au terme de trois ans de détention, il est finalement sélectionné par le HCR pour être évacué au Rwanda, un pays encore plus éloigné des frontières de l’espace Schengen que son point de départ.
      Gérer les frustrations

      Le Rwanda n’est pas le premier pays à mettre en place ce type de mécanisme. Depuis le mois de novembre 2017, le Niger en a déjà accueilli environ 3 000 dans le cadre d’un accord similaire avec le HCR. Parmi eux, 2 300 ont bénéficié d’une réinstallation dans un pays occidental. « Cependant, le traitement des dossiers peut prendre beaucoup de temps, ce qui pose la question de la capacité qu’ont ces pays de transit à accueillir les réfugiés sur le long terme et à gérer les frustrations qui vont avec », tempère Johannes Claes, expert sur les migrations en Afrique de l’Ouest.

      Le Mixed Migration Centre, un centre de recherche indépendant, rapporte que, lors de la Journée mondiale des réfugiés, le 20 juin 2019, des demandeurs d’asile évacués de Libye en 2017 ont attaqué des véhicules du HCR en signe de protestation contre leur situation, dans le centre de transit d’Hamdallaye, à 40 kilomètres de Niamey. « Avec ce système, les pays occidentaux délèguent leurs responsabilités en termes d’asile à d’autres Etats et c’est une tendance inquiétante », conclut Johannes Claes.

      A ce jour, quatre pays ont promis d’accueillir des réfugiés de Gashora : la France (100), la Suède (150), le Canada (200) et la Norvège (450). Le programme a obtenu le soutien de l’Union européenne, qui a promis une participation à hauteur de 10 millions d’euros. La Norvège finance également une partie des frais du centre de transit. Joran Kallmyr, membre du Parti du progrès norvégien, une mouvance populiste et anti-immigration qui vient de quitter le gouvernement, est d’ailleurs venu au centre de Gashora en janvier.

      Celui qui était alors ministre norvégien de la justice et de l’immigration a salué l’initiative rwandaise. « C’est très bien que le Rwanda accueille les réfugiés les plus vulnérables afin que leur demande d’asile soit examinée ici, sur le continent africain, plutôt que les migrants viennent en Europe déposer leur demande et que la plupart d’entre eux soient finalement renvoyés en Afrique », a-t-il déclaré, semblant ainsi plaider pour une généralisation du système.

      Alors que plus de 1 000 migrants sont morts en 2019 en tentant de traverser la Méditerranée, les signataires de l’accord insistent, quant à eux, sur les vies sauvées. « Ce qui compte, aujourd’hui, c’est que ces personnes sont en sécurité le temps que leur dossier soit traité. Et je suis fière que le Rwanda se soit porté volontaire », avait déclaré Hope Tumukunde, représentante permanente du Rwanda à l’Union africaine, à la suite des premières évacuations à la fin du mois de septembre.

      https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/01/29/le-rwanda-recoit-des-refugies-evacues-de-libye-solution-africaine-aux-proble

    • Rwanda : la nouvelle vie des réfugiés sortis de l’enfer libyen

      Depuis quelques mois, le Rwanda accueille des réfugiés exfiltrés des camps en Libye. Souvent très jeunes, ils réapprennent à vivre, sans oublier leurs traumatismes, en attendant un éventuel départ vers l’Europe. Reportage à Gashora, au sud du pays, qui a lui-même longtemps connu le drame de l’exil forcé.

      « Je veux quitter l’Afrique ! Je n’y ai connu que la mort et la violence. En Europe, je pourrais peut-être étudier ? Apprendre la sociologie ? » suggère Mati, 16 ans, la tête couronnée de petites dreadlocks. Voilà déjà plus de trois ans qu’il a quitté son pays natal, le Soudan du Sud dévasté par la guerre, laissant derrière lui la maison familiale calcinée à Bentiu, ville martyre décimée par les combats entre fractions rivales. Sa fuite l’a conduit en Libye, et ce fut un autre enfer. Après avoir échoué à traverser la Méditerranée, suite à une panne de moteur, il finit par se retrouver dans le sinistre camp de détention de Tadjoura. N’échappant que par miracle au bombardement du 2 juillet 2019 qui y a fait plusieurs dizaines de morts. Un carnage dont la responsabilité a été attribuée à « un avion étranger », selon les conclusions de l’enquête de l’ONU rendue publique lundi.

      En ce mois de janvier pourtant, Mati sourit enfin : la Libye n’est plus qu’un mauvais souvenir. Il en a été évacué en novembre, non pas vers l’Europe mais au Rwanda. Se retrouver au cœur de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs ? Ce n’est pas exactement ce qu’il avait envisagé. « Mais le Rwanda m’a sauvé la vie. En Libye, on était traités comme des animaux », reconnaît-il.

      C’est en 2017, peu après la diffusion d’un reportage de CNN accusant les Libyens de « vendre » les réfugiés sur des marchés aux esclaves, que le président rwandais Paul Kagame s’était engagé à accueillir dans son pays, par vagues successives, jusqu’à 30 000 Africains détenus en Libye. Fin 2019, un accord avec l’Union européenne a permis d’exfiltrer vers le Rwanda quelque 300 réfugiés, tous ressortissants de cinq pays africains : la Somalie, l’Erythrée, l’Ethiopie, le Soudan et le Soudan du Sud.
      Rêves d’Europe

      Le deal est simple : avec une aide 10 millions d’euros de la part de l’UE, le Rwanda s’engage à héberger des groupes de réfugiés choisis en Libye parmi les plus vulnérables, et qui auront désormais le choix entre rester en Afrique ou postuler pour une demande d’asile dans des pays européens volontaires pour les accueillir. Comme Mati, tous veulent retenter leur chance vers l’Europe. Sept d’entre eux sont déjà partis en Suède. La France s’est engagée à en accueillir 100, le Canada 200 et la Norvège 450. En attendant d’autres propositions. L’accord a suscité quelques critiques : n’est-ce pas encore une façon pour l’Europe de se défausser ? En délocalisant en Afrique la gestion de ces migrations, comme ce fut déjà le cas lors d’un deal équivalent conclu avec le Niger ? Et si l’Europe ne tient pas ses promesses, que deviendront ces réfugiés qui n’ont pas renoncé à leurs rêves ?

      Ils sont pour la plupart très jeunes, plus de la moitié sont même encore mineurs. Et dans l’immédiat, leur soulagement est palpable à Gashora, petite localité du sud du Rwanda où ils ont été installés. Une mélodie éthiopienne s’échappe de l’un des bâtiments en briques du camp qui a longtemps servi de centre de transit pour des réfugiés venus du Burundi voisin. Plus loin, un groupe d’ados, agglutinés autour d’un baby-foot, hèlent avec des accents taquins deux jeunes filles en leggings qui minaudent en agitant leurs longs cheveux bouclés. « Ils se comportent enfin comme tous les jeunes gens de leur âge », murmure, en les observant, Elysée Kalyango, le directeur du centre. « Quand ils sont arrivés ici, ils avaient l’air si traumatisés. Maigres, avec des yeux exorbités. Petit à petit, ils ont repris des forces, ils ont tous grossi ! » souligne-t-il.
      Hanté par « les images de la vie d’avant »

      Les souffrances ne sont pas effacées pour autant. Seul Sud-Soudanais évacué au Rwanda, Mati ne parvient pas à oublier ses compatriotes restés en Libye : « Je pense sans cesse à eux qui continuent à subir les coups et les menaces. Il faut les évacuer eux aussi ! » plaide-t-il. Dalmar, lui, reste hanté par « les images de la vie d’avant ». Ce jeune Somalien de 21 ans, originaire de la ville de Baled Hawa à la frontière avec le Kenya, a vu son père et son frère tués sous ses yeux par les chebabs, ces milices jihadistes qui sèment toujours la terreur dans son pays. Chaque soir, il redoute presque de s’endormir et d’ouvrir ainsi la porte à ses cauchemars. Mais désormais il peut aussi rêver à haute voix de devenir footballeur professionnel.

      Lui, comme les autres réfugiés, connaît peu l’histoire du Rwanda, encore marqué par le génocide des Tutsis en 1994. Ils ne savent pas non plus qu’avant même cette tragédie, les massacres récurrents de Tutsis avaient poussé plusieurs générations de Rwandais sur les routes de l’exil. L’actuel président lui-même avait dû fuir son pays à l’âge de 4 ans, et a grandi dans un camp en Ouganda. La crise des réfugiés rwandais des années 60 fut d’ailleurs la première à laquelle le Haut Commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR), créé en 1950, fut confronté en Afrique subsaharienne. Cette mémoire collective explique peut-être aussi la main tendue à ceux qui subissent désormais le même sort, alors que ce petit pays, l’un des plus densément peuplés du continent (463 habitants au km2) accueille déjà près de 150 000 réfugiés burundais et congolais.

      A Gashora, les jeunes venus de Libye découvrent peu à peu leur nouvel environnement, libres de se balader dans le village de Gashora. Mais ils ignorent certainement ce que signifie le nom de la localité la plus proche, Nyabagendwa, en kinyarwanda, la langue nationale du Rwanda : « Soyez les bienvenus. »

      https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/01/30/rwanda-la-nouvelle-vie-des-refugies-sortis-de-l-enfer-libyen_1776007

    • Europe’s Harsh Border Policies Are Pushing Refugees All the Way to Rwanda

      EU funds for Libyan militias forced thousands of migrants into dangerous Libyan detention centers. Now, after being evacuated, some of them are stuck as far away as Rwanda—with no idea if they will ever be resettled.

      GASHORA, Rwanda—Until the day before he left Libya in October 2019, Alex was enslaved by a militia aligned with the United Nations-backed, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. For months, the young Eritrean had been moving weapons and ammunition, cleaning, and even building a shelter for horses owned by Mohammed al-Khoja, the deputy head of the Government of National Accord’s Department for Combating Illegal Migration.

      He worried about airstrikes and drones: The buzzing sound made him run for cover. He also stressed about potentially brutal punishments from men commanded by Khoja, who was also known as a vicious militia leader, making Alex frightened to disobey them. Alex, whose name has been changed for his safety, knew his proximity to fighters made him both a human shield and a target in Tripoli’s ongoing war.

      Alex’s story is an illustration of the impacts of hardening European Union border policy, which forces refugees back to a dangerous country where they live at the mercy of Libyan militias. It demonstrates the traumas an asylum-seeker can go through before getting the chance to make a legal claim for protection, and how even the small number of people eventually chosen for evacuation from Libya suffer from long-term consequences and ongoing instability.

      Like huge numbers of his countryfolk, Alex fled indefinite national service in Eritrea’s dictatorship and traveled to Libya in the hope of reaching Europe and finding “freedom.” A U.N. commission of inquiry has previously accused the leadership of Eritrea of carrying out crimes against humanity, while describing the national service system as “slavery-like.”

      After paying $16,000 in smugglers’ fees borrowed from family and friends, Alex tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, but the rubber boat he was on was intercepted by the EU-backed Libyan coast guard.

      For more than a year after that, Alex was held in Triq al-Sikka detention center, the de facto headquarters of the Department for Combating Illegal Migration, which ostensibly oversees many of Libya’s migrant detention centers. (The department did not respond to a request for comment.)

      After war broke out in April 2019, militiamen brought Alex across the road to work in an area they were using as a base, located in the outer perimeter of a center set up by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to house refugees before they were legally evacuated (Alex’s story was collaborated by the accounts of other refugees. Aid officials who visit Triq al-Sikka told Foreign Policy they have noticed certain detainees are often missing. UNHCR said it had heard allegations of detainees being used as forced labor in the Gathering and Departure Facility, but it could not verify them.)

      In the months afterward, Alex returned to detention only for his meetings with UNHCR staff. He was interviewed and fingerprinted, and finally given good news: He would be evacuated to Rwanda.

      A boda boda driver drives down the main road in Gashora, Rwanda, where hundreds of refugees are now being sheltered after they were evacuated from Libya, on Nov. 28, 2019. Sally Hayden for Foreign Policy

      Over the past three years, the EU has allocated nearly 100 million euros, around $100 million, to spend on the Libyan coast guard, with the aim of intercepting and stopping boats of migrants and refugees who are trying to reach Europe. Tens of thousands of people who could have their asylum claims assessed if they managed to reach European soil have instead been returned to Libya to spend months or years in for-profit detention centers where sexual violence, labor exploitation, torture, and trafficking have been repeatedly documented. They wait, in the unlikely hope of being selected for a legal route to safety.

      When questioned about the ramifications of their policy, EU spokespeople regularly say they are funding the U.N. to improve conditions for refugees and migrants. UNHCR, in turn, has said it cannot provide safety for refugees in Libya, meaning their only real hope is evacuation.

      EU spokespeople regularly say they are funding the U.N. to improve conditions for refugees and migrants. UNHCR, in turn, has said it cannot provide safety for refugees in Libya, meaning their only real hope is evacuation.

      Those numbers are low, though: 2,427 people last year got the option to go with UNHCR either directly to European countries or to a transit country where their cases can be considered for resettlement to Europe or North America. In contrast, nearly 1,000 refugees and migrants were returned to Libya in the first two weeks of 2020 alone.

      Both Niger and Romania have previously been used as transit countries, though the number of people going to Niger have slowed because of problems processing cases. This past September, Rwanda announced it will also begin to take evacuees, following negotiations and a deal signed with the African Union and UNHCR. “Africa itself is also a source of solutions,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame, speaking about the agreement at the U.N. General Assembly last year.

      The Rwandan government did not respond to multiple requests for interviews and a list of emailed questions, while African Union spokespeople did not respond to an interview request.

      UNHCR is still appealing for funding, saying it hopes to evacuate 1,500 people to Rwanda by the end of 2020, with the program expected to cost nearly $27 million by then. So far, according to numbers provided by UNHCR, the EU has pledged 10 million euros, Norway just over 5 million euros, and Malta 50,000.

      From the Rwandan capital of Kigali, it takes two buses and a motorbike drive to reach Gashora, 40 miles southeast of the capital city, where hundreds of evacuees from Libya are now staying. There is no fence around the refugee camp, and it seems like it would be easy just to walk in, avoiding a gate where guards stand watch. “It’s an invisible wall,” one Eritrean said, laughing.

      I wasn’t allowed inside. Though a relatively secure country with much-lauded economic development, Rwanda is also a dictatorship and police state with a tightly controlled media.

      Though a relatively secure country with much-lauded economic development, Rwanda is also a dictatorship and police state with a tightly controlled media.

      After several ignored emails over two months, as well as five days of waiting at the Ministry of Emergency Management when I visited in November 2019, a communications official told me journalists can’t visit alone. I would be invited back on a future group trip instead, he said, as I already had media accreditation.

      “They gave you accreditation, because we believe you will write good stories about us,” the Rwandan official told me in a candid moment. “We deny some people accreditation, I think you know that.” The invitation to join the group trip never came.

      Instead, in a small, bare room in a bar outside the camp that same month, a group of refugees gathered to tell me their stories. For more than a year, they had been sending me evidence of human rights abuses from a network of Libyan detention centers, using a series of phones they kept hidden throughout.

      Now they say they are grateful to be in Rwanda, but they also resent the time they spent locked up. They’re worried about their own futures and about everyone they have left behind.

      Evacuees came from Libyan detention centers including Zintan, Ain Zara, Abu Salim, Triq al-Sikka, and Sabaa, where they experienced an array of horrors. They witnessed deaths from medical negligence and suffered through deliberate food deprivation, torture, and forced recruitment.

      Alex—who was present in Triq al-Sikka when a hopeless Somali detainee set himself on fire in 2018—showed me how his nail was still cracked from being forced to lift heavy weapons. Some of the migrants had contracted tuberculosis, while others were battling trauma. “Most of our minds are completely spoilt. We’re afraid of motorbikes, of helicopters,” one Eritrean told me.

      The trauma could last a long time. Speaking about the “precarious living conditions” and “grave human rights violations” refugees in Libya’s detention system have gone through, Sonal Marwah, a humanitarian affairs manager with Doctors Without Borders, said survivors suffer from emotional and psychological problems, such as anxiety and depression.

      Now, the refugees in Rwanda are struggling with their new reality. A young woman said she has gone on a diet and is only eating one meal a day so she can “regain” her “figure,” after spending so long in detention without being able to move around. Some minors are battling addictions or have begun patronizing the influx of Rwandan prostitutes they say arrived in Gashora shortly after them. Two refugees who stayed out late drinking were robbed. “It’s like a baby who walks when he’s not old enough. It’s like a new planet for us,” said an Eritrean man.

      They feel they can’t trust anyone anymore, convinced everyone around them has tried to profit from them: whether Libyan authorities, smugglers, the U.N., or the Rwandan government.

      All 15 refugees I interviewed in Rwanda say they believed they would be resettled onward, to countries in Europe or North America. Some said that it was only when they signed documents on the night before they left Libya that UNHCR staff informed them they might have to stay in Rwanda for longer. There were consequences for backing out at that stage, too. UNHCR confirmed a “very small number” of refugees in Libya refused to go to Rwanda, meaning the agency will not consider them for resettlement or evacuation again.

      While I was in Rwanda, there was tension in Gashora camp after refugees kicked over chairs at a meeting with authorities, protesting changes to food distribution they believed were designed to keep them there long-term. Afterward, they said, the camp’s guards told them they were no longer allowed gather in big groups. “They think they can teach us how to survive—we should be teaching them,” Alex said about the dispute.

      In November, evacuees got another shock when UNHCR’s special envoy for the Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, tweeted that refugees in Rwanda have “wrong” expectations. “We have no obligation to resettle all refugees in/from Libya,” he wrote. “They can locally integrate in Rwanda if they want, [while] learning and mentally accepting that there is not just a ‘Europe option.’”

      Those who spoke to me said they felt this was just another disregard for what they have been through, with some saying they would rather have paid smugglers to try to cross the Mediterranean Sea again rather than being moved somewhere they see no future, and are willing to go back to Libya and try again. Others accused UNHCR of using their evacuations as a public relations coup to show the agency is doing something, while promoting the Rwandan government’s charity, instead of prioritizing evacuees’ welfare.

      Some evacuees accused UNHCR of using their evacuations as a public relations coup to show the agency is doing something, while promoting the Rwandan government’s charity, instead of prioritizing their welfare.

      “From the outside, the evacuations to Rwanda seem as a great solution to those detained in Libya, but if you dig deeper you’ll find many unanswered questions, like who gets to be evacuated out of the total 40,000+ registered asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya,” Amera Markous, a Libyan migration researcher wrote in a text message.

      “What is the level of understanding of these terms before they evacuate them, and how ‘voluntary’ are they, if they are explained inside detention centers, where refugees can’t even have a private place for such interviews that determine their future?” she asked. “If I went through tragic journeys and finally left a place like Libya, I’d be expecting UNHCR or any responsible entity to provide a durable solution which fits my aspirations, not just getting me out of Libya to repeat it all again.”

      Matteo de Bellis, a migration researcher at Amnesty International, said while any effort to bring refugees to safety should be welcomed, “only a reduced number of people have been able to benefit from this opportunity, as most countries—including EU countries that have cooperated with Libya to contain refugees and migrants there—are offering very few places for resettlement.”

      The evacuation program “risks exacerbating a situation where the vast majority of refugees continue to be hosted in developing countries, while richer ones spend their resources on keeping people out at any cost,” he said. This means refugees’ welfare can stay tied to ever-shifting donor funding, and they can struggle to find stability.

      In January, Cochetel seemingly backtracked, telling an audience in Berlin the “vast majority” of evacuees will be resettled, but it will take about a year.

      In response to questions from Foreign Policy, UNHCR spokeswoman Elise Villechalane said everyone evacuated to Rwanda was informed that resettlement is not guaranteed. “While for the first Rwanda flights the counselling was in some instances provided closer to the time of departure, it is usually provided about two weeks before,” she said. “Refugees are asked to sign a document … stating they understand the implications of the process.”

      UNHCR said it has received 1,150 resettlement pledges from other countries for refugees in Rwanda, with Norway alone pledging to take in 600 refugees (not all of them from Libya). Some Libya evacuees have already been accepted to go to Sweden. The number of available places is still “far outstripped by the needs,” Villechalane said.

      This all raises the question: At what point does the EU become responsible for refugees it has forced from its borders through externalization policies? How much suffering can they go through before European officials recognize some obligation? More than 2,500 miles south of Europe’s borders, Rwanda’s new arrivals are wondering just that, while waiting to find out their futures. At some moments, Alex said, he feels suicidal, while at others he feels a glimmer of hope. He’s haunted by the memories of others who died in Libya. “We are really tired,” he said in a message in January. “We are nothing to them, nothing at all, they could leave us here. There is nothing we could do.”

      At what point does the EU become responsible for refugees it has forced from its borders through externalization policies?

      “Africa is Africa,” he has repeated throughout months of contact from both Libya and Rwanda, saying he’s worried about corruption, repression, exploitation, a lack of freedom, and a lack of opportunity in his birth continent. In Europe, Alex believes, refugees “can start a new life, it’s like we [will be] born again. All the suffering and all the torture, this only makes us stronger.”

      His experience over the past few years has convinced him he won’t feel secure until he has the same rights as a European and the same freedom to travel if something goes wrong, wherever he may end up.

      “Still no one really feels or understands what we’ve been through. We resisted all the suffering and torture … only to get our goal” of reaching safety, he said. “We trusted UNHCR, we trusted the European countries, and we came here. They owe us.”

      https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/20/europes-harsh-border-policies-are-pushing-refugees-all-the-way-to-rwa

  • Migranti, vertice al Viminale dei ministri dell’Interno di Italia, Ciad, Libia e Niger

    Una cooperazione congiunta per il contrasto al terrorismo e alla tratta di esseri umani. Istituita una cabina di regia che opererà per monitorare sui temi oggetto dell’incontro


    http://www.interno.gov.it/it/notizie/migranti-vertice-viminale-dei-ministri-dellinterno-italia-ciad-libia-e-n
    #externalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Tchad #Italie #Libye
    cc @i_s_

    • Parola d’ordine esternalizzare: soldi europei agli Stati africani per fermare il flusso dei migranti

      Il ministro degli Interni del Niger: «Chiediamo all’Ue infrastrutture militari». Ma il Mali non firma le riammissioni: «Le rimesse ci hanno portato 800 milioni di dollari nel 2016»

      http://www.lastampa.it/2017/05/24/esteri/speciali/divertedaid/parola-dordine-esternalizzare-soldi-europei-agli-stati-africani-per-fermare-il-flusso-dei-migranti-VKqfQ42Nr9TimSleQzT7XL/pagina.html?platform=hootsuite

    • Deploying Italian warships to police Libyan waters will expose refugees to horrific abuse

      Proposals to send warships to police Libyan territorial waters are a shameful attempt by the Italian authorities to circumvent their duty to rescue refugees and migrants at sea and to offer protection to those who need it, said Amnesty International, ahead of a vote in the Italian parliament tomorrow.

      https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/deploying-italian-warships-to-police-libyan-waters-will-expose-refugees-

    • Missione navale: Italia pronta a destinare rifugiati e migranti verso orribili violenze

      Dopo il voto del parlamento italiano in favore dell’invio di navi da guerra nelle acque libiche per assistere la Guardia costiera della Libia a intercettare migranti e rifugiati e a riportarli a terra, la vicedirettrice di Amnesty International per l’Europa Gauri Van Gulik ha rilasciato questa dichiarazione:

      https://www.amnesty.it/missione-navale-italia-pronta-destinare-rifugiati-migranti-verso-orribili-vi

    • "L’aiuto dell’Italia alla Guardia costiera libica rischia di tradursi in complicità negli abusi sui migranti"

      L’annuncio del supporto operativo delle navi della Marina Militare italiana al governo di Tripoli, nell’intercettazione di barconi di migranti in acque libiche, è stata criticata da Human Rights Watch: «Potrebbe coinvolgere l’Italia in violazioni dei diritti umani a danno dei migranti successivamente detenuti in Libia».

      http://www.huffingtonpost.it/2017/08/02/l-aiuto-dellitalia-alla-guardia-costiera-libica-rischia-di-tra_a_2306

    • Libia, la Guardia Costiera viene pagata con i soldi della Cooperazione

      Le frontiere esterne dell’Unione Europea si blindano usando fondi destinati allo sviluppo. Dalla polizia del Niger, alle milizie che presidiano i confini in Sudan fino ai militari che controllano le coste del Paese nord africano. La missione ONU per la Libia (Unsmil) in un rapporto parla delle carceri libiche come luoghi di estorsioni e violenze

      http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/cooperazione/2017/07/31/news/libia_la_guardia_costiera_viene_pagata_con_i_soldi_della_cooperazione-172

      #aide_au_développement

    • Italy Has a Controversial New Plan to Stop Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean Sea

      The Italian government initially hoped to send six ships to Libya’s territorial waters, but plans had to be scaled down following popular protests in Tripoli, Reuters reports. Libyans have reportedly been posting images of Omar al-Mukhtar, a national hero who battled Italian rule in the early 1900s, on social media in response to the Italian presence— reflecting the widespread unease over a former colonial power intervening on domestic affairs. Pinotti said that Italy had no intention of creating a blockade on Libya’s coast.

      http://time.com/4885415/italy-naval-mission-migrant-smuggling

    • LIBIA : IL SUCCESSO DEMOCRATICO

      C’è solo una cosa che avete perso: la dignità umana.
      Credo l’abbiate fatto consapevolmente, perché liberarvi della fatica di difendere la dignità umana era il peso più affrontabile per risolvere questo maledetto problema degli sbarchi.
      Creare in pubblico il reato umanitario, confermare e rafforzare le derive più xenofobe e pericolose della nostra società, abbandonare migliaia di persone al loro immobile destino di ingiustizia e povertà, non disturbare la chiusura dell’Europa ricca e respingente, consolidare poteri forti e corrotti in paesi di origine e di transito: questo avete fatto e con questo state vincendo.
      Complimenti.
      Abbiate almeno il coraggio di non chiamarvi più nemmeno democratici.

      http://andreasegre.blogspot.ch/2017/08/libia-il-successo-democratico.html
      #Andrea_Segre

      Avec un ps sur la Suisse :

      P.P.S. scrivo tutto ciò da Locarno (Svizzera), dove presenteremo domani il nuovo doc IBI. E non posso non guardarmi intorno. Questo è il cuore dell’Europa ricca che proteggendosi ha ottenuto ciò che le interessava: crescita interna altissima sulle spalle di un mondo esterno da sfruttare e tenere fuori (i corpi ovviamente, i soldi no, se vogliono quelli entrano subito e senza controlli). Il PIL procapite medio da queste parti è circa 80mila euro l’anno. Nei paesi da cui scappano gli invasori raggiunge al massimo 1000 euro. Ma qui non ci arrivano, perché anche qui, soprattutto qui, hanno vinto. Bravi!

    • Fermare i migranti? Addestrare i libici non funziona

      La notte del 23 maggio 2017 il capitano della Iuventa, la nave dell’Ong tedesca Jugend Rettet, denuncia una nuova aggressione in mare da parte di un motoscafo libico, il cui equipaggio avrebbe sparato verso alcune imbarcazioni sovraccariche di profughi, per poi riportare due delle imbarcazioni verso la Libia. Era la Guardia Costiera libica? L’Italia come la sta addestrando, e a che scopo? E quante Guardie Costiere ci sono in Libia in realtà? Francesco Floris ha ricostruito nei dettagli la storia dell’addestramento italiano dei libici e i suoi precedenti.

      https://openmigration.org/analisi/fermare-i-migranti-addestrare-i-libici-non-funziona

    • Libia, arrivano meno migranti che così finiscono nel lager di #Sabha

      Lo dicono i numeri delle ultime settimane: si assiste ad una drastica riduzione del flusso migratorio dalla Libia verso l’Italia. E’ l’effetto dell’accordo italo-libico, sostenuto dall’Unione Europea. Decine di migliaia di migranti subsahariani bloccati. Lo raccontano le duemila testimonianze raccolte da Medici per i Diritti Umani (Medu)

      http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/immigrazione/2017/08/08/news/libia-172648143/?ref=search

    • Libyan Coast Guard Faces Allegations of Corruption

      At the same time, conflict and corruption on the ground have called into question the EU’s plans to train the Libyan Coast Guard and return migrants to Libyan shores. In February, Libya’s UN-backed government in Tripoli agreed to direct its coast guard to return migrants to shore in exchange for training assistance and financial aid. On Monday, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj negotiated for an additional EU assistance package of $860 million in military equipment, including ships, vehicles, helicopters and communications gear.

      http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/libyan-coast-guard-faces-allegations-of-corruption
      #gardes-côtes #frontières #Libye #gardes-côtes_libyens #corruption #Libye

    • Supreme Court annuls verdict that suspended implementation of Italy-Libya MoU

      The Supreme Court in Libya annulled a previous verdict that suspended the implementation of the #memorandum_of_understanding (MoU) that was signed between Libya’s UN-proposed Presidential Council and Italy.


      https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/supreme-court-annuls-verdict-suspended-implementation-italy-libya-mou

    • L’Italia esibisce in Europa gli accordi con Tripoli. Sotto attacco vittime e testimoni.

      Il governo italiano si presenta al vertice di Parigi esibendo, dietro il Codice di condotta per le ONG, autentico specchietto per le allodole, i risultati degli accordi con il premier libico Serraj e alcune tribù del Fezzan, come già prima con il Sudan di Bashir, con un abbattimento su base mensle, in agosto, del 70 per cento degli arrivi di migranti dalla Libia. Adesso si può davvero dire che le frontiere europee raggiungono il Fezzan, le attività di esternalizzazione dei controlli sono molto avanzate e numerosi contingenti militari sono già schierati sul territorio di confine tra Libia, Niger, Chad e Sudan. Poco importa a quale prezzo. Di fatto sono state proprio le milizie della zona di Sabratha, dalla quale si verificavano le partenze della maggior parte dei gommoni, ad intervenire per bloccare tutte le vie di fuga. Perchè di vie di fuga dalla Libia occorre parlare, oltre che di contrasto al traffico di esseri umani.

      http://www.a-dif.org/2017/08/28/litalia-esibisce-in-europa-gli-accordi-con-tripoli-sotto-attacco-vittime-e-te

    • DA TRAFFICANTE A COMANDANTE DELLA GUARDIA COSTIERA LIBICA

      In un’intervista a “La Stampa” Roberto Saviano racconta oggi che il capo dei trafficanti di #Zawija, base di tante partenze di migranti, a 40 km da Tripoli, è un ragazzo di nemmeno trent’anni, ricchissimo e spietato: #Abdurahman_Al_Milad_Aka_Bija, che tutti conoscono come #Al_Bija. Bene, anzi male: Al Bija è appena diventato il nuovo comandante della Guardia costiera libica della città. Insomma, il referente delle nostre navi militari.

      https://alganews.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/da-trafficante-a-comandante-della-guardia-costiera-libica

    • Tripoli. Accordo Italia-Libia, è giallo sui fondi per aiutare il Paese

      «Il governo non tratta con i trafficanti», asserisce la Farnesina. Non a torto, perché diverse fonti in Libia e tra la bene informata diaspora a Tunisi, dove risiedono molti membri del Consiglio presidenziale libico, confermano che gli stanziamenti italiani sono destinati alle istituzioni. «Però tutti sanno – aggiungono con sarcasmo – che autorità e contrabbandieri hanno madri diverse, ma lo stesso padre». Da Tripoli, ancora nessuna smentita ufficiale. Le conferme, al contrario, sono molteplici, non tutte anonime. Almeno cinque milioni di euro sono stati consegnati da Roma nelle settimane scorse sotto forma di denaro e medicamenti per le strutture sanitarie di Sabratha. Altri ’aiuti’, per importi analoghi, sono attesi dai sindaci-dignitari che hanno assicurato di voler cooperare con il premier Fayez al-Sarraj e l’Italia. Ci sono poi gli stanziamenti già destinati a Bengasi, nell’area controllata dal generale Khalifa Haftar, l’uomo forte della Cirenaica (a est del Paese) ora in espansione anche nell’ovest del premier al-Sarraj.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/accordo-italia-libia-giallo-sui-fondi-per-aiutare-il-paese

    • I migranti come arma di ricatto tra lotte di potere, ritorsioni e nuovi equilibri in Libia. E i morti aumentano

      Nel week end tra il 15 e il 17 settembre sono arrivati in Italia dalla Libia più di 1.800 migranti su una quindicina di gommoni. Senza contare il flusso crescente di “barche fantasma”, pescherecci di varie dimensioni che, partendo dalla Tunisia, approdano in Sicilia, soprattutto sulle coste dell’Agrigentino. Dopo giorni di sbarchi in calo e di continue, “trionfanti” notizie di blocchi effettuati dalla Guardia Costiera libica lungo le coste africane, questo improvviso exploit di sbarchi ha destato non poca sorpresa, contraddicendo almeno in parte le dichiarazioni del Governo italiano sull’efficacia e sulla tenuta dei “muri” eretti nel Mediterraneo e nel Sahara con gli ultimi accordi stipulati da Roma con Tripoli. Non a caso, questo degli sbarchi, è stato uno dei temi guida del dibattito politico e del notiziario dei media nel fine settimana.

      http://www.a-dif.org/2017/09/22/i-migranti-come-arma-di-ricatto-tra-lotte-di-potere-ritorsioni-e-nuovi-equili

    • Italy claims it’s found a solution to Europe’s migrant problem. Here’s why Italy’s wrong.

      Motivating the Libyan militias’ newfound zeal for blocking migrant movement is a new policy spearheaded by the Italian government and embraced by the European Union. The approach relies on payment to militias willing to act as migrant deterrent forces. Italian government representatives use intermediaries such as mayors and other local leaders to negotiate terms of the agreements with the armed groups. They also build local support in the targeted areas by distributing humanitarian aid.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/25/italy-claims-its-found-a-solution-to-europes-migrant-problem-heres-w

    • Libye: La manœuvre périlleuse de l’Italie

      Rome est accusée d’avoir financé des passeurs de Sabratha pour endiguer le flux de migrants. Avéré ou non, cet accord a déclenché une guerre entre milices, déstabilisant un peu plus le pays.

      Côté face, Marco Minniti, le ministre italien de l’Intérieur, se félicite d’être à l’origine de la chute du nombre de migrants partant de la Libye pour l’Europe : - 50 % en juillet et - 87 % en août par rapport à la même période en 2016. Côté pile, Minniti, ancien chef des services secrets, est aussi la principale causede la guerre actuelle qui se déroule à Sabratha, ville située à 80 kilomètres à l’ouest de Tripoli, depuis le 17 septembre. Les combats ont fait au moins 26 victimes et, près de 170 blessés, endommageant également le théâtre romain antique classé au Patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco. Là, des taches de sang et des centaines de douilles jonchent encore le sol. Le lieu, qui a survécu aux soubresauts de l’histoire libyenne, est aujourd’hui marqué jusque dans ses pierres par ce nouveau drame qui n’a rien de théâtral.

      Marco Minniti est accusé d’avoir passé un accord financier avec le chef de milice Ahmed Dabbashi, alias Al-Ammou (« l’Oncle »), pour qu’il mette fin à ses activités de baron du trafic des migrants et ainsi faire baisser le nombre d’arrivées sur les côtes italiennes. L’homme était un des passeurs les plus puissants de Sabratha, dont les plages sont les lieux de départ de la grande majorité des candidats à rejoindre l’Europe.

      Dans les cafés de Sabratha, les habitués sourient lorsqu’on évoque le « repentir » d’Ahmed Dabbashi : « Il veut se donner une respectabilité, mais soyez certains qu’à 3 heures du matin, ses bateaux continuent de partir », assure Salah, qui préfère rester anonyme par crainte de représailles du chef mafieux, membre d’une importante famille de la cité antique. En septembre, plus de 3 000 migrants ont été secourus en mer, et un grand nombre d’entre eux était parti des plages de Sabratha. Si les départs ont ralenti, ils n’ont pas totalement disparu.

