EU seeks to reopen embassy in Libya
NAN-F-48
Embassy
Brussels, Oct. 10, 2017(Reuters/NAN) The European Union is seeking to reopen its embassy in Libya pending security conditions, officials said on Tuesday, offering further political support for the Tripoli government struggling to establish control.
According to a draft statement seen by Reuters, the EU leaders will announce at their summit in Brussels on Oct. 19 – 20 that they “encourage work underway to rapidly establish a permanent EU presence in Libya.
However, the statement makes it clear that no such move is imminent as it would be conditional on improving the security situation on the ground.
The EU moved its mission to neighboring Tunisia in mid-2014 as security worsened in Libya amid escalating fighting between rival factions since 2011.
That happened as a result of a fall of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, ousted by rebels during a NATO bombing campaign.
Out of 28 EU states, only Italy, Libya’s former colonial master and most influential European state on the ground, has an embassy in the country, where the UN officially recognised the government of Fayez Seraj.
The EU has also engaged increasingly with Seraj, especially as it sought Libya’s help in curbing the flow of African refugees and migrants.
Hundreds of thousands of the refugees have been boarding smugglers’ boats on the coast of the lawless state to cross the Mediterranean for Europe.
The bloc has been financing, equipping and training Libya’s border and coast guards, despite rights groups sounding alarm over grave abuses refugees and migrants suffer in Libya. (Reuters/NAN)
OYE/AFA
========
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide