LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The NGO Sea-Watch confirmed that in the past few days, countless migrants have once again been pulled back to Libya, in some instances boats were also burned, and at the same time, hundreds of people drowned in the Mediterranean in the biggest shipwreck in years.
Following yesterday’s shipwreck off the Greek coast, another NGO, Alarm Phone said that there are so many open questions to be answered about what had happened off Pylos. “We need an independent investigation into the actions and inactions of the Greek forces and the role of Frontex.” Alarm Phone is also demanding that the search for the missing should continued and that DNA of all bodies found should be taken and recorded before their burial.
Rescuers saved 104 passengers – including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans and Palestinians – and recovered 79 bodies. The 25- to 30-meter boat is believed to have left the Tobruk area in Libya with hundreds of migrants onboard. The trawler was about halfway from Libya to Italy when its engine stopped functioning in the night, started flooding and capsized. Less than 15 minutes later, it sank into one of the Mediterranean’s deepest points, off the coast of Greece.
Meanwhile, the NGO Sea-Watch accused the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that she held secret talks with Abdul Hamid Ad-Dbeiba in January and Haftar in May 2023. The NGO alleged “Ad-Dbeibàs drone attacks and Haftar’s military offensive are directly related in time to these talks.”
Sea-Watch added that Ad-Dbeiba is the ruler of Tripoli and parts of Libyàs west. He is bombing the western port cities of Al-Maya, Zuwara, and Az-Zawiya with drones where several people have died already.
The NGO added that a similar military offensive in eastern Libya is undergoing on orders given by Khalifa Haftar, local warlord and convicted war criminal. “He is currently imprisoning numerous migrants and he launched a military offensive lasting several days in Tobruk and Musaid.”
Sea-Watch added that various small and large militias profited massively from the refugee business. The SSA, Stabilisation Support Authority, is one of them and it is an umbrella organization of various militias in eastern Libya. The NGO said that the SSA acts as a self-proclaimed security force at sea and on land, indirectly financed by the EU, and accused it of extorting money from the families of people on the move after they have been arrested.
– foto: agenziafotogramma.it
(ITALPRESS).