      Une aide italienne a minima

      Le conflit qui déchire Sabratha oppose les hommes d’Al-Ammou (alliés à la Brigade 48, dirigée par un frère d’Ahmed Dabbashi), à la Chambre des opérations (CDO) du ministre de la Défense, au Bureau de lutte contre la migration clandestine (BLMC) du ministre de l’Intérieur et à la milice salafiste Al-Wadi, également accusée de trafic humain. Tous se revendiquent d’une affiliation au gouvernement d’union nationale (GUN) de Faïez el-Serraj, soutenu par la communauté internationale. Mais ce dernier ne reconnaît que la CDO et le BLMC. Preuve, s’il en était, que la Libye, en proie au chaos, n’est qu’un camaïeu de gris.

      Bachir Ibrahim, le porte-parole du groupe d’Ahmed Dabbashi, a évoqué l’existence d’un accord verbal avec le gouvernement italien et le GUN de Faïez el-Serraj. Mais ces deux derniers démentent toute entente financière avec la milice. La rumeur ne s’est pas éteinte pour autant. Et les habitants de la ville rappellent les forts liens entre la milice de Dabbashi et l’Italie : c’est le groupe armé qui protège le site gazier de Mellitah, situé à l’ouest de Sabratha et géré par le géant italien ENI. D’ailleurs, la milice possède deux bateaux pneumatiques ultra-rapides qui appartenaient à la marine libyenne et dont l’un a été récupéré sur le site de Mellitah… Bassem al-Garabli, le responsable du BLMC, s’étonne, lui, que l’ambassadeur italien, Giuseppe Perrone, n’ait pas visité son unité lors de sa venue à Sabratha, le 10 septembre pour se féliciter de la chute du nombre de départs de migrants. L’ambassadeur italien à Tripoli n’a, de son côté, pas souhaité répondre à nos questions.

      « L’Italie a payé, en juillet, 5 millions d’euros à Al-Ammou pour trois mois de tranquillité, affirme sous couvert d’anonymat un membre de la CDO. L’échange s’est fait en haute mer. »Cette source rappelle le double jeu du chef de la milice, qui posséderait quatre hangars où des navires capables d’embarquer plusieurs centaines de migrants seraient restaurés. Pourtant, le 28 juillet, l’Union européenne a débloqué 46 millions d’euros à l’Italie afin qu’elle aide les autorités libyennes à renforcer sa capacité à gérer les flux migratoires et protéger ses frontières. Une somme que reflètent peu les résultats sur le terrain.

      A ce jour, seuls 136 marins libyens ont été formés en Italie à rechercher, secourir et perturber le trafic d’êtres humains. Les garde-côtes ont reçu cette année quatre bateaux, reliquats d’un contrat passé en 2008 et, qui plus est, anciens. « L’aide italienne est réelle mais pas au niveau, résume le porte-parole de la marine libyenne, le général Ayoub Gacem. Nous avons besoin de navires neufs pour intercepter les embarcations des migrants qui sont de plus en plus souvent escortées par des hommes armés sur des vedettes rapides. » La marine se montre davantage satisfaite par le « Code Minniti », qui a durci les conditions d’intervention des bateaux d’ONG présents pour secourir les migrants en détresse, au grand dam des organisations humanitaires. « Ces navires sont comme des taxis pour les clandestins, affirme Ayoub Gacem. Les passeurs ont compris qu’il suffit que les migrants atteignent les eaux internationales pour arriver en Europe. »

      Encore faut-il les atteindre. « Alors que nous étions au large de Sabratha, un bateau est arrivé, raconte Shaada, un Bangladais de 17 ans. Les hommes nous ont pris notre argent, nos téléphones portables, le téléphone satellite et le moteur avant de repartir. » Aujourd’hui au centre de rétention de Tripoli, Shaada décrit l’amplification de la piraterie à l’encontre des migrants, en mer comme dans le désert. Un phénomène qui explique aussi, en partie, la baisse des départs depuis la Libye.

      Boko Haram et l’état islamique

      Pour Ayman Dabbashi, cousin d’Al-Ammou mais également membre de la CDO, l’existence d’un « contrat » avec l’Italie ne fait aucun doute. Mais il ne comprend pas la logique italienne. « C’est incompréhensible, parce que mon cousin n’est pas quelqu’un d’éduqué, il sait à peine dire une phrase, affirme-t-il. Il a dit qu’il arrêterait les bateaux mais ce n’est pas vrai. Il va arrêter les bateaux des autres, mais pas les siens. »

      « Marco Minniti pousse le gouvernement d’union nationale à "intégrer" les milices comme celle d’Al-Ammou au sein du ministère de la Défense. Le ministre italien l’a reconnu lui-même. Cela est beaucoup plus grave pour la sécurité de la Libye, que l’existence ou non d’échange de valises de billets », prévient Jalel Harchaoui, qui prépare une thèse sur la dimension internationale du conflit libyen à l’université Paris-VIII. Même inquiétude du côté du général Omar Abdoul Jalil, responsable de la Chambre des opérations : « L’Europe doit faire attention avec qui elle négocie. Les passeurs n’ont aucun problème à introduire des terroristes dans des bateaux de migrants. » Il cite ainsi le cas de deux Camerounais récemment trouvés sur une embarcation et aussitôt envoyés en prison à Tripoli pour de forts soupçons d’appartenance à Boko Haram.

      Jusqu’en février 2016, des camps d’entrainement de l’Etat islamique étaient installés dans Sabratha, avant que les Américains ne bombardent un site. Le groupe terroriste était dirigé par Abdoullah Dabbashi, un parent d’Al-Ammou. Une accointance familiale qui pourrait servir de prétexte à Khalifa Haftar pour entrer dans la danse. L’homme fort de l’est du pays, bien qu’opposant au gouvernement de Faïez el-Serraj, pourrait envoyer des avions de sa base militaire d’Al-Watiya (à 80 kilomètres au sud-ouest de Sabratha) pour bombarder la milice d’Al-Ammou. Officiellement au nom de sa lutte contre le terrorisme. Officieusement, pour entrer de plain-pied dans la Tripolitaine, région ouest du pays. « Si Haftar intervient, l’altercation ne restera sans doute pas locale, prédit le chercheur Jalel Harchaoui. Un échange violent et soutenu poussera d’autres milices à prendre position et à entrer dans le bras de fer. Cette partie de la Libye est la plus peuplée du pays. Il est possible qu’elle s’enflamme et fasse l’objet d’un réalignement important. »

      « c’est une fausse victoire »

      Le maréchal Haftar a d’ailleurs été reçu par Marco Minniti mardi dernier à Rome. La question de Sabratha a été abordée. Spécialiste de la Libye au Conseil européen des relations internationales, Mattia Toaldo ne croit pas à l’escalade : « Marco Minniti veut protéger sa politique antimigratoire en persuadant Khalifa Haftar de rester à l’écart. Ce dernier n’a d’ailleurs pas intérêt à intervenir, ce serait une mission kamikaze. »

      Que le conflit s’embrase ou non, le trafic des migrants ne disparaîtra pas, les réseaux s’adapteront. « En ce moment pour les trafiquants, c’est plus rentable de faire de la contrebande d’essence ou de nourriture que de transporter des hommes. Mais c’est une fausse victoire. Cela va reprendre », assure Choukri Ftis, qui a participé à un récent rapport de Altai Consulting intitulé « Partir de Libye, rapide aperçu des municipalités de départs ». Il pointe déjà la plage de Sidi Bilal, située à une vingtaine de kilomètres à l’ouest de Tripoli, comme prochain centre d’embarquement. Ici, l’Al-Ammou local se nomme Saborto et dirige une milice de la tribu des Warshefanas, réputée pour ses enlèvements de riches Tripolitains et d’étrangers.

      http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2017/10/01/libye-la-manoeuvre-perilleuse-de-l-italie_1600209

    • European priorities, Libyan realities

      August 14 began calmly for Riccardo Gatti. On the first morning of a new search and rescue mission in the central Mediterranean, the former yachtsman turned activist walked the grayed wooden deck of the Golfo Azzurro, a trawler that has been stripped of its bulky fishing equipment to make space for life jackets and water bottles.

      http://issues.newsdeeply.com/central-mediterranean-european-priorities-libyan-realities

      cc @isskein

    • Le Commissaire demande des éclaircissements concernant les opérations maritimes italiennes dans les eaux territoriales libyennes

      Adressée au ministre italien de l’Intérieur, M. Marco Minniti, et publiée le 11 octobre 2017, le Commissaire sollicite des informations concernant les opérations maritimes menées par l’Italie dans les eaux territoriales libyennes à des fins de gestion des flux migratoires.

      https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/view/-/asset_publisher/ugj3i6qSEkhZ/content/commissioner-seeks-clarifications-over-italy-s-maritime-operations-in-libyan-te

      La réponse de Minniti :
      https://rm.coe.int/reply-of-the-minister-of-interior-to-the-commissioner-s-letter-regardi/168075dd2d

    • «Ministro Minniti mi incontri, le racconto l’orrore»

      Gennaro Giudetti, 26 anni, volontario dell’ong Sea Watch, ha recuperato con le proprie mani decine di persone salvandole da morte certa e un bambino senza vita nel naufragio di ieri 6 novembre 2017: «Ho visto con i miei occhi il folle comportamento dei militari libici, che picchiavano chi voleva raggiungerci e ci lanciavano patate. L’Italia blocchi l’accordo con la Libia». Ecco il suo racconto senza filtri

      http://www.vita.it/it/article/2017/11/07/ministro-minniti-mi-incontri-le-racconto-lorrore/145020

    • « En Libye, le trafic de migrants va reprendre comme avant »

      Ces derniers mois, les traversées depuis la Libye ont diminué de façon spectaculaire. Mais, en concluant un accord secret avec une milice de Sabratha, l’Italie pourrait avoir encore un peu plus déstabilisé le pays.

      Entre deux dossiers, dans son bureau de Rome, le ministre de l’Intérieur, Marco Minniti, doit sûrement se demander : « Ai-je eu raison ? » L’ancien chef des services secrets italiens est accusé d’avoir passé, au printemps, un accord financier avec Ahmed Dabbashi alias al-Ammou (l’Oncle), chef d’un des plus importants réseaux de trafic d’êtres humains en Libye, pour que ce dernier arrête son commerce et celui de ses concurrents régionaux.

      L’« Oncle » opère depuis Sabratha, à 70 km à l’ouest de Tripoli, d’où partait l’écrasante majorité des candidats à l’exil. Cette alliance a été revendiquée sur les réseaux sociaux par la brigade de l’Oncle, appelée « Anas-Dabbashi », du nom d’un cousin d’Ahmed tué pendant la révolution de 2011.

      « L’Italie a promis de verser 5 millions d’euros par trimestre. Le premier échange s’est fait durant l’été sur un bateau dans les eaux internationales », assure, sous couvert d’anonymat, un responsable de la Chambre des opérations de Sabratha, dépendant du gouvernement d’union nationale de Tripoli (reconnu par la communauté internationale) et principal ennemi de Dabbashi.

      Une realpolitik qui a eu des résultats spectaculaires : les enregistrements de migrants en Italie en provenance de la Libye ont chuté de 50% en juillet et 87% en août. Seulement, outre l’aspect moral douteux de cette politique, elle a été la principale cause d’une guerre de trois semaines (17 septembre-6 octobre) qui a fait une trentaine de morts et quelque 170 blessés. Les combats ont également profondément endommagé le Théâtre antique romain, classé au patrimoine de l’Unesco. Ils opposaient des forces du gouvernement d’union nationale à Dabbashi et son allié, la brigade 48. Ahmed Dabbashi a été battu et a dû quitter Sabratha. Son réseau n’est plus opérationnel, mais le jeu en valait-il la chandelle ?
      Milice payée avec des fonds européens ?

      L’Union européenne, qui avait donné quasi carte blanche à l’Italie pour régler la question des migrants, va-t-elle sévir ? Bruxelles avait octroyé 53,3 millions de francs suisses à la Botte pour aider la Libye à protéger ses frontières. L’argent a-t-il servi à payer Dabbashi ? Sur le terrain, les acteurs libyens n’ont pas vu d’amélioration notable. Les garde-côtes n’ont reçu cette année que quatre bateaux qui ont déjà servi, et encore s’agissait-il du reliquat d’un contrat passé en 2008.

      « L’aide italienne est réelle mais pas au niveau, résume le porte-parole de la marine libyenne, le général Ayoub Gacem. Nous avons besoin de navires neufs pour intercepter les embarcations des migrants, qui sont maintenant de plus en plus escortés par des hommes armés sur des vedettes rapides. » Car, si Dabbashi est hors-jeu, d’autres réseaux ont pris le relais.

      Après les affrontements de Sabratha, près de 15 000 migrants, principalement d’Afrique subsaharienne, ont été retrouvés et emmenés dans des centres de détention officiels dans la région de Tripoli. Dans le pays, ils seraient plusieurs centaines de milliers à attendre l’opportunité de traverser la Méditerranée.
      « Une fausse victoire »

      Le 31 octobre, deux bateaux pneumatiques avec 299 migrants à leur bord ont été arrêtés par les autorités libyennes. Ils étaient partis des plages de Zliten à 180 km à l’est de Tripoli. « La victoire de Sabratha est une fausse victoire, le trafic va reprendre comme avant dès l’an prochain quand ce sera la saison [été-automne] », prédit Choukri Ftis, un chercheur qui a participé récemment à un rapport sur la migration illégale en Libye.

      Cet été, le président français, Emmanuel Macron, avait lancé l’idée de centres d’enregistrement basés dans le sud libyen pour filtrer en amont les migrants. Une idée difficilement réalisable sur un territoire aussi vaste (2000 km de frontière avec l’Algérie, le Niger, le Tchad, le Soudan et l’Egypte) et soumis continuellement aux tensions ethniques entre Arabes, Toubous et Touaregs, qui se partagent le pouvoir dans une zone où l’Etat est quasi absent.

      La stratégie de Minniti a donné un coup de pied dans la fourmilière des réseaux de trafic d’êtres humains mais n’a pas fait disparaître le phénomène. Par contre, elle pourrait avoir durablement chamboulé l’équilibre politique du pays. Parmi la coalition armée qui a chassé Dabbashi se trouvait une force d’appui : la brigade al-Wadi. De tendance salafiste, le groupe est un affidé de l’Armée nationale arabe libyenne de Khalifa Haftar. L’homme fort de l’est a donc ainsi pu se draper de la victoire à Sabratha contre Ahmed Dabbashi.
      Intérêts gaziers

      Le 25 septembre, en plein milieu de la guerre de Sabratha, le maréchal a d’ailleurs été accueilli pour la première fois, bien qu’en catimini, par Marco Minniti et la ministre de la Défense, Roberta Pinotti. Au menu : le contrôle des plages de Sabratha si Dabbashi venait à être vaincu et la sécurisation du complexe gazier de Mellitah tout proche. Le site géré par le géant italien ENI était jusqu’alors protégé par les hommes de l’« Oncle ». Si rien n’a filtré de ce rendez-vous, les craintes sont vives que Haftar, fort d’un possible soutien italien qui aurait retourné sa veste devant la fuite de Dabbashi, n’ait des visées expansionnistes.

      « L’altercation ne restera sans doute pas locale, prédit Jalel Harchaoui. Un échange violent et soutenu poussera d’autres milices à prendre position et à entrer dans le bras de fer. Cette partie de la Libye est la plus peuplée du pays. Il est possible qu’elle s’enflamme et fasse l’objet d’un réalignement important. » Marco Minniti, dans son bureau, y pense-t-il parfois ?

      https://www.letemps.ch/monde/2017/11/05/libye-trafic-migrants-va-reprendre

    • Depositato il ricorso di ASGI contro lo sviamento di 2,5 milioni di euro dal c.d. Fondo Africa

      Supporto tecnico alle autorità libiche per la gestione delle frontiere con fondi destinati a rilanciare il dialogo e la cooperazione con i Paesi africani. ASGI al TAR : E’ sviamento di potere.

      https://www.asgi.it/asilo-e-protezione-internazionale/libia-italia-ricorso-fondi-cooperazione
      #Fonds_afrique

      –-> An English synthesis:

      Supporting Libyan Coast Guard is a misuse of the so-called “Africa Fund”. Italian Association ASGI brings Italian Foreign Ministry to Court.

      The Italian Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) has recently brought legal proceedings before the Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) with regard to Decree 4110/47 by which the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation allocates 2,5 million euros to the Ministry of Interior to repair four vessels for Libyan authorities and train them. Such a disbursement is part of the “Africa Fund” (200 million euros) set up by the Italian Parliament to promote cooperation and dialogue with African countries. Being Libya a notoriously unsafe country for migrants and refugees in transit, the compatibility of such a massive allocation of money with the stated goals of the “Africa Fund” – however vague they are – should be questioned. Given that these vessels might be used by the Libyan Coast Guard to pull-back migrants and refugees rescued/intercepted at sea and retain them in appalling detention centers, the main argument before TAR is that this military equipment is a diversion of the funding allocated by the Italian Parliament to contribute to the resolution of the humanitarian crisis in Libya.

    • The Case for Italy’s Complicity in Libya Push-Backs

      When a boatload of migrants sets off from Libya in the direction of Italy, smugglers often tell those on board to get to international waters before raising the alarm. The migrants hope to be picked up by rescue boats run by humanitarian NGOs and taken on to Italy where they can apply for asylum. The alternative is interception at the hands of the Libyan coast guard and a return to Libya.

      http://souciant.com/2017/11/the-case-for-italys-complicity-in-libya-push-backs

    • The rest of the world has woken up, but migrants are still sleepwalking into Libya slave markets

      While the West has reacted with outrage to video evidence of Libyan slave markets, potential victims themselves remain unaware of the dangers they face

      The trade in human beings has risen sharpy since the Italian government began paying Libyan militant groups and smugglers to stem the flow of migrants over the sea earlier this year.

