Frontex boats under fire from Kalashnikovs. A threat to rescue operations in the Mediterranean
(BRUXELLES2) The event went fairly unnoticed. A ship engaged in the operation Triton of the European agency Frontex, the Icelandic patrol boat Tyr, was a very close witness to a Kalashnikov attack carried out by Libyan traffickers. It was last Monday (April 13). THE Tyr was on a rescue mission from a migrant boat, about 60 miles off the Libyan coast. The Icelandic patrol boat had already 342 migrants on board from a previous rescue operation, carried out 50 miles off the Libyan coast northwest of Tripoli, when he was called for help to assist an Italian tug in another rescue (*).
An attack with a Libyan coast guard boat?
While most of the 250 people on board the second migrant vessel had already been transferred to the tug, " a speedboat approached bearing the inscription of the Libyan Coast Guard “, told B2 an official of the Frontex agency. " They were heavily armed. But we didn't really know who they were. » The attackers have drawn several shots in the air, wanting to regain control of the boat". The attackers ended up " leave with the boat empty of migrants ».
A second time... too many
This is not the first time that a Frontex ship has faced an armed attack in this way. The first time was " in February this year. Armed smugglers recovered “a ship used to transport migrants following a rescue operation in the Mediterranean ».
The sign of a lack of boats for traffickers
For the Executive Director of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, this action is the " a sign that smugglers in Libya are running out of boats (but also) that they are willing to use weapons to retrieve those used to transport migrants ». But the "duplicity" of the means used (a coastguard ship) is also the sign not only of a very clear determination of the smugglers, but also of their possible complicity within the Libyan security system. This fundamentally changes the situation and the conditions of the Triton operation.
Ships not equipped to respond to weapons of war
Even before Sunday's series of shipwrecks, this new incident has therefore caused trouble at Frontex, but also among the Member States taking part in the operation — Italy, Malta, Iceland, Spain... — . Anxiety coupled with fear. This time there is " there were no injuries. But there could have been we explain to Frontex. " Coastguard ships are not, in fact, equipped to respond to weapons of war, as can be the military ships that are used in Atalanta-type operations” an official from the Frontex Agency told B2. Moreover, " in coast guard boats, which have picked up migrants, using firearms is not possible with civilians on board”. In the patrol boat Tyr, of the 342 survivors, there were 135 women, several of whom were pregnant, and 27 children. It is well understood that, under these conditions, any action to oppose the smugglers was very risky.
The end of Search and Rescue operations
They could thus ultimately compromise the SAR - Search and Rescue - operation undertaken by Frontex ships, unless the coast guard boats are now protected by military ships. This is also the whole point of the possible maritime operation that could be launched by the European Union.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(*) Since Friday (April 10), 7500 refugees and migrants have been picked up by the Tyr and the other ships taking part in the Frontex operation, near the Libyan coast. They were on board 11 boats - 9 of which were on board ships that had capsized - between 12 and 60 nautical miles off the coast. Either very far from the Triton area.
