- Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) today agreed to lift the last sanction on Libya, including the arms embargo, to be able to reach a deal on halting illegal immigrants to Europe in Libya. While the EU hailed Libya's programme to scrap its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction, it expressed concern over human rights violations in the country.
According to a statement by the current Dutch presidency of the EU, all remaining sanctions against Libya were now to be removed. The European Foreign Ministers had discussed bilateral ties with Tripoli at their meeting in Luxemburg today, in particular in the light of the recent boom in illegal immigration to Italy's Lampedusa Island from Libya.
It was "a well-known fact" that one of the EU member states, being Italy - and therefore all member states because of the open borders - "is having considerable problems with illegal immigrants coming from Libya," the EU Presidency said today. "The Ministers agreed today that cooperation with Libya on the topic of migration has become a pressing matter," the statement continued.
Thousands of immigrants and potential refugees have arrived Lampedusa Island from Eritrea, Morocco and other African countries through Libya lately. Italian authorities have reached an agreement with Tripoli to internalise these immigrants in Libyan camps, including persons sent back from Italy. This has happened despite protests from the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, which is concerned over Libya's failure to sign international conventions on refugees' rights.
Also EU Foreign Ministers today stated their concern over the situation in Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi's Libya. "There are still concerns about the human rights situation in Libya and notably about the fact that Libya has not yet abolished the death penalty," the Dutch EU Presidency noted. Nevertheless, the EU was willing to go ahead with deals over immigrants and lifting the arms embargo.
- In consideration of all this, the Council has decided to adopt a policy of engagement with Libya by lifting the arms embargo and by offering prospects of strengthening EU-Libya relations, including the Barcelona process, the EU statement said. The Barcelona process refers to the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean common market. "But this will depend on the solution of outstanding issues," the statement added.
The "outstanding issues" in EU-Libyan ties principally include the cases of Bulgarian and Palestinian nurses, which are held detained in Libya, accused of spreading AIDS. "The EU will press Libya to find solutions" in this case, the statement said. Other issues included the general human rights situation in Libya.
The EU's arms embargo on Libya was imposed in 1988 after several Libya-supported terrorist attacks on European soil. The lifting of the arms embargo principally will allow Tripoli to buy high-tech equipment to prevent the flow of illegal African migrants. Italy has pressed for authorisation to sell Libya this equipment, which includes night-vision binoculars.
The decision by the EU Foreign Ministers also opens for negotiations on Libya's participation in the Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone. The free trade zone by 2010 is to include almost all of Europe, all North Africa - if Libya is to participate - and Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria and Turkey.
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