      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/african-migrants-libya-slave-markets-aim-europe-refugees-human-traffi

    • La strategia italiana nel Mediterraneo

      http://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/media/img/rapporto_med_maeci_2017_internet_1.pdf

      Avec ce commentaire sur FB de Francesco Floris (07.12.2017):

      La Farnesina s’è desta.
      Il ministero degli esteri ci fa la cortesia di dirci cosa pensa della Libia. Dopo che Alfano ha speso gli ultimi 12 mesi a fungere da cartonato di Minniti e a implorare diversi magistrati siciliani (e non) di indagare sulle ong invece che sui centri d’accoglienza usati da Ncd come un’american express.
      Solo che appena parlano finiscono col confessare.

      A pagina 24 del doc. «La strategia italiana nel Mediterraneo» - pamphlet dalla prosa brillante pieno zeppo de «L’Italia ha prontamente reagito», «Roma si è immediatamente attivata», «la task force ha fermamente ribadito» che gli piacciono enormemente gli avverbi - si legge che dopo il 2 febbraio 2017, e su richiesta di Serraj, abbiamo inviato a Tripoli una nave-officina per riparare le unità navali libiche. Ma non solo per amore della meccanica a quanto pare, anche per «fornire un coordinamento alle operazioni di pattugliamento e salvataggio in mare».
      Coordinare le operazioni dei libici per riportare i migranti in una nazione che non sottoscrive la Convenzione di Ginevra e dove vige un regime di tortura. Lo scrivono loro. E sarebbe anche illegale qualora a questi manettari con i polsi degli altri interessasse qualcosa.
      Quindi ogni volta che sentite le autorità italiane o la Mogherini indignarsi e sbraitare «la Ue e l’Italia non hanno mai respinto nessuno» e altre cazzate fate loro due domande: Cosa ci fa allora una nave italiana a Tripoli a coordinare le operazioni?
      E due: ci state prendendo per il culo o cosa?
      La seconda è quella giornalisticamente più interessante.

    • Exclusive: Italy plans big handover of sea rescues to Libya coastguard

      ROME/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Italy wants Libya’s coastguard to take responsibility within three years for intercepting migrants across about a tenth of the Mediterranean even as Libyan crews struggle to patrol their own coast and are accused of making deadly mistakes at sea.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-libya-exclusive/exclusive-italy-plans-big-handover-of-sea-rescues-to-libya-coastguard-idUSK

    • Italy Strikes Back Again: A Push-back’s Firsthand Account

      Evidence is mounting about the Italian Navy’s involvement in facilitating the return of migrants to Libya. There have been alleged cooperation agreements between Italy and Libya to stem the flows to Europe, at the same time, as there have been accusations of pushbacks to Libya. In these cases, Italy stands accused of actively supporting the Libyan Coast Guard in committing unlawful acts, returning intercepted migrants to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened, or where they would face the risk of torture.

      https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/12/italy-strikes?platform=hootsuite

    • Vu sur twitter, le 15.02.2018 :

      Another patch of Libyan Coast Guards #LCG finished training in #Italy , certificates given during a ceremony in #Libya #Migration


      https://twitter.com/zakariyatz/status/963801317738209282

      Et avec ce commentaire de Gerry Simpson :

      A reassuring photo of the latest Libyan coastguards receiving certificates after Italy trained them to intercept refugees & migrants heading for the EU & return them to Libya to face guaranteed inhumane detention conditions and a real risk of torture

      https://twitter.com/GerrySimpsonHRW/status/963976898291355648

    • Italy Has Reportedly Delivered Further Vessels To Tripoli’s Coast Guard In Libya

      “Three further Italian patrol vessels have been delivered to the Libyan Coast Guard right in these days”, the Italian analyst Gerardo Pelosi has revealed on Il Sole 24 Ore while debating the military missions to Libya and Niger Rome approved last January.

      The news apparently echoes a similar one shared by the Libyan outlet Libya Observer‘s journalist Safa Al Harathy, who has written today an only vessel, the “106”, was delivered on February 22nd after being fixed in Tunisia:

      “the vessel 106 will join the vessels 109 and 111 at Khums port to contribute in securing the Libyan coast from Tajoura all along to Zlitan city in the east”,

      the Libya Observer reports.

      https://betweenlibyaanditaly.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/italy-has-reportedly-delivered-further-vessels-to-tr

    • Mancata ratifica parlamentare del memorandum Italia-Libia : al via il ricorso alla Corte Costituzionale

      Presentato un ricorso alla Consulta da alcuni parlamentari italiani contro il Governo che, non chiedendo la ratifica dell’ accordo, ha impedito loro di esercitare il diritto di discuterne e di votare, come stabilito dalla Costituzione . La scheda tecnica dell’ASGI sull’azione.

      https://www.asgi.it/primo-piano/mancata-ratifica-parlamento-memorandum-italia-libia-ricorso-corte-costituzional
      #memorandum

    • Italian work on Libya and migrants OK

      Italy’s work on migrants and Libya has been positive, Frontex chief #Fabrice_Leggeri told ANSA in an interview Tuesday.
      “Italy is working to use the resources allotted by the EU to find sustainable solutions for Libya” and the migrants held there, he said.
      "And for now it is going in the right direction, even though the conditions of the centres in Libya are not in line with our standards, and with basic humanitarian standards.
      “But that is not Italy’s fault, all the international community and not only the EU can help”.


      http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/02/20/italian-work-on-libya-and-migrants-ok_1cfcf7d8-b477-452c-aedf-86c0cfd48b48.html
      #Frontex #Leggeri

    • Migranti, l’accordo Italia-Libia finisce davanti alla Corte costituzionale

      Era il 2 febbraio 2017 quando – alla vigilia di un importante vertice europeo a Malta in cui si sarebbe discusso anche di emergenza immigrazione – il Primo ministro Paolo Gentiloni siglava a Roma l’accordo col presidente del Governo di unità nazionale libico Fayez al-Serraj: un memorandum in cui l’Italia si impegnava nei confronti della Libia a fornire strumentazioni e sostegno militare, strategico e tecnologico, oltre a fondi per lo sviluppo, per bloccare le partenze dei migranti in fuga. Un accordo con un Paese, è bene ricordarlo, che non ha ratificato la Convenzione di Ginevra sui rifugiati, e nelle cui carceri i migranti sono quotidianamente oggetto di violenze e soprusi.

      https://left.it/2018/02/28/migranti-laccordo-italia-libia-finisce-davanti-alla-corte-costituzionale

    • Le patrouilleur 648 qui a menacé Open Arms, un cadeau de l’Italie à la Lybie.

      L’UE a entrainé l’équipage du bateau qui a joué un rôle dans plusieurs incidents avec des ONG de sauvatage.

      CRISTINA MAS Barcelona 25/03/2018 00:21

      Le bateau de patrouille des gardes-côtes libyens qui a menacé dans les eaux internationales les volontaires d’Open Arms le 15 mars afin qu’ils leur livrent les femmes et les enfants qu’ils étaient en train de secourir, était un cadeau de l’Italie à la Libye. La même embarcation, qui porte le numéro d’identification 648 et le nom de Ras al Jadar, a joué un rôle dans plusieurs autres incidents avec d’autres bateaux des ONG SeaWatch et SOS méditerranée, qui travaillent au sauvetage de naufragés en Méditerranée.

      Entre 2009 et 2010, le Premier ministre italien Silvio Berlusconi a alors accordé six patrouilles aux garde-côtes libyens dans le cadre de l’accord amical signé avec le dictateur libyen Mouammar Kadhafi. Le texte prévoyait la construction d’un système de radar dans le but de surveiller les frontières du désert et des patrouilles maritimes conjointes dans les eaux libyennes et internationales pour empêcher que des bateaux quittant la Libye arrivent en Italie.

      Mais la vie des six bateaux de patrouille donnés à Kadhafi – toutes du modèle Bigliani, qui étaient auparavant au service du corps militaire Guardia di Finanza - était aussi courte que la période à laquelle le dictateur a survécu au pouvoir. Le 17 février 2011, le printemps arabe atteint la Libye avec une révolte qui a déclenché une intervention de l’OTAN et s’est terminée avec la mort de Kadhafi huit mois plus tard. Deux des embarcations ont été détruites dans les combats, et les quatre autres, dont le 648, ont été réparés à l’usine navale de Fiamme Gialle de Miseno (Naples). En avril dernier, l’Italie les a rendue au gouvernement de Tripoli.

      L’incident du 15 mars avec Open Arms n’est pas le premier d’une ONG avec ce bateau de patrouille. Le 6 novembre, l’ONG allemande Sea Watch, travaillant dans la même région, a rapporté qu’à 30 miles de la côte libyenne la même patrouille a interféré dans un sauvetage.

      Les migrants à bord ont pris panique, le bateau des gardes-côtes les a rattrapé, certains naufragés ont pu grimper sur le bateau de patrouille sans que les agents ne les aident et, une fois à bord, comme on peut le voir sur la vidéo enregistrée par l’ONG, les gardes-côtes les ont frappés avec les amarres du bateau.

      Un jeune a tenté de descendre pour atteindre le bateau de l’ONG et est resté suspendu à l’échelle, au moment où le bateau libyen a accéléré et mis sa vie en danger. Au moins cinq migrants sont morts dans l’opération, des décès qui selon Sea Watch auraient pu être évités.

      Le 4 mars, le navire Aquarius, de l’ONG SOS Mediterranée, a également subi l’hostilité de la patrouille 648, qui s’est approchée d’eux au cours d’une collision sans répondre à leurs avertissements radio et finalement ils leur ont ordonné de quitter le site, à 17 milles au large de la côte, alors même s’ils étaient à la recherche d’un bateau.

      Un autre vaisseau d’Open Arms a eu, en août, un incident avec un autre bateau de patrouille donné par l’Italie, le 654, qui les a menacé avec deux rafales de balles tirée en l’air et une semaine plus tard les a forcés à naviguer pendant environ deux heures en direction de Tripoli en disant qu’ils étaient sous sa protection.

      Rome et l’ensemble de l’UE ont choisi l’un des trois gouvernements qui se disputet le pouvoir dans la guerre civile en Libye, celui dirigé par le Premier ministre Faiez al-Sarraj, qui a le soutien de l’UE et de l’ONU, mais ne contrôle seulement qu’un tiers du pays. La Libye est plongée dans un conflit sans front avec des centaines de milices armées.

      Le Premier ministre italien Paolo Gentiloni et Al-Sarraj ont signé le 2 février 2017 un protocole d’accord - dans le cadre de l’accord signé par Berlusconi et Kadhafi - qui établit une coopération bilatérale dans les domaines du développement, l’immigration illegale, le trafic d’êtres humains, la contrebande et le renforcement de la surveillance des frontières entre l’Italie et la Libye. L’Italie livrera à Tripoli six patrouilles supplémentaires totalement neuves.

      L’Espagne s’est proposé de former 100 garde-côtes libyens dans la base navale de Carthagène. Dans le cadre de l’opération Sophia de l’OTAN, le programme de formation de la Garde côtière libyenne financé par l’UE avec 46 millions d’euros a déjà formé 93 agents dans un navire italien et dans un autre navire néerlandais. 43 officiers supplémentaires ont été formés en Crète, à Malte et à Rome.

      Human Rights Watch lance un cri d’alarme : « Aider les autorités libyennes à capturer des immigrés en haute mer, sachant qu’ils les rendront à un traitement cruel, inhumain ou dégradant dans une détention arbitraire, expose l’Italie et d’autres pays de l’UE à participer à une violation grave des droits de l’homme ». Les accusations ne viennent pas seulement des ONG. Le groupe d’experts de l’ONU sur la Libye a rappelé que « les abus contre les migrants ont été largement collectés, y compris les exécutions, la torture ou la privation de nourriture, d’eau et de médicaments », et prévient que « le département contre l’immigration (libyen) et la garde côtière (italienne) sont directement impliqués dans ces graves violations des droits de l’homme. » Avec les accords d’externalisation du contrôle des frontières de l’UE, le témoignage des ONG en Méditerranée centrale devient de plus en plus gênant."

      Traduction, reçu via la mailing list de Migreurop, de cet article paru en catalan:
      La patrullera #648 que va amenaçar Open Arms, un regal d’Itàlia a Líbia

      La UE va entrenar la tripulació del vaixell que ha protagonitzat diversos incidents amb ONGs de rescat


      https://www.ara.cat/internacional/patrullera-amenacar-Open-Arms-Libia_0_1984601662.html
      #Open_arms

    • Texte publié par SOS Méditerranée, sur twitter (17.04.2018) :

      UPDATE while searching for the boat in distress, the #Aquarius was informed the Libyan coastguard took coordination over 2 boats in distress today. This means more people were taken back to a place where their safety is not guaranteed.

      https://twitter.com/SOSMedIntl/status/986294580097224705

      v. aussi :

      UPDATE The #Aquarius was alerted to a boat in distress earlier today. This afternoon, the crew of the #Aquarius found this empty and slashed rubber boat in international waters off the coast of #Libya.

      https://twitter.com/SOSMedIntl/status/986267126087503872

      #refoulement #push-back

    • Cercate i guardacoste libici? Telefonate a Roma: 06/…

      È un numero di telefono a rivelare il rapporto, forse un po’ troppo stretto, tra Roma e Tripoli. Una utenza che corrisponde a un interno della Marina militare italiana, stampato, come recapito del mittente, su un modulo di messaggi utilizzato dalla Guardia costiera libica. Il documento, di cui pubblichiamo il dettaglio, ha consultato porta la […]

      https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/premium/articoli/cercate-i-guardacoste-libici-telefonate-a-roma-06

    • Sur le site de la Défense italienne...
      Un article de août 2017:
      Nave #Tremiti nel porto libico di #Abu_Sittah

      Dopo il pattugliatore Comandante Borsini che ha sbarcato nel porto militare di Tripoli (Abu Sittah) il personale italiano che opererà a supporto della Guardia costiera libica, è giunta ieri nel porto della nostra ex colonia Nave Tremiti, una delle 6 unità da 750 tonnellate per il trasporto costiero della Classe Gorgona.

      La nave è destinata a garantire supporto tecnico ai mezzi navali libici nell’ambito della cooperazione italo-libica e in applicazione dell’accordo tra i due Paesi del 2008 “riesumato” dal governo di Fayez al-Sarraj.


      http://www.analisidifesa.it/2017/08/nave-tremiti-nel-porto-libico-di-abu-sittah

      –-> j’aime bien l’expression «accordo riesumato» = «accord ressuscité»

      Et puis cette nouvelle, de 30 mars 2018:
      Missioni Militari: Nave #Caprera sostituisce la #Capri nella missione bilaterale di assistenza e supporto in Libia

      È previsto nella giornata di oggi il “passaggio di consegne” tra Nave Capri e Nave Caprera nell’ambito della Missione Bilaterale di Assistenza e Supporto in Libia.

      In particolare, a questo assetto navale compete, prioritariamente, l’attività di supporto logistico e tecnico-manutentivo dei battelli della Marina e della Guardia Costiera libiche. Nave Caprera giungerà domani al porto di Tripoli, da dove comincerà la sua missione della durata di circa quattro mesi.

      Nave Capri aveva iniziato la sua attività a dicembre dello scorso anno, subentrando a Nave Tremiti, e nei suoi circa quattro mesi di missione ha svolto consulenza e formazione del personale militare libico della Marina e della Guardia Costiera nelle attività di manutenzione, riparazione e ripristino dell’efficienza delle unità navali libiche.

      L’operazione, inizialmente inquadrata nell’operazione “Mare Sicuro”, era stata avviata ad agosto dello scorso anno, in seguito alla richiesta di supporto avanzata dal Governo di Accordo Nazionale libico al Governo italiano. Per assolvere con efficacia i compiti assegnati, a bordo delle unità navali italiane della “classe Gorgona” – selezionate per alternarsi in questo specifico incarico di natura tecnico-logistica – è prevista la presenza di un container attrezzato a officina meccanica, oltre che di due ulteriori team di personale tecnico-specialistico.

      https://www.difesa.it/OperazioniMilitari/op_intern_corso/Libia_Missione_bilaterale_di_supporto_e_assistenza/notizie_teatro/Pagine/Nave_Caprera_sostituisce_la_Capri_nella_missione_bilaterale_di_assistenza_e_s

      #operazione_Mare_Sicuro

    • "Playing with Molecules": The Italian Approach to Libya

      Cette étude met en lumière la manière dont la politique étrangère italienne a choisi en Libye de traiter avec les divers éléments, ou « molécules », d’un pays entré en décomposition.
      La politique impulsée par le gouvernement Gentiloni, et en particulier le ministre de l’Intérieur Marco Minniti, a composé avec les différents acteurs pour « repriser » et stabiliser le terrain, afin de mieux gérer les flux de migrants et les activités illégales en Méditerranée, mais aussi de sécuriser l’approvisionnement énergétique de l’Italie. Cette approche « moléculaire » est à double tranchant : alors que les flux migratoires se sont réduits, que les relations économiques s’intensifient et que les coopérations informelles créent de nouveaux espaces de dialogue, le manque de vision stratégique dans la mise en avant de nouveaux acteurs pourrait nuire aux perspectives de paix et in fine, aux relations entre l’Italie et la Libye.


      https://www.ifri.org/fr/publications/etudes-de-lifri/playing-molecules-italian-approach-libya

    • Most Libyan militias involved in illegal migration activities nominally affiliated to official state security institutions: UN Libya Experts Panel report

      Most Libyan militias involved in illegal migration activities are nominally affiliated to official state security institutions, the UN Libya Experts Panel report states in its section on human trafficking and financing of armed groups.

