EU migration delegation ordered deported from eastern Libya on alleged entry violations

CAIRO (AP) – Authorities in eastern Libya refused entry to three European ministers and the EU commissioner for migration on alleged entry violations, apparently after they stopped first in the rival Libyan capital of Tripoli in the west.

A statement from the prime minister of the eastern part of Libya, Osama Hammad, said the interior ministers of Italy, Greece, Malta and the EU migration commissioner, Magnus Brunner, were “persona non-grata” after they were denied entry shortly after their arrival in Benghazi. It said the ministers had entered illegally and had not followed Libyan diplomatic conventions.

The ministers were in “flagrant contravention of established diplomatic norms and international conventions, and through actions that demonstrably disregard Libyan national sovereignty, as well as in violation of Libyan domestic laws,” the statement said. The delegations “are urged to engage with the Libyan Government in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, as enshrined in international agreements, treaties, and diplomatic custom,” it added.

In addition to Brunner, the delegation included Greek Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri.

The delegation was visiting Libya seeking tougher migration measures against boats carrying migrants from Libya. The EU has spent years and millions of euros trying to stem the people smuggling operations that have thrived in Libya’s lawlessness and brought hundreds of thousands of desperate people to European shores.

Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments. Currently, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah heads the internationally recognized government in the capital of Tripoli in the west while Hammad heads the administration in the east, where the powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter continues to also hold sway.

The EU delegation had met first with Dbeibah, and the deportation incident was apparently caused because the European delegation stopped first in Tripoli, said Greek Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hadzidakis. Usually foreigners including diplomats coordinate with both administrations if they want to visit western and eastern Libya.

Speaking to state-run ERT television in Greece, Hadzidakis said the Tripoli meeting went ahead as planned.

“However, in Benghazi -perhaps because the visit to Tripoli came first – the Benghazi government decided it would not receive the European Commissioner and the three ministers. I don’t think that was a constructive move, especially given that the European Union is genuinely trying to find a solution to this very unusual situation – just as it has tried with our other southern and eastern neighbors – on a complex issue like migration.”

For southern and eastern Libya, which are under the control of Hifter’s forces, visitors have to coordinate and get permits from the east-based government, which is allied with Hifter. It’s not clear if such permits were sought or granted.

In a post on social media, Brunner made it seem as if nothing unusual had happened.

“We just concluded our mission to Libya together with the Ministers responsible for migration from Greece, Italy and Malta,” he wrote, noting that the delegation had “held in-depth discussions” with Libya’s prime minister and three other Cabinet members.

During the talks, Brunner said, all the officials reaffirmed their joint commitment to fight migrant smuggling. “The meetings planned in Benghazi could not take place in the end,” he said, without elaborating.

In Italy, opposition lawmakers who have criticized the hard-line stance against migration of the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni were quick to point out the irony that her migration minister was deported from a country on alleged immigration violations.

“Piantedosi was turned back from Libya because he was accused of illegal entry,” Democratic Party lawmaker Matteo Orfini wrote on Facebook. “I was thinking of an ironic comment but I’d say that’s good as is.”