      ‘‘Armed groups, which were party to larger political-military coalitions, have specialized in illegal smuggling activities, notably human smuggling and trafficking. The drastic rise in the numbers of migrants starting in 2014 indicates that illegal migration in Libya is not the preserve of isolated armed groups but of much larger coalitions. Most armed groups involved in these illegal activities were nominally affiliated to official security institutions. In 2014, the number of migrants that took the central Mediterranean route (great majority through Libya) was 170,664, compared to 45,298 and 15,151, respectively in 2013 and 2012.

      Role of SDF and links with smugglers

      The Special Deterrence Force (SDF) is an armed group affiliated to the Government of National Accord’s Ministry of Interior, with policing and security functions, including investigation of human traffickers and the arrest of illegal migrants.

      Testimonies of migrants, originating from Eritrea, reveal that when they reached Tripoli from Bani Walid in July 2016, they were arrested by SDF. They confirmed that, once arrested by SDF, they were handed over, against payment, to various migrant smuggling rings for onward journeys to Zawiyah and Sabratha.

      Some were handed over to the Mitiga detention centre, while others were taken to the Tajura and Abu Slim detention centres. These three centres are theoretically subordinated to the Ministry of Interior’s Department Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM). The group detained in Mitiga had to pay the SDF between 300 and 400 USD each, for their release and transfer from Tripoli to Sabratha.

      Four Bangladeshis told the Panel that they landed in Tripoli from Dhaka on 15 July 2015, holding valid Libyan work visas. On arrival, SDF seized their passports and detained them for three months in Mitiga. They were subsequently transferred to Sabratha, and sent on boats against their will to Europe after being extorted of 300 USD paid in cash to the SDF elements.

      The Panel is assessing whether the SDF’s leadership was aware of collusion and trafficking being conducted within its ranks.

      Role of Eritrean smugglers

      In Tripoli, a well-structured network of smugglers coming from East Africa has operated since 2008. Multiple testimonies collected and corroborated by judicial authorities indicate that the leadership is composed of two Eritreans living in Tripoli, Ermias Ghermay and Abd al-Razzak Fitwi.

      They play a key role in organizing the smuggling from the migrants’ homeland to Italy against substantial payments. Interviewees claimed that Fitwi acts as a broker and receives up to 1,500 US dollars per person, to release the migrants held in the official detention centres in Tripoli and to send them to Sabratha.

      An armed group member from Tripoli, told the Panel that Fitwi and Ghermay paid substantial fees to prominent armed groups to pursue their activities and to guarantee their safety. They also have private detention camps in Tajura, Abu Slim and Gargaresh guarded by Africans. From there they transport migrants to Sabratha or Zawiyah.

      Use of State detention facilities for trafficking

      The Directorate Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) is responsible for 24 detention centres and employs 5,000 staff. Under Libyan legislation, the migrants are detained because they are considered as illegal aliens, subject to investigation by judicial authorities.

      According to international agencies, the DCIM has no control over its detention centres. The administration is almost non-existent, and records on the migrants, who have been detained, are poor. A minister of the GNA admitted in a discussion that the armed groups are stronger than the authorities in handling the flows of migrants. Several migrants also confirmed that the local armed group controlled the centres they stayed in.

      Smugglers in Sabratha

      Sabratha is the main departing point of migrants to Italy. The city is divided between two competing armed groups involved in migrant smuggling. The eastern zone is under control of Mosab Abu Grein al Wadi armed group. The western zone is held by Ahmad al-Dabbashi’s Martyr Anas al-Dabbashi Brigade.

      Anas al-Dabbashi Martyr Brigade

      The commander of Anas al-Dabbashi Martyr’s Brigade, Ahmad al-Dabbashi (alias al- ‘Amu), was the main smuggler in Sabratha from 2014 until he was ousted in October 2017. West African migrants rescued in Lampedusa in April 2017 testified in Italy on al-Dabbashi’s modus operandi.

      The interviewees were forced to call their families to transfer money to specific bank accounts located in Europe, Africa or the Middle East. From October 2016 to April 2017, they had to pay up to 2,000 USD each for their travel. The money was extorted by armed guards composed of Libyans, Nigerians and Gambians. The African guards work for three months to pay their own migration to Europe. The interviewees sailed, on 13 April 2017, with two of their former guards from Sabratha to Lampedusa.

      The Panel is investigating the GNA’s creation and financing of the anti-illegal migration unit, “Brigade 48”. Although it was supposedly under the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of Staff, sources stated that al-Amu’s brother, Mohamed al-Dabbashi, headed it. In summer 2017, al-Dabbashi’s brigade had apparently shifted from trafficking to policing migrants for the GNA’s account.

      Furthermore, several open sources reported an alleged deal with al-Dabbashi to contain the migration flows from Sabratha. Although the information was denied, it triggered violent clashes between competing armed groups involved in smuggling. Ahmad al-Dabbashi was defeated and escaped Sabratha on 6 October 2017. The PC dissolved the Brigade 48 on 16 November 2017.

      Role of Mos’ab Abu Grein

      Mos’ab Abu Grein (alias “The Doctor”), a leader of al-Wadi Brigade, operates in the eastern part of Sabratha. He is connected to a network of smugglers composed of Salafi armed groups in Tripoli, Sebha and Kufra. The Panel interviewed three different Eritrean migrants who reported that they were taken from SDF’s Mitiga detention centre to the Abu Grein facility in Sabratha in July 2016. They were detained in a hangar with African guards from where Abu Grein organizes departures on inflatable rubber boats to Italy.

      The interviewees said they paid Abu Grein 1,500 USD cash via a Nigerian broker to cross the Mediterranean. According to official sources, Mos’ab Abu Grein enjoys impunity for his activities in migrant smuggling because he collaborates with the SDF to counter drug traffickers, consumption of alcohol and combats alleged links of Sabratha and Zawiyah traffickers to listed entities such as ISIL.

      Abu Grein and Dabbashi have been in close competition, both seeking to monopolize the trafficking in Sabratha. From 21 September, Abu Grein supported the anti-ISIL Operation Room (AIOR) to combat the Brigade 48 armed group. The Panel notes that the warring parties, the AIOR and the Brigade 48, were officially financed by the GNA until the conflict broke out in Sabratha.

      Zawiyah

      Al Nasr Brigade and the Coast Guards

      Between Tripoli and Sabratha, Zawiyah port plays a distribution role. According to interviews of migrants and judicial reports, ‘Al Nasr Brigade’ 56, headed by Mohamed Koshlaf, and Zawiyah Coast Guards, was connected to Ahmad al-Dabbashi’s organization. Several migrants paid 100,000 to 150,000 Francs CFA57 to a Burkinabe broker operating between Koshlaf and the migrants.

      Other interviewees, who travelled in April 2017, asserted that their group left Zawiyah by night, crammed on a 10-meter inflatable rubber boat. While at sea, men with an official boat and wearing Coast Guard uniforms stopped them. They shot in the air and extorted the passengers’ money and valuables. When the boat arrived at calling distance off the Italian shores, the same official boat returned to seize the rubber boat’s engine. Similar incidents have been reported previously.

      Southern Region

      Brigade Subul al-Salam

      Eritrean and Ethiopian interviewees described their transfer, in January 2015, from the Sudanese border to Al Kufra. An Eritrean fixer, called Afra Waiki, transported and handed them over to an armed group, Brigade Subul al-Salam, affiliated with the LNA and under the command of Abd al Rahman Hashem from the Zway tribe in al-Kufra.

      The interviewees said they were put in a prison where the guards were dressed in police uniforms and driving official police cars. For their release, each migrant had to transfer up to 300 USD to a foreign bank account. In July 2015, they could continue their travel to Bani Walid driven by another Eritrean fixer known as Wadi Isaaq.

      Role of Tebu armed groups and Sudanese armed groups

      Sources indicated active involvement of Tebu and Darfuri armed groups, supported by Darfuri mercenaries in the south, in migrant smuggling. They operate particularly in the Tamassa region, in the south west of Jebel Arrush, Murzuq and al Kufra. The Tebu manage their own warehouses for migrants while Darfuri armed groups provide protection and escort to the traffickers.

      Recent developments have shown attempts to counter the groups involved in migrant smuggling. In September 2017, an armed group called the ‘Suqur al Sahara’ headed by the Tebu commander, Barka Shedimi, claimed the closure of the borders with Niger, Sudan and Chad to halt human trafficking. Similarly, a coalition of armed groups linked to Murzuq Municipality also created their own border protection force. The Panel is investigating these decisions, particularly the political and the financial motivations behind them”.

      https://www.libyaherald.com/2018/03/11/most-libyan-militias-involved-in-illegal-migration-activities-nominally
      signalé par @isskein via Fulvio Vassallo sur FB

    • Sauvetage de migrants : tensions entre gardes-côtes et ONG au large de la Libye

      Plusieurs associations dénoncent le traitement infligé aux migrants par les garde-côtes libyens. Ces derniers travaillent en coordination avec l’Italie.

      Toujours pas d’apaisement en Méditerranée entre ONG et gardes-côtes libyens. Ce week-end, plusieurs navires humanitaires souhaitant s’approcher d’embarcations de migrants en détresse se sont vus refuser l’accès.

      « Les Libyens agissent comme des pirates dans les eaux internationales, exigeant que leur soit reconnue une autorité. Ils agissent hors du droit et ils le font avec des moyens fournis par le gouvernement italien », a accusé sur Twitter le député italien de gauche Riccadro Magi. Samedi, il était à bord de l’Astral, un voilier appartenant à l’ONG Proactiva Open Arms, lorsqu’une vedette libyenne a ordonné au navire de s’éloigner.

      Bis repetita dimanche avec l’Aquarius. Ce bateau, affrété par SOS-Méditerranée et Médecins sans frontières (MSF) avait été prévenu par les gardes-côtes italiens de la présence d’un canot surchargé au large de Tripoli. Mais Rome a aussi prévenu ses homologues libyens, qui ont pris la coordination de l’opération et interdit au navire de s’approcher. Leur a également été demandé de s’éloigner quand des migrants ont sauté à l’eau pour tenter d’éviter d’être reconduits en Libye. En début de soirée, la marine libyenne a annoncé avoir secouru plus de 300 migrants dans trois opérations distinctes, faisant état d’un mort et d’un disparu.

      Flou autour de l’identité de ces gardes-côtes

      Le porte-parole de la marine libyenne a prévenu que les tensions avec les ONG risquent de s’aggraver dans les prochains jours, les navires humanitaires « s’approchant de plus en plus » des eaux libyennes, selon M. Kacem. La Libye, qui accuse les ONG d’être liées aux réseaux de passeurs, est soutenue par l’Italie et l’Union européenne qui finance la formation de ces officiers dans cette région en proie aux tensions inter-tribales.

      « Certains ont des uniformes mais on ne sait pas qui ils sont vraiment, décrivait pour le Parisien Francis Vallat, président de SOS Méditerranée. Certains dépendent du gouvernement libyen reconnu internationalement, tandis que d’autres relèvent de chefs féodaux plus ou moins provinciaux. On ne sait pas si ces gens respectent le droit. En tout cas, ils ont une attitude qui permet d’en douter. »

      LIRE AUSSI >Des migrants « secourus » sur fond d’accusations de traitements inhumains

      Trois responsables de l’ONG Proactiva Open Arms font actuellement l’objet d’une enquête judiciaire en Italie pour avoir refusé de remettre des migrants aux Libyens lors d’une opération mi-mars. Même si un juge a estimé qu’ils avaient agi « en état de nécessité » compte tenu de l’insécurité pour les migrants en Libye.
      La crainte de l’« enfer libyen »

      Le pays fait régulièrement l’objet de critiques pour les traitements infligés aux migrants, notamment africains, qui passent sur son territoire dans l’espoir de rejoindre l’Europe pour une vie meilleure. En novembre, CNN révélait au monde abasourdi l’existence de ventes aux enchères d’hommes réduits aux rangs d’esclaves, dans une vidéo glaçante tournée près de Tripoli, la capitale libyenne.

      Cette semaine, MSF a dénoncé la situation dans un centre de détention libyen à Zouara (ouest), où ses équipes ont vu plus de 800 personnes tellement entassées qu’elles ont à peine la place de s’allonger, « sans un accès adéquat à l’eau et à la nourriture ».

      LIRE AUSSI >Esclavage en Libye : Ousmane a vécu six mois d’enfer dans les geôles libyennes

      La coordination entre Rome et Tripoli a fait chuter drastiquement les départs vers les côtes européennes. Selon les autorités italiennes, près de 9 500 migrants ont débarqué cette année, soit une baisse de 75 % par rapport à la même période en 2017. Dans le même temps, les gardes-côtes libyens ont secouru et ramené en Libye plus de 5 000 migrants, selon l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), qui fait aussi état d’un bilan d’au moins 379 morts ou disparus au large de la Libye.

      http://www.leparisien.fr/international/sauvetage-de-migrants-tensions-entre-gardes-cotes-et-ong-au-large-de-la-l

    • Riportati dalla Guardia costiera in Libia, torturati e venduti : le associazioni fanno ricorso alla CEDU

      Ricorso alla Corte Europea dei Diritti umani contro l’Italia per aver coordinato la Guardia Costiera libica nei respingimenti che hanno portato ad abusi e al decesso di migranti

      Il 6 Novembre 2017 l’ONG Sea-Watch è stata ostacolata dalla Guardia Costiera Libica durante un’operazione di salvataggio di 130 cittadini migranti da un gommone alla deriva, partito dalle coste libiche. Almeno venti dei migranti sono morti, tra cui due minori. L’intervento è stato coordinato a distanza dal Centro di Coordinamento Marittimo (MRCC) della Guardia Costiera italiana e la motovedetta libica coinvolta era stata donata dal governo italiano alcuni mesi prima. La Guardia Costiera libica ha poi riportato in Libia quarantasette dei sopravvissuti, che sono stati rinchiusi in condizioni disumane, subendo percosse, estorsioni, fame e stupri. Due di loro sono stati successivamente “venduti” e torturati con elettrochoc. Nella conferenza stampa verrà illustrato il ricorso alla Corte Europea dei Diritti umani e verrà presentato un rapporto audio-visivo prodotto da Forensic Oceanography/Forensic Architecture che ricostruisce questo ed altri casi di respingimento.

      https://www.asgi.it/allontamento-espulsione/migranti-libia-guardia-costiera-cedu
      #CEDH

    • Un article d’avril 2017

      L’accordo tra Italia e Libia potrebbe favorire il traffico di migranti

      A Gaeta è una giornata di sole, i battaglioni della guardia di finanza sono schierati davanti al mare sulla terrazza della caserma Bausan, stretta tra il golfo e la cittadina fortificata. In mare le due motovedette che l’Italia restituirà alla guardia costiera libica si esibiscono in caroselli a sirene spiegate. Un elicottero sorveglia la parata. Il ministro dell’interno Marco Minniti è arrivato da Roma per assistere alla riconsegna alla guardia costiera libica di due motovedette. Erano state donate dall’Italia alla Libia nel 2009, ma erano state danneggiate nel 2011 durante la guerra in Libia, e restituite agli italiani nel 2012.

      “Entro l’anno ne saranno consegnate in tutto dieci”, dice il ministro, che nel suo discorso definisce la guardia costiera libica “la più importante struttura nel Nordafrica” per il controllo dell’immigrazione irregolare. Poco dopo, Minniti consegna i diplomi ai venti cadetti libici che hanno seguito un corso di addestramento a Gaeta per tre settimane. Altri diciannove saranno formati nelle prossime settimane dalla scuola nautica della guardia di finanza, per un totale di quattro equipaggi.

      L’obiettivo del governo italiano, espresso nel memorandum d’intesa con la Libia firmato il 2 febbraio, è affidare ai libici il pattugliamento delle coste e il recupero dei migranti che salpano ogni giorno dalle coste del paese africano a bordo d’imbarcazioni di fortuna. Dall’inizio del 2017 ne sono stati soccorsi più di 30mila, mentre quelli che hanno perso la vita durante la traversata sono stati più di mille. Il presidente del governo di unità nazionale (Gna) di Tripoli, Fayez al Sarraj, ha chiesto all’Italia di investire 800 milioni di euro nella cooperazione per fermare l’arrivo dei migranti.

      Adel, Hamza e Omar sono alcuni degli ufficiali della guardia costiera libica che partecipano alla cerimonia di Gaeta: maglione blu a coste e cappellino da baseball. “In Libia la situazione non è per niente tranquilla”, dice Adel, gli occhi verdi e il volto scavato, in un italiano stentato, dopo la fine della cerimonia, mentre mangia pasticcini insieme ai compagni sotto coperta, all’interno della motovedetta appena riconsegnata a cui è stato dato il nome di Sabratha. “La guerra non è proprio finita”, continua Adel sorridente.

      Alleati affidabili?
      Il governo italiano conosce bene la situazione drammatica in Libia e molte inchieste hanno denunciato casi di corruzione della guardia costiera del paese, eppure Roma sembra determinata a perseguire il suo progetto di cooperazione con Tripoli per fermare la partenza dei migranti, anche se il memorandum d’intesa è stato sospeso dalle autorità libiche, nell’attesa che un tribunale ne stabilisca la legittimità.

      “Fermeremo le imbarcazioni che partono dalla Libia”, ha detto Ahmed Safar, l’ambasciatore libico in Italia. “Quelli che saranno soccorsi saranno portati nei centri di detenzione più vicini”, ha assicurato durante la cerimonia di Gaeta. La rete televisiva tedesca Ard ha rivelato che il governo di Tripoli ha chiesto all’Unione europea di armare la guardia costiera libica con altre 130 imbarcazioni di vario tipo, alcune delle quali dotate anche di mitragliatrici per fermare la partenza dei migranti dalle coste.

      Molti esperti, tuttavia, hanno espresso il timore che i fondi stanziati dall’Italia e dall’Unione europea per finanziare la guardia costiera libica finiscano indirettamente nelle mani dei trafficanti. Un’inchiesta di Nancy Porsia per Trt World, infatti, ha mostrato che il capo della guardia costiera a Zawiya, Abdurahman Milad, è una delle figure chiave del traffico di esseri umani nella regione.

      Milad è accusato di avere legami con le milizie di Tripoli che portano i migranti dal Sahara alla costa, prima che siano imbarcati verso l’Italia. “Le mafie si sono infiltrate, ricattano molte delle unità di polizia, delle guardie costiere delle città e dei villaggi libici”, aveva detto una fonte della sicurezza italiana all’inviato del quotidiano italiano Repubblica in Libia Vincenzo Nigro.

      “In Libia non si può parlare di un’unica guardia costiera, ma di un’istituzione che rimane espressione delle realtà locali”, spiega Gabriele Iacovino, esperto di Libia del Centro di studi internazionali (CeSI). “Una cosa è la guardia costiera di Misurata, un’altra quella di Zawiya. In particolare, in questa regione della Libia, i poteri locali sono nemici delle milizie che controllano Tripoli”.

      Iacovino spiega che non si può escludere che in alcune zone “esponenti della guardia costiera libica si facciano pagare delle tangenti dai trafficanti per consentire alle imbarcazioni di lasciare la costa e giungere nelle acque internazionali”.

      Questa ipotesi è stata confermata da un rapporto dell’operazione navale europea EunavforMed, citato dall’Istituto per gli studi di politica internazionale (Ispi), che denuncia la collusione tra la guardia costiera di Zawiya e i trafficanti di esseri umani. In un articolo, pubblicato sull’Espresso, i giornalisti Francesca Mannocchi e Alessio Romenzi hanno descritto un fenomeno simile: la guardia costiera libica vende le persone recuperate in mare alle milizie, che gestiscono dei centri di detenzione illegali.

      Nell’agosto del 2016 una nave dell’ong Medici senza frontiere, che soccorreva i migranti in mare, è stata attaccata da un’imbarcazione della guardia costiera libica; il 21 ottobre del 2016 una nave dell’ong tedesca Sea-watch ha denunciato che la guardia costiera libica ha picchiato i profughi imbarcati su un gommone al largo della Libia. Un video pubblicato dal Times nel febbraio del 2017 mostra, infine, percosse e maltrattamenti dei guardacoste libici ai migranti.

      Il mercato degli schiavi
      “I migranti spesso ci dicono che preferirebbero morire piuttosto che tornare in Libia”, racconta Riccardo Gatti dell’organizzazione non governativa spagnola Proactiva open arms, che effettua soccorsi in mare. “Mi ricordo di un ragazzo bangladese che aveva minacciato di buttarsi in mare quando un’imbarcazione della guardia costiera libica si era avvicinata alla nostra nave”. Dall’inizio del 2017 i guardacoste e i pescatori libici hanno recuperato circa quattromila migranti al largo della Libia, secondo l’Organizzazione internazionale delle migrazioni (Oim). Flavio Di Giacomo, portavoce dell’Oim in Italia, conferma: “I trafficanti dicono ai migranti di mettersi in mare prima di giugno, cioè prima che la guardia costiera libica sia di nuovo attiva e impedisca la partenza delle imbarcazioni”.

      Di Giacomo aggiunge: “Sappiamo che ci sono persone che collaborano con la guardia costiera e che in realtà sono trafficanti”. L’Oim ha recentemente denunciato un “mercato degli schiavi” in cui una persona può essere venduta per duecento dollari. “Da anni i migranti ci raccontano che in Libia vengono sequestrati da miliziani che chiedono un riscatto alle famiglie per liberarli oppure li vendono ad altri trafficanti”, racconta Di Giacomo.

      “Non appena passano il confine tra il Niger e la Libia e arrivano a Sabha, i migranti cadono nelle mani delle milizie. Sono rapinati, rapiti, reclusi nei centri di detenzione. A Sabha corrono il rischio di essere venduti in un vero e proprio mercato degli schiavi, come lo definiscono loro stessi, che si svolge nei parcheggi e nelle piazze”, spiega Flavio Di Giacomo.

      L’ambasciatore libico in Italia ha confermato le violazioni dei diritti umani nei centri per migranti

      L’Oim è una delle poche organizzazioni umanitarie ad avere accesso a una decina di campi di detenzione intorno alla capitale libica, Tripoli, dove sono rinchiuse circa seimila persone. In totale, secondo le Nazioni Unite, ci sono una cinquantina di campi in tutto il paese, ma i centri dove sono reclusi i migranti potrebbero essere molti di più. “Più lavoriamo in Libia, più ci rendiamo conto che è una valle di lacrime per i migranti. I centri sono prigioni, posti disumani”, spiega Di Giacomo. La sua denuncia è confermata da Arjan Hehenkamp, direttore generale di Medici senza frontiere, che ha visitato sette campi intorno a Tripoli e assicura che in Libia “tutti i campi di detenzione sono in mano alle milizie, non ci sono campi controllati dal governo”.

      Hehenkamp si è detto sconvolto da ciò che ha visto nei centri: “Persone che non hanno più dignità né autonomia, a completa disposizione dei carcerieri. Alcuni mi hanno raccontato di nascosto, sussurrando, gli abusi subiti: non possono parlare e sono terrorizzati dalle ritorsioni”.

      L’ambasciatore libico in Italia, Ahmed Safar, ha confermato le violazioni dei diritti umani nei centri, ma ne ha minimizzato l’importanza. “Le violazioni ci sono state e ce ne saranno ancora nei campi, ma non possiamo generalizzare”, ha detto il 21 aprile a Gaeta. “In Libia non ci sono nemmeno le leggi per regolarizzare la presenza di cittadini stranieri, perché la Libia è un paese di transito. Ci sono campi di detenzione, campi per il rimpatrio, campi dove si aspetta di essere espulsi. Il governo libico ha bisogno del sostegno dei partner europei per garantire una situazione migliore”, ha concluso.

      Una frontiera che non esiste
      Per fermare l’arrivo di migranti in Europa, l’Italia sta investendo anche sul controllo della frontiera meridionale libica, un’area di confine in mezzo al deserto, da secoli attraversata dalle rotte migratorie e controllata dai trafficanti. Il 31 marzo a Roma il governo italiano si è fatto garante di un accordo di pace firmato da una sessantina di gruppi tribali che vivono nel sud del paese e che dall’inizio della guerra civile se ne contendono il controllo. Dopo la firma dell’accordo di pace, il ministro Minniti ha precisato che “una guardia di frontiera libica pattuglierà i cinquemila chilometri della frontiera meridionale del paese”.

      Minniti ha ribadito che mettere in sicurezza quel confine significa “mettere in sicurezza la frontiera meridionale dell’Europa”. Molti hanno però sollevato dubbi sul fatto che questo accordo possa funzionare, sia per la vastità della zona da controllare sia per gli interessi in gioco. “Si tratta di zone desertiche, molto insicure, zone che da sempre sono lo scenario di traffici di armi, di droga e di esseri umani”, spiega Giuseppe Loprete dell’Oim, che è appena tornato da una missione al confine tra il Niger e la Libia.

      “Le popolazioni dei tubu e dei tuareg presenti in Libia sono presenti anche in Niger, la frontiera per loro non esiste. Tra il nord del Niger e il sud della Libia c’è un rapporto di continuità: è importante che le comunità locali siano coinvolte in qualsiasi tipo di negoziato”, dice Loprete che sottolinea un aspetto importante, ma sottovalutato: “L’immigrazione irregolare è una fonte di guadagno per le comunità locali”.

      Dopo il 2011 tutti i traffici illegali sono diventati la principale fonte di guadagno delle popolazioni locali

      Lo conferma Virginie Colombier, esperta di Libia e ricercatrice dell’Istituto universitario europeo di Fiesole: “Soprattutto dopo il 2011 tutti i traffici illegali sono diventati la principale fonte di guadagno delle popolazioni locali del sud e dell’ovest della Libia”. Questa regione è il principale punto d’ingresso in Libia dei migranti che arrivano dall’area del Sahel e, più in generale, dall’Africa subsahariana.

      Si tratta di una zona isolata, dove non ci sono infrastrutture, reti di comunicazione, strutture sanitarie. In quella regione, inoltre, sono in gioco importanti interessi economici internazionali: passano i principali traffici illeciti diretti in Europa e in Nordafrica (commercio di droga e di armi) e ci sono pozzi petroliferi. “L’Italia ha tutto l’interesse a ristabilire la sicurezza nel sud e nell’ovest del paese, perché in quel territorio sono presenti alcune grandi aziende italiane attive nel settore del petrolio e del gas”, spiega Colombier.

      Secondo la studiosa francese, il governo di AlSarraj non riesce ad assicurare il controllo del territorio e per questo Roma ha deciso di intraprendere azioni dirette come l’accordo tra i gruppi tribali del sud del paese. “Una delle questioni centrali è la situazione nella città di Sabha; il centro urbano più popoloso dell’area, conteso tra i diversi gruppi”, continua Colombier.

      Prima del 2011, alcuni accordi di pace informali avevano garantito al governo di Tripoli di controllare – almeno in parte – il confine, ma questi accordi sono falliti dopo la caduta di Muammar Gheddafi e diverse tribù hanno cominciato a contendersi il controllo delle principali rotte dei traffici illegali. L’Italia sta cercando d’intervenire e di ritagliarsi un ruolo di mediatrice, “un passo preliminare che potrebbe assicurare agli italiani un’influenza nella regione anche in futuro”. Tuttavia, secondo Colombier, “l’accordo difficilmente avrà effetti concreti nel breve periodo, né servirà a fermare l’immigrazione irregolare”.

      Per Gabriele Iacovino al momento una delle questioni problematiche è l’interesse che il generale Khalifa Haftar, in conflitto con il governo di Tripoli, ha manifestatoperalcuni impianti petroliferi nella regione di Sabha. Queste azioni militari non fanno altro che minacciare i fragili equilibri nella regione meridionale del paese. “Interrompere il cessate il fuoco tra tebu e tuareg, le due principali tribù nel sud del paese, può compromettere ulteriormente il processo di stabilizzazione del paese”, conclude Iacovino.

      Nel frattempo, però, la situazione in Libia è talmente disperata che sta aumentando il numero di persone disposte a tornare in Niger. Lo conferma l’Organizzazione internazionale delle migrazioni, che ha osservato il fenomeno nei suoi cinque centri per migranti in Niger. “Quelli che sono abbandonati nel deserto, quelli che non ce la fanno ad arrivare sulla costa, quelli che hanno finito i soldi, tornano spesso in Niger, nel nostro centro a Dirkou”, racconta Loprete. Quando tornano hanno storie disperate. Hanno fatto il viaggio, con tutte le difficoltà che comporta, ma non hanno ottenuto quello che speravano.

      https://www.internazionale.it/notizie/annalisa-camilli/2017/04/29/italia-libia-migranti-guardia-costiera

    • Meeting of Libyan, Italian officials revolve around illegal migration, southern borders security

      Libyan officials from different authorities met with the Italian ambassador to Libya, Giuseppe Perrone, and a delegation from the Italian defense and interior ministries as well as representatives of the Italian Prime Minister at the coast security department’s headquarters in Tripoli on Thursday.

      https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/meeting-libyan-italian-officials-revolve-around-illegal-migration-sout

    • Libia-Italia: ministro Interno #Minniti atteso oggi a Tripoli

      Tripoli, 15 mag 09:35 - (Agenzia Nova) - Il ministro dell’Interno, Marco Minniti, è atteso oggi a Tripoli per una visita a sorpresa. Lo hanno riferito ad “Agenzia Nova” fonti libiche secondo le quali il titolare del Viminale incontrerà funzionari del governo di accordo nazionale. Minniti dovrebbe tenere una conferenza stampa nel corso della giornata nella base navale di Abu Seta, vicino Tripoli. La scorsa settimana il coordinamento tra la Guardia costiera libica e italiana ha portato al primo salvataggio in mare di 498 migranti al largo delle coste di Sabrata, nella Libia occidentale. L’11 maggio si è tenuta nella capitale libica una riunione del Comitato misto per la lotta contro l’immigrazione illegale tra Italia e Libia, nel quale è stato fatto il punto sul programma di rafforzamento delle capacità della Guardia costiera e della Guardia di frontiera del paese nordafricano. Durante la riunione è stata espressa soddisfazione per l’operazione di salvataggio dei 500 migranti. L’Italia ha recentemente consegnato alla Guardia costiera libica due motovedette riparate nel nostro paese. Le due motovedette erano state inviate in Italia nel 2013 per essere riparate e sarebbero dovute rientrare in servizio nell’agosto del 2014.

      Lo scorso 2 febbraio il presidente del Consiglio italiano, Paolo Gentiloni, e il premier del governo di accordo nazionale libico, Fayez al Sarraj, hanno firmato a Roma un memorandum d’intesa sulla cooperazione nel campo dello sviluppo, del contrasto all’immigrazione illegale, al traffico di esseri umani, al contrabbando e sul rafforzamento della sicurezza delle frontiere tra lo Stato della Libia e l’Italia. L’accordo prevede che la parte italiana si impegni “a fornire supporto tecnico e tecnologico agli organismi libici incaricati della lotta contro l’immigrazione clandestina”. Non solo: l’intesa prevede anche il “completamento del sistema di controllo dei confini terrestri del sud della Libia”, “adeguamento e finanziamento dei centri di accoglienza”, “la formazione del personale libico all’interno dei centri di accoglienza”, “sostegno alle organizzazioni internazionali presenti e che operano in Libia nel campo delle migrazioni a proseguire gli sforzi mirati anche al rientro dei migranti nei propri paesi d’origine”. (Lit) © Agenzia Nova - Riproduzione riservata

      https://www.agenzianova.com/a/59195c42c137d4.06358231/1565108/2017-05-15/libia-italia-ministro-interno-minniti-atteso-oggi-a-tripoli/linked

    • Italy tries to bolster Libyan coast guard, despite humanitarian concern

      Italy gave the Libyan coast guard four repaired patrol boats on Monday to beef up Libya’s efforts to stop people smuggling, but the support worries humanitarian groups operating rescue ships near the Libyan coast.


      http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-libya-idUSKCN18B2E5?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
      cc @i_s_

    • L’Italie a signé un accord avec la Libye, le Tchad et le Niger pour contenir l’afflux de migrants

      Selon le bilan diffusé lundi par le ministère de l’Intérieur italien, 50 041 migrants sont arrivés sur les côtes italiennes depuis le début de l’année. Un chiffre qui correspond à une hausse de plus de 45% par rapport à la même période l’an passé. Face à cet afflux, l’Italie a signé dimanche un accord avec la Libye, le Tchad et le Niger.

      http://www.jeuneafrique.com/441266/societe/litalie-a-signe-accord-libye-tchad-niger-contenir-lafflux-de-migrants

    • Migranti: da vertice al Viminale con ministri Libia, Niger, Ciad centri accoglienza in paesi transito

      Centri di accoglienza per migranti rispondenti agli standard umanitari internazionali verranno costruiti in Ciad e Niger,due dei Paesi di transito delle migliaia di persone che dall’Africa sub sahariana raggiungono la Libia per poi imbarcarsi verso l’Italia. E’ uno dei risultati del vertice voluto dal ministro dell’Interno Minniti con i ministri dell’Interno di Libia, Niger e Ciad che si è tenuto al Viminale. I quattro ministri hanno siglato una dichiarazione congiunta.

      Secondo il Viminale si tratta di un punto di partenza per tentare di gestire il flusso di migliaia di senza speranza e spesso senza documenti che dall’Africa tenta di raggiungere l’Europa. Circa cinquemila uomini, donne e bambini diretti in Italia sono stati soccorsi al largo della Libia tra giovedì e sabato mattina dalle guardie costiere italiana e libica. Bisognerà vedere adesso se gli accordi messi nero su bianco nella dichiarazione congiunta troveranno applicazione nel deserto a sud della Libia, ma l’obiettivo e’ quello di arginare il fenomeno dove questo si origina e non in mare. Dalla Libia viene d’altronde il 90% di coloro che sbarcano in Italia e la quasi totalità è entrata nel paese nordafricano seguendo le rotte che dall’Africa occidentale portano ad Agades, in Niger, primo vero centro di smistamento di migliaia di esseri umani, o quelle che attraversano il deserto del Ciad e partono dall’Eritrea e dall’Etiopia.

      La strategia del Viminale si fonda su due pilastri: rafforzare la guardia costiera libica, mettendola in condizioni di operare per fermare i barconi – e in quest’ottica va la consegna entro giugno di 10 motovedette – e ristabilire il controllo sui cinquemila chilometri di confine sud che da anni sono in mano alle organizzazioni di trafficanti di esseri umani.

      Su quest’ultimo fronte il primo passo è stato il patto siglato il 2 aprile scorso sempre al Viminale con le principali tribù del Fezzan. Oggi, con la firma sulla dichiarazione da parte di Minniti, del ministro libico Aref Khoja e dei colleghi di Niger e Ciad, Mohamed Bazoum e Ahmat Mahamat Bachir e’stato fatto un altro passo per rafforzare i confini formando gli agenti e creando una “rete di contatto” tra tutte le forze di
      polizia della zona.

      L’Italia gioca una ruolo cruciale su questo aspetto visto che il Memorandum of understandig siglato il 2 gennaio a palazzo Chigi con la Libia prevede il completamento del sistema di controllo radar per il controllo dei confini al sud del paese già previsto dal trattato di Amicizia del 2008. Un sistema che dovrebbe realizzare Selex, del gruppo Leonardo-Finmeccanica, con una spesa prevista a carico dell’Italia di 150 milioni.

      http://www.onuitalia.com/2017/05/21/migranti-da-vertice-al-viminale-con-ministri-libia-niger-ciad-centri-acco
      #Tchad

    • Sempre più a Sud: Minniti ora vuole i Cie in Niger e in Ciad

      La foto ricordo scattata domenica scorsa al Viminale mostra una «storica» stretta di mano a quattro tra il nostro ministro dell’Interno Marco Minniti e i suoi omologhi di Ciad, Libia e Niger, dopo la firma di una dichiarazione congiunta per istituire una «cabina di regia» comune allo scopo di sigillare i confini a sud e evitare la partenza di migranti verso l’Italia e l’Europa.

      La dichiarazione impegna l’Italia a «sostenere la costruzione e la gestione, conformemente a strandard umanitari internazionali, di centri di accoglienza per migranti irregolari in Niger e in Ciad». Chi controlli la rispondenza di questi centri «di accoglienza» a standard di umanità internazionalmente riconosciuti non è chiaro, né chi li debba gestire e con quali fondi. E neanche è dato sapere in quale modo si intenda «promuovere lo sviluppo di una economia legale alternativa a quella legata ai traffici illeciti in particolare al traffico di esseri umani». Ma i quattro ministri sono immortalati con ampi sorrisi, che dovrebbero migliorare la «sicurezza percepita» a cui tiene tanto il titolare del Viminale.

      Per chi non si accontenta di sorrisi e annunci, la situazione in Libia e tra una frontiera e l’altra nel Sahara, lungo la rotta dei migranti, è sempre più incandescente. A Zawiya, città costiera dove è florido il business dei barconi, è esplosa ieri un’autobomba.

      Nel Fezzan il bilancio del truculento assalto della settimana scorsa alla base aerea di Brak al Shati, controllata dalle milizie del generale Haftar, è salito a 141 morti, tra i quali 15 civili. E si scopre – attraverso la Commissione nazionale diritti umani della Libia – che al seguito della Terza Forza, negli squadroni della città stato di Misurata che costituiscono l’ossatura delle milizie fedeli al governo Serraj di Tripoli, quello con cui l’Italia sta stringendo accordi per fermare i migranti, c’erano anche «foreign fighters provenienti dal Ciad e qaedisti delle Brigate di difesa di Bengasi».

      Serraj, per far vedere di non aver gradito l’assalto che ha violato la tregua con Haftar, ha sospeso il ministro della Difesa Al Barghouthi e il capo della Terza Forza, Jamal al Treiki, ma si tratta di un pro forma che neanche il suo ministro ha preso sul serio, infatti ha continuato a incontrare i capi misuratini per verificare «la presenza di cellule dell’ Isis» sopravvissute all’assedio di Sirte. Gli Usa intendono mantenere una presenza militare in Libia, ha detto il generale Waldhauser, proprio per combattere le cellule dell’Isis che stanno tentando di riorganizzarsi.

      Intanto l’Alto commissario Onu per i rifugiati Filippo Grandi, per la prima volta in visita ai centri di detenzione per migranti in Libia in queste ore, si è detto «scioccato» dalle condizioni in cui si trovano bambini, donne e uomini «che non dovrebbero sopportare tali difficoltà». Grandi fa presente che oltre ai profughi africani (1,1 milioni) in Libia ci sono 300 mila sfollati interni a causa del conflitto che dal 2011 non è mai finito.

      https://ilmanifesto.it/sempre-piu-a-sud-minniti-ora-vuole-i-cie-in-niger-e-in-ciad

    • Per bloccare i migranti 610 milioni di euro dall’Europa e 50 dall’Italia

      Con la Libia ancora fortemente compromessa, la sfida per la gestione dei flussi di migranti dall’Africa sub-sahariana si è di fatto spostata più a Sud, lungo i confini settentrionali del Niger. Uno dei Paesi più poveri al mondo, ma che in virtù della sua stabilità - ha mantenuto pace e democrazia in un’area lacerata dai conflitti - è oggi il principale alleato delle potenze europee nella regione. Gli accordi prevedono che il Niger in cambio di 610 milioni d’ euro dall’Unione Europea, oltre a 50 promessi dall’Italia, sigilli le proprie frontiere settentrionali e imponga un giro di vite ai traffici illegali. È dal Niger infatti che transita gran parte dei migranti sub-sahariani: 450.000, nel 2016, hanno attraversato il deserto fino alle coste libiche, e in misura inferiore quelle algerine. In Italia, attraverso questa rotta, ne sono arrivati 180.000 l’anno scorso e oltre 40.000 nei primi quattro mesi del 2017.


      http://www.lastampa.it/2017/05/31/esteri/per-bloccare-i-migranti-milioni-di-euro-dalleuropa-e-dallitalia-4nPsLCnUURhOkXQl14sp7L/pagina.html

    • Back to Old Tricks? Italian Responsibility for Returning People to Libya

      On 10/11 May 2017 various news outlets reported a maritime operation by the Libyan authorities, in coordination with the Italian Search and Rescue Authority, in which 500 individuals were intercepted in international waters and returned to Libya. This operation amounted to refoulment in breach of customary international law and several treaties (including the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights), and an internationally wrongful act is one for which Italy bears international legal responsibility.

      https://www.ejiltalk.org/back-to-old-tricks-italian-responsibility-for-returning-people-to-libya

    • Tutto quello che c’è da sapere sull’accordo Italia – Libia

      Il memorandum d’intesa tra Italia e Libia è solo una tappa della articolata strategia di esternalizzazione delle frontiere perseguita tanto dal nostro governo quanto dall’Unione Europea. A tutti i costi, e mettendo in secondo piano il rispetto dei diritti fondamentali. Ecco cosa c’è che non va nell’accordo e quali sono le sue conseguenze.

      http://openmigration.org/analisi/tutto-quello-che-ce-da-sapere-sullaccordo-italia-libia/?platform=hootsuite

    • Libia, la Guardia Costiera viene pagata con i soldi della Cooperazione

      Le frontiere esterne dell’Unione Europea si blindano usando fondi destinati allo sviluppo. Dalla polizia del Niger, alle milizie che presidiano i confini in Sudan fino ai militari che controllano le coste del Paese nord africano. La missione ONU per la Libia (Unsmil) in un rapporto parla delle carceri libiche come luoghi di estorsioni e violenze

      http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/cooperazione/2017/07/31/news/libia_la_guardia_costiera_viene_pagata_con_i_soldi_della_cooperazione-172
      #aide_du_développement #coopération_au_développement #développement

    • commentaire reçu via la mailing-list migreurop (01.08.2017) :

      Elle a été déjà approuvée par le Conseil des Ministres Italiens. Demain le Président du Conseil en discutera aux commissions intéressées. Il s’agit d’une opération militaire italienne de soutien aux gardes cotes libyennes à l’intérieur des eaux territoriales libyennes suite à la demande de un des trois Gouvernement Libyen (celui de Al Serraj).
      L’Italie utiliserait donc – du 1 aout 2017 – deux bateaux militaires engagés aujourd’hui à l’extérieur des eaux libyennes dans l’opération Mare Sicuro (une opération qui a comme mission celle de la sécurité de la région, pas du tout celle de la migration). L’Italie ne prendra pas à bord des migrants, et si sera obligé à le faire les transbordera dans un bateau libyen avant de rejoindre le cotes libyennes.

      Il est évidente que de cette façon il y a un claire tentative de contourner le principe de non refoulement au quel l’Italie a l’obligation (et pour violation du quel a été déjà sanctionné). Il est intéressante aussi de voir que dans le Code de Conduit que le Gouvernement veut imposer aux Ong qui interviennent en mer, il y a interdiction de transborde. Mais si c’est l’Italie qui doit le faire pour contourner l’accusation de refoulement, alors cela semble accepté.

      L’opération devrait partir très rapidement, le 1 aout. Les bateaux sont prêtes, mais semble irréalisable la partie du “projet” italien qui prévoit des centres d’accueil à l’arrivés aux ports libyens gérés par l’UNHCR e OIM. Semblerait donc naturel que seront les camps d’enfermement la suite des opérations d’interception que l’Italie aurait aidé à mener dans les eaux libyennes.

      L’Italie – et les institutions européennes qui soutiennent l’opération – semble ne pas se préoccuper de l’effet boomerang sur un processus de stabilisation d’un pays déjà très fragile. Ce n’est pas au hasard que Serraj aurait d’abord nié d’avoir demandé à l’Italie d’intervenir pour ensuite le confirmer et que Haftar vient de faire circuler une note où dénonce cet accord et menace de considérer toute intervention militaire de l’Italie dans les eaux territoriale libyennes comme une violation de la souveraineté du pays.

      Une partie de la mission sera financé avec les fonds déjà alloués à l’opération Mare Sicuro et en partie seront surement financé par les 46 millions de Fonds Fiduciaires que la Commission Européenne a annoncé le même jour de l’annonce de la mission.

    • Libya’s eastern commander vows to destroy Italian warships if sailed to Libyan water

      The Libyan eastern commander of Dignity Operation forces, Khalifa Haftar, has ordered to bombard any warships sailing into the Libyan waters, in a U-turn that could see escalations between eastern Libya and the UN-proposed government’s bodies in western Libya get tense.

      http://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/libyas-eastern-commander-vows-destroy-italian-warships-if-sailed-libya

    • Des navires de guerre italiens pour repousser les réfugiés au lieu de les protéger

      En proposant de déployer des navires de guerre pour patrouiller dans les eaux territoriales libyennes, les autorités italiennes cherchent à se soustraire à leur obligation de secourir les réfugiés et les migrants en mer et d’offrir une protection à ceux qui en ont besoin.

      https://www.amnesty.fr/refugies-et-migrants/actualites/des-navires-de-guerre-italiens-pour-repousser-les-refugies-au-lieu-de-les-pr

    • Respingimenti collettivi ed omissione di soccorso nel contrasto dell’immigrazione irregolare

      L’esternalizzazione dei controlli di frontiera, che assume adesso una dimensione operativa dopo gli accordi ed i protocolli operativi stipulati dall’Italia con la Libia, la Tunisia e l’Algeria, la chiusura di tutte le vie di accesso per i potenziali richiedenti asilo con i respingimenti collettivi in mare ed alle frontiere marittime, e le retate operate con “pattuglie miste” delle polizie presenti nei paesi di transito, come la Libia e la Grecia, ai danni dei migranti irregolari, spesso donne e minori, o altri potenziali richiedenti asilo, stanno aggravando gli effetti devastanti delle politiche proibizioniste adottate da tutti i paesi europei nei confronti dei migranti in fuga dalle guerre, dai conflitti interni e dalla devastazione economica ed ambientale dei loro paesi. Quanto sta avvenendo in questi mesi in Grecia ed in Libia aumenta le responsabilità già gravissime del governo italiano nelle pratiche informali di respingimento “informale” dai porti dell’Adriatico (Venezia, Ancona, Bari) verso Patrasso e Igoumenitsa e scopre tutte le ipocrisie di chi afferma di riconoscere i diritti dei rifugiati e poi rimane inerte ad assistere allo scempio del diritto di asilo, di persone che avrebbero titolo ad ottenere protezione ma sono arrestate, respinte o espulse.

      http://www.meltingpot.org/Respingimenti-collettivi-ed-omissione-di-soccorso-nel.html

    • ASGI : C’è il rischio di riaprire la stagione buia dei respingimenti già condannati dalla CEDU

      Sulle nuove iniziative del Governo italiano per contrastare l’arrivo dei rifugiati dalla Libia l’ ASGI lancia l’allarme: “C’è il rischio di gravissime violazioni del diritto internazionale che riportino la stagione buia dei respingimenti per i quali l’Italia era stata già condannata dalla corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo”.

      https://seenthis.net/recherche?recherche=%23libye+%23externalisation+%23italie
      #refoulement #push-back

    • Cooperazione: kit di primo soccorso inviati in Libia grazie a collaborazione tra Esteri e Difesa

      L’ambasciatore d’Italia a Tripoli, Giuseppe Perrone, e l’addetto per la Difesa, capitano di vascello Patrizio Rapalino, hanno consegnato al sindaco di #Zwara, 5.000 kit igienico-sanitari e di primo soccorso per migranti per le esigenze della municipalità.

      http://www.esteri.it/mae/it/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/comunicati/2017/08/cooperazione-kit-di-primo-soccorso.html

    • Accordo Italia e milizie in Libia, qualcosa c’è ma non si dice

      Cosa è realmente accaduto in Libia tra Italia (sia chi sia ad aver trattato) e le milizie di Sabratha che prima gestivano la mafia dei traffici di persone e ora la contrastano in nome del governo Sarray? Ora anche la stampa ‘tradizionale’ s’accorge del problema. Il Manifesto, «Accordo tra l’Italia e le milizie per fermare i migranti in Libia». Il Fatto quotidiano, Migranti, Ap: «Italia ha trattato direttamente con le milizie libiche per bloccare gli sbarchi”. Farnesina: ‘Falso’».

      https://www.remocontro.it/2017/08/31/accordo-italia-milizie-libia-qualcosa-ce-non-si-dice

    • L’Italie finance-t-elle des groupes armés libyens pour bloquer l’arrivée de migrants ?

      De moins en moins de migrants débarquent en Italie. Comment l’expliquer ? D’après l’agence Associated Press, derrière les explications officielles, la véritable raison de cette diminution s’expliquerait par le fait que l’Italie financerait des groupes armés libyens. Valérie Dupont, correspondante pour la RTBF à Rome, fait le point.

      https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_l-italie-finance-t-elle-des-groupes-armes-libyens-pour-bloquer-l-arrivee

    • Migrants en Libye : le #pacte pourri entre Rome, les garde-côtes et les trafiquants

      Alors que l’Union européenne finance, à hauteur de dizaines de millions d’euros, les garde-côtes libyens, il est établi que certains de ses membres sont compromis dans le trafic de migrants. Rome, de son côté, est accusé de négocier directement avec les milices de #Sabratha pour empêcher le départ des embarcations.

      https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/020917/migrants-en-libye-le-pacte-pourri-entre-rome-les-garde-cotes-et-les-trafiq

    • E l’Italia contribuisce alla costruzione della mafia in Libia. Conversazione con Nancy Porsia

      «Negli ultimi 3 mesi c’è stata l’implementazione del piano messo a punto già prima di allora. Lo scorso autunno fu lanciata la campagna di criminalizzazione da parte delle autorità italiane e libiche verso le Ong che operano Ricerca e Soccorso in mare, e mentre nell’inverno e nella primavere seguenti questa campagna di delegittimazione e criminalizzazione veniva portata avanti, gli italiani e gli europei addestravano le autorità Libiche e le loro forze militari per il pattugliamento dei confini e quindi anche del mare e delle coste libiche. Questa era una sorta di fase preparatoria che poi si è andata finalizzando negli ultimi tre mesi. Quindi gli italiani hanno di fatto consegnato i mezzi alla Guardia costiera libica, mezzi che risalgono agli accordi fra Berlusconi e Gheddafi del 2008 e che sono stati riconsegnati solo oggi dopo il lavoro diplomatico massiccio delle Nazioni Unite, Europa e in prima fila Italia, e che ha portato alla legittimazione dell’entourage di Serraj come Governo di unità nazionale. Quindi quello che resta delle autorità libiche è stato assunto come interlocutore legittimo, nonostante i grandi dubbi che ci sono circa la loro stessa legittimità. I libici hanno iniziato a pattugliare la costa reclamando tale compito come loro “dovere / diritto” e insinuando come “ingerenza” le operazioni svolte dalle Ong. Si è andati un pezzettino avanti rispetto alla criminalizzazione delle stesse Ong che poi come sappiamo sono state vessate dalla magistratura italiana, dalla campagna di discredito a mezzo stampa, in Italia e in Europa, ed esposte in maniera sempre più frequente al pericolo del fuoco libico tanto che hanno dovuto fare un passo indietro. Quindi di fatto il piano che era in cantiere da oramai un anno e mezzo fra l’Italia, l’Europa e la Libia è entrato nella sua fase finale. Il risultato è che le coste vengono pattugliate dai libici, oggi in grado di fermare la maggior parte dei barconi carichi di migranti. Dove è la critica di senso rispetto alla nuova situazione? Quelli che oggi bloccano i migranti sono gli stessi che ieri li trafficavano, e quindi il “piano Minniti” ha portato ad una istituzionalizzazione degli stessi trafficanti. Siamo di fronte ad una politica di cooperazione che interloquisce con trafficanti istituzionalizzatie e alcuni ufficiali della Guardia costiera corrotti. Su alcuni di questi c’è anche un procedimento della Corte penale dell’Aia piuttosto che un fascicolo lungo non so quante pagine all’interno del rapporto del panel di esperti delle Nazioni Unite sulla Libia, pubblicato lo scorso giugno. Quindi negli ultimi mesi il piano Minniti ha proceduto a gamba tesa nell’istituzionalizzazione delle milizie e dei maggiori trafficanti in Libia oltreché alla connivenza con le stesse guardie corrotte, anzi più che corrotte io le definirei in odore di mafia, in quanto parte integrante di un sistema mafioso che trafficava i migranti. Tutto questo per ridurre il numero dei migranti nel più breve tempo possibile».

      http://www.a-dif.org/2017/09/04/e-litalia-contribuisce-alla-costruzione-della-mafia-in-libia-conversazione-co

    • I campi dei migranti in Libia sotto il controllo delle Ong

      Coinvolgere le Ong nei campi libici per evitare di «condannare i migranti all’inferno». L’idea è venuta al ministero degli Esteri, e più precisamente al vice con delega alla cooperazione internazionale, Mario Giro: dopo aver lanciato l’allarme un mese fa sulle condizioni infernali dei campi, nel pieno della discussione sulla missione italiana autorizzata a Tripoli, nei giorni scorsi ha rivolto un invito alla galassia delle Organizzazioni non governative, proponendo un incontro a chi è interessato a lavorare in Libia. Hanno risposto in una ventina, di orientamento laico e cattolico, molte delle quali già impegnate in varie zone del grande Paese nordafricano con compiti di protezione dell’infanzia e nel settore della sanità, da Medici senza Frontiere all’Arci a Save the children, da Intersos a Terre des hommes fino a Elis, legata all’Opus Dei: ieri pomeriggio la riunione, alla Farnesina, per prendere i primi contatti. Con l’idea però di accelerare e intervenire al più presto: il bando è già pronto, sono stanziati sei milioni di euro.

      http://www.lastampa.it/2017/09/08/esteri/i-campi-dei-migranti-in-libia-sotto-il-controllo-delle-ong-y0jOMmVk6gVG49hdon0gZJ/pagina.html

    • Centri di detenzione in Libia: “(Forse) è ora di pensare alle ‘condizioni umanitarie’”…

      I nuovi propositi di attenzione del governo italiano alle «condizioni umanitarie» nei centri di detenzione per migranti e rifugiati in Libia arrivano dopo mesi di silenzi e di iniziative tutte mirate al loro “contenimento” in quel Paese.

      «Le condizioni di quelli che rimangono in Libia, posso garantirvi, sono il mio assillo ed è l’assillo del Governo italiano», ha detto venerdì a Torino il ministro dell’Interno Marco Minniti, dopo averlo già affermato ad agosto ma aggiungendo: «La prossima settimana insieme con la Farnesina incontreremo le ONG italiane. Ragioneremo con loro se è possibile, accanto alle operazioni di salvataggio in mare, che naturalmente continuano, costruire un’iniziativa delle ONG direttamente in Libia per affrontare quel tema dei diritti umani e delle condizioni di vita».

      http://viedifuga.org/centri-detenzione-libia-forse-ora-pensare-alle-condizioni-umanitarie
      #ONG

    • Il governo di Tripoli vuole cinque miliardi dall’Italia per ripristinare il trattato di pace tra Berlusconi e Ghedafi con gli accordi di blocco e respingimento. Ma sono ancora le navi umanitarie a salvare la maggior parte delle persone in pericolo di naufragare.

      Il governo di Tripoli vuole cinque miliardi dall’Italia per ripristinare il trattato di pace tra Berlusconi e Ghedafi con gli accordi di blocco e respingimento. Ma sono ancora le navi umanitarie a salvare la maggior parte delle persone in pericolo di naufragare. E Serraj non controlla neppure tutta Tripoli, cosa può garantire all’Italia ed all’Europa ?

      http://dirittiefrontiere.blogspot.ch/2016/08/il-governo-di-tripoli-vuole-cinque.html

    • Migrants: Italian FM wants more EU efforts on Libya route

      MILAN - The Italian government wants the EU to exert greater efforts concerning the central Mediterranean migrant route, which runs from Libya to Italy, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday. The minister was replying to journalists’ questions after his speech at a conference on immigration, refugees and asylum policies at the Bocconi University in Milan, where he discussed the ’Migration Compact’. Gentiloni called for investment in African countries to be stepped up, ’’with new instruments like ’Africa bonds’’’, and said that the countries receiving the investment should be required to put forth serious efforts to limit migration flows. He added that repatriation of migrants to safe countries should be ’’ever more European’’, but that migrants should not be repatriated to Libya. ’’On these issues,’’ he concluded, ’’the Italian government is asking Europe for commitment similar to what it showed on the (migration, Ed.) route running from Turkey to Greece and the Balkans.’’

      http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2016/04/22/migrants-italian-fm-wants-more-eu-efforts-on-libya-route_f8c9e906-3729-44b

    • Migranti, il Gruppo di contatto per la rotta del Mediterraneo centrale diventa stabile

      «Oggi abbiamo fatto un passo importante, abbiamo messo in comune la volontà di governare l’immigrazione; l’esito della riunione è stato particolarmente fruttuoso». E’ questa la convinzione espressa dal ministro dell’Interno, Marco Minniti, oggi al termine dell’incontro conclusivo con ministri e rappresentanti di Paesi della Ue e del Nord Africa che fanno parte del «Gruppo di contatto per la rotta migratoria del Mediterraneo centrale», presso la scuola Superiore di Polizia, in via Pier della Francesca a Roma.


      www.interno.gov.it/it/notizie/migranti-gruppo-contatto-rotta-mediterraneo-centrale-diventa-stabile

    • signalé par Fulvio Vassallo sur FB avec ce commentaire (19.04.2017) :

      Ci volevano i giapponesi per dire quali sono le ragioni vere della partenze di massa della Libia. Altro che le navi umanitarie come fattore di attrazione. L’Italia sta consegnando altre motovedette alla Guardia Costiera libica per aggirare il divieto di respingimenti collettivi per cui nel 2012 veniva condannata dalla Corte Europea dei diritti dell’Uomo.

      Facing threat of patrols, thousands of migrants fleeing Libya ; 28 found dead

      Warm weather and calm seas usually spur smugglers to send migrants across the Mediterranean come spring. But aid groups say another timetable might be behind a weekend spike: the looming start of beefed-up Libyan coast guard patrols designed to prevent migrants from reaching Europe.


      http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/04/19/world/social-issues-world/facing-threat-patrols-thousands-migrants-fleeing-libya-28-found-dead

      #fermeture_des_frontières #militarisation_des_frontières #mourir_en_mer #morts #mourir_en_méditerranée #décès #facteurs_push #attractivité #push_factors #push-factors

    • Migranti: l’Italia consegna 10 motovedette alla Libia

      La scena si è già vista il 14 maggio 2009 ed il 10 febbraio 2010, sempre nel porto di Gaeta (Latina): sei motovedette hanno ammainato la bandiera italiana ed alzato quella libica per andare a pattugliare le acque davanti al Paese nordafricano con il compito di bloccare le partenze dei migranti. L’attività è però durata poco, fino all’intervento della coalizione internazionale contro Muhammar Gheddafi, nel 2011.

      Ora Italia e Libia ci riprovano: domani a Gaeta,alla presenza del ministro dell’Interno, Marco Minniti – quattro di quelle motovedette (le altre due sono andate distrutte) saranno nuovamente riconsegnate alla Marina ed alla Guardia costiera libiche. Seguiranno altre sei nelle settimane successive, con la speranza che siano in grado di frenare il flusso gestito dai trafficanti di uomini, che nel 2017 ha già portato sulle coste italiane oltre 35mila persone, il 40% in più del 2016, anno record per gli sbarchi.

      http://www.imolaoggi.it/2017/04/20/migranti-litalia-consegna-10-motovedette-alla-libia

    • G.Costiera Libia soccorre migranti, riportati a Tripoli

      ROMA - Primi effetti degli accordi di collaborazione sottoscritti di recente tra Italia e Libia in materia di migranti: oggi la Guardia Costiera libica, alla quale l’Italia ha donato anche alcune unità navali, ha soccorso in acque internazionali e riportato nel porto di Tripoli un barcone in navigazione verso l’Italia, a bordo del quale vi erano circa 300 migranti. I migranti avevano inviato una richiesta di soccorso alla centrale operativa di Roma della Guardia Costiera italiana. Il barcone, inoltre, era stato avvistato ancora in acque libiche da alcuni mezzi aerei impegnati sul Mediterraneo centrale.
      Ricevute le due segnalazioni, la centrale operativa di Roma della Guardia costiera ha allertato la Guardia costiera libica che - diversamente rispetto a quanto accaduto in passato - ha preso il comando delle operazioni di soccorso. Alcune motovedette di Tripoli sono salpate in direzione del barcone, che è stato raggiunto in acque internazionali. Alcuni uomini della Guardia costiera libica hanno preso il comando dell’unità, che, invertita la rotta, è stata riportata nel porto di Tripoli.

      http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/it/notizie/rubriche/politica/2017/05/10/g.costiera-libia-soccorre-migranti-riportati-a-tripoli_df5b95ff-4921-4f05-

    • Fermare i migranti? Addestrare i libici non funziona

      La notte del 23 maggio 2017 il capitano della Iuventa, la nave dell’Ong tedesca Jugend Rettet, denuncia una nuova aggressione in mare da parte di un motoscafo libico, il cui equipaggio avrebbe sparato verso alcune imbarcazioni sovraccariche di profughi, per poi riportare due delle imbarcazioni verso la Libia. Era la Guardia Costiera libica? L’Italia come la sta addestrando, e a che scopo? E quante Guardie Costiere ci sono in Libia in realtà? Francesco Floris ha ricostruito nei dettagli la storia dell’addestramento italiano dei libici e i suoi precedenti.


      http://openmigration.org/analisi/fermare-i-migranti-addestrare-i-libici-non-funziona

    • Migrants: Tripoli thanks Italy but wants help in maintenance

      Thanking Italian authorities for cooperating in the fight against human trafficking, the operations chief of Libyan coast guards, Colonel Massoud Abdelsamad, called on Italy to send spare parts and maintenance support soon for cutters given to Tripoli to fight traffickers through ’’joint operations’’ carried out by Italy and Libya.
      ’’I would like to thank very much Italian authorities and especially the Italian coast guard: we have a good cooperation between us’’, the colonel said, commenting recent gunfire between his personnel and traffickers. ’’We are in contact 24 hours a day and sometimes carry out joint operations’’, added Abdelsamad in a phone interview with ANSA.
      ’’Our boats however need spare parts and maintenance. We would like to have in Libya, as soon as possible, the finance police team that has been working closely with us since 2010’’, also said the colonel, referring to a unit that should take care of maintenance in case of problems.
      ’’We were promised that the group would come to Libya and we are now waiting for it so it can support us’’, stated Abdelsamad. ’’We can carry out joint operations with the Libyan coast guard, finance police and Italian coast guard’’ and ’’this would help us a lot’’, he concluded, recalling that traffickers are heavily armed and have fast motor boats.

      http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2017/05/31/migrants-tripoli-thanks-italy-but-wants-help-in-maintenance_3d2f7ffa-42d4-

    • Migranti: Tripoli, grazie Italia ma aiutateci per manutenzione
      http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/it/notizie/rubriche/politica/2017/05/31/migrantitripoligrazie-italia-ma-aiutateci-per-manutenzione_e874ccee-bba3-4

      Avec ce commentaire de Fulvio Vassallo:

      I libici ammettono che la guardia costiera italiana collabora nei respingimenti collettivi, illegali se si svolgono, come si svolgono, in acque internazionali. E chiedono pure pezzi di ricambio. Tra poco chiederanno anche gli equipaggi. Se Minniti non ha gia’ provveduto con i cd. Agenti di collegamento.Naturalmente chi viene riportato in Libia non ha molte chance di fare ricorso alla Corte Europea dei diritti dell’Uomo.

    • Bloccati in Libia. I migranti e le (nostre) responsabilità politiche

      Le corrispondenze dal caos libico che ci invia Nancy Porsia sono pressoché uniche nel campo del giornalismo in occidente, sicuramente le uniche in Italia. Pubblichiamo questo suo articolo in cui si riprende il testo dell’ accordo italo – libico firmato ieri dal Primo Ministro Gentiloni e dal “Capo del Governo di Riconciliazione Nazionale dello Stato di Libia”, Fayez Mustafà Serraj. Un accordo, secondo l’autrice, siglato forse troppo in fretta e in base tanto alle esigenze economiche italiane quanto alla necessità di rendere più complesse le vie di fuga per coloro che, fuggendo da guerre, crisi ambientali o economiche, transitano in Libia per entrare in Europa. Alcune voci si sono levate contro l’accordo. Dal parlamento europeo, oltre 40 parlamentari, guidati da Barbara Spinelli (GUE/NGL) ma afferenti a diversi gruppi politici, anche il Partito Popolare Europeo, hanno preso una dura posizione con una interrogazione scritta in cui si parla espressamente di pericoli derivanti dall’accordo UE- Libia. Durissimo anche il comunicato di Amnesty International, in cui si denuncia che i “piani per “chiudere” la frontiera marittima rischiano di intrappolare rifugiati e migranti in condizioni orrende in Libia”, mentre l’ambasciata tedesca in Niger, ha paragonato i campi di detenzione libici, espressamente a dei lager.

      http://www.a-dif.org/2017/02/03/bloccati-in-libia-i-migranti-e-le-nostre-responsabilita-politiche

    • Migranti: accordo Italia-Libia, il testo del memorandum

      Memorandum d’intesa sulla cooperazione nel campo dello sviluppo, del contrasto all’immigrazione illegale, al traffico di esseri umani, al contrabbando e sul rafforzamento della sicurezza delle frontiere tra lo Stato della Libia e la Repubblica Italiana Il Governo di Riconciliazione Nazionale dello Stato di Libia e il Governo della Repubblica Italiana qui di seguito denominate ’Le Parti’


      http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2017/02/02/news/migranti_accordo_italia-libia_ecco_cosa_contiene_in_memorandum-157464439

      Le texte en anglais:
      http://www.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ITALY-LIBYA-MEMORANDUM-02.02.2017.pdf

    • EU and Italy migration deal with Libya draws sharp criticism from Libyan NGOs

      Twelve Libyan non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have issued a joint statement criticising the EU’s latest migrant policy as set out at the Malta summit a week ago as well as the Italy-Libya deal signed earlier which agreed that migrants should be sent back to Libya and repartiated voluntarily from there. Both represented a fundamental “immoral and inhumane attitude” towards migrants, they said. International human rights and calls had to be respected.

      https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/02/10/eu-and-italy-migration-deal-with-libya-draws-sharp-criticism-from-libya

    • Tripoli Appeals Court to rule on Italy-Presidential Council MoU

      A number of Libyan citizens lodged an appeal at the Judiciary Division of the Tripoli Appeals Court against the signing of a #Memorandum_of_Understanding (MoU) between the UN-proposed government’s Presidential Council’s Head Fayez Al-Sirraj and the Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni.


      https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/tripoli-appeals-court-rule-italy-presidential-council-mou

    • Perché l’accordo tra l’Italia e la Libia sui migranti potrebbe essere illegale

      Il memorandum d’intesa sui migranti firmato il 2 febbraio dall’Italia e dalla Libia potrebbe essere illegale. A sostenerlo è un gruppo di giuristi, ex politici e intellettuali libici che il 14 febbraio ha presentato un ricorso di 23 pagine alla corte d’appello di Tripoli. I sei libici, tra cui diversi ex ministri, sostengono che il memorandum sia incostituzionale. Innanzitutto perché, prima di essere firmato dal primo ministro Fayez al Sarraj a Roma, non è stato approvato dal parlamento libico e dal governo all’unanimità. Al Sarraj non ha ottenuto la fiducia dei parlamentari libici che si sono ritirati a Tobruk nel 2014. Inoltre l’accordo implicherebbe impegni onerosi da parte di Tripoli, che non erano contenuti nel trattato di amicizia tra Italia e Libia stipulato nel 2008, a cui il memorandum s’ispira.

      http://www.internazionale.it/notizie/annalisa-camilli/2017/02/20/italia-libia-migranti-accordo-illegale

    • Così Italia e Libia argineranno il flusso dei migranti

      Ambulanze, gommoni, mute, satellitari e bombole.

      L’accordo bilaterale prevede «l’addestramento, l’equipaggiamento ed il sostegno alla guardia costiera libica». Per questo l’elenco delle forniture è lungo e costoso. L’obiettivo è di completare il piano di consegna in 24 mesi, anche se alcuni punti dovranno essere ritoccati. In particolare sono state chieste 10 navi per la ricerca e il soccorso (alcune da oltre trenta metri) e 10 motovedette che devono essere utilizzate per i controlli sotto costa in modo da impedire alle “carrette” dei trafficanti di salpare. Le prime tre imbarcazioni potrebbero essere consegnate già agli inizi di giugno, prevedendo una dilatazione dei tempi per quelle più grandi. E poi quattro elicotteri che dovranno “guidare” le operazioni contro le organizzazioni che gestiscono i viaggi della speranza, ma anche coadiuvare il recupero in mare. Nell’elenco sono stati poi inseriti

      24 gommoni
      10 ambulanze
      30 jeep
      15 automobili
      30 telefoni satellitari Turaya
      mute da sub
      bombole per l’ossigeno
      binocoli diurni e notturni

      Saranno le forze dell’ordine italiane a dover addestrare i poliziotti locali e gli uomini della Guardia costiera. Su questo c’è già l’intesa con l’Ue che finanzierà la missione della Capitaneria di Porto che partirà entro due mesi.

      http://www.agi.it/cronaca/2017/03/20/news/cos_italia_e_libia_argineranno_il_flusso_dei_migranti-1602473
      #accord_bilatéral #contrôles_frontaliers #militarisation_de_la_frontière #frontières

    • Migranti, 12 unità navali alla Libia: via libera del governo

      Roma cede «a titolo gratuito» a Tripoli dieci motovedette della Guardia costiera e due unità della Gdf. C’è poi un pacchetto di assistenza tecnica ai mezzi e di preparazione del personale

      ARRIVERANNO presto i nuovi mezzi navali che il governo italiano ha promesso al governo libico di accordo nazionale di Tripoli. Il Consiglio dei ministri ha dato il via libera all’invio di 12 unità navali e a un programma di addestramento del personale per il loro utilizzo. Un impegno economico, ha precisato il ministro dei Trasporti e delle Infrastrutture Danilo Toninelli, «che sfiora 1,5 milioni, a fronte di un costo complessivo del provvedimento pari a circa 2,5 milioni».

      «Siamo consapevoli che questo non può bastare e che bisogna lavorare per stabilizzare lo scenario, rafforzare lo stato di diritto e la tutela della dignità delle persone sul suolo del nascente Stato libico. Ecco perché stiamo via via intensificando la cooperazione con organizzazioni come l’Unhcr e l’Oim, che sono presenti a Tripoli. In attesa che l’Europa si faccia carico in modo solidale del fenomeno migrazioni - ha concluso Toninelli - il governo italiano e questo ministero lavorano in modo fattivo per debellare i naufragi di migranti in mezzo al Mediterraneo».

      Alla Libia saranno date «a titolo gratuito» 10 motovedette «Classe 500» della Guardia costiera e due unità costiere «Classe Corrubia» della Guardia di Finanza. Assieme alle navi, l’Italia fornirà un pacchetto di assistenza tecnica ai mezzi e di preparazione del personale che possa rafforzare la Marina e la Guardia costiera libiche.

      Le «Classe 500» sono delle piccole vedette costiere che in Italia sono state usate da Carabinieri e Guardia Costiera, e saranno utili di sicuro soprattutto per il pattugliamento lungo le coste libiche. Hanno una autonomia di 200 miglia e una velocità massima di 35 nodi, vengono utilizzate in un raggio di