- Advertisement -
Ocean Viking, the boat from NGO SOS Méditerranée, completed its eleventh rescue mission in the central Mediterranean this week. He arrived on Tuesday at the Italian port of Augusta where the 116 people he rescued outside the Mediterranean could disembark. The crew carried out two interventions, one of which disrupted the role played by the Libyan security forces.
From our special correspondent aboard the Ocean Viking,
Thursday, March 18: when the day just dawned, the Ocean Viking rescuers were already ready to intervene. The SOS Mediterranean boat had received a warning from NGO Alarm Phone, an emergency telephone line for migrants in need, and was looking for a boat that might have major difficulties.
While the search is in full swing, Ocean Viking receives a call via the radio. “‘Ocean Viking’, ‘Ocean Viking’, ‘Ocean Viking’,” a voice shouts without introducing itself. Nicola Stalla, search and rescue coordinator answers. The voice is then resumed: “We have two sick people, two sick people. ” “The call comes from a Libyan coast guard patrolling the area. The man is developing a small fiberglass boat, a model regularly used by Libyan fishermen, on which passengers, including patients, need to be evacuated,” he said.
The appeal was in itself in accordance with shipping procedures: Ocean Viking was then in international waters but inLibya’s search and rescue zone.Since June 2018, the Libyan authorities will coordinate search and rescue activities for boats in distress. Until then, this role had been played by Italy, but Europe – and Rome at the forefront – drove Tripoli to take control of this part of the Mediterranean. In addition to the fact that, according to NGOs providing support to migrant boats, this transfer of skills has led to the disappearance of an authority coordinating efforts in this area. The place left by Italy, they say, has never been occupied by Libya. “The Libyan rescue coordination center has never been able to provide this coordination, which was so effective with the maritime rescue center in Rome,” lamented RFI Nicola Stalla. “Since then, it’s been a bit like working blind.”
This request for intervention from the Libyan authorities was therefore unusual. The request came from an official authority and Ocean Viking had a medical module to care for people who were declared ill, the crew initiated an intervention. Eleven people were in the fiberglass boat: the women and children suffered from vomiting, the doctor from the aid ship confirms. Passengers are therefore evacuated from their boat to be taken on Ocean Viking.
But when the intervention ended, one of them stopped in the small boat and expressed his desire to return to Libya. When the boat began to take on the water, the rescuers insisted on taking it with them. But he repeats his refusal and tries to start the engine on his little boat to get going. His tests failed: the engine seemed to be flooded. He then repeats his refusal to board the NGO boat and reassures aid workers: he will call on the Coast Guard star to the rescue. The crew on SOS Méditerranée therefore returned to Ocean Viking. And from the bridge, see the Libyan boat approaching the small boat: the man goes on board and the motorboat leaves and pulls the small boat behind it.
The questionable behavior: who was this man and what connection did he have to the coastguard men? “He was one of them. He works for the government, one of those rescued told RFI. According to several collected testimonies, the coast’s security star boarded the boat that fled Libya a few minutes before contacting Ocean Viking. “About a quarter of an hour,” said one of the witnesses. “He approached us. He was armed. And he asks us to choose: “This NGO is not that far. We can take you to them and we will take your boat. Or we will take you back to Libya,” said another. He assures that he has not paid any money to this man but estimates that the sale of the boat can bring in between “40,000 and 50,000 dinars” (between 7,500 and 9,500 euros).
Two days later, a Libyan coastal security frigate approached Ocean Viking again and resumed contact with the crew via radio. The man on the phone said he was worried about the story that SOS Méditerranée did about Twitter the day before. He reiterates that the star requested an intervention from Ocean Viking for “humanitarian reasons” and reiterated that some people were ill. But to confirm some of the saved testimonies, he wants to emphasize that the motorboat did not bring the boat off the coast. The man also specifies that they belong to the general administration of coastal security and not to the Coast Guard. Both branches are responsible for coastal surveillance, but the first (GACS according to the acronym) depends on the Ministry of the Interior and the second on the Ministry of Defense.
These two bodies are supported by the European Union in the fight against illegal immigration. Brussels has set up a border assistance mission in Libya to help the Libyan authorities control its borders and thus illegal departures to European territory. In 2020, the two branches of Libyan coastal security intercepted 11,891 people trying to leave Libya by sea. an increase of almost 30% compared to the previous year. Report Acquired by NGO Statewatch, which monitors civil liberties in Europe, the EU intends to extend its border support mission for another two years at an estimated cost of between € 67 and € 70 million.
A project funded by the European Union and Italy recently allowed the renovation of two stars for GACS. These stars were delivered in October last year. One of them is the boat that approached Ocean Viking last week. Receiving these two stars, the Director General of Coastal Security, General Mohamed Alfituri Ahmed, assured that he had a “common goal” with the EU: “The fight against human trafficking and organized crime”. However, given the events of the past week, the goal may need to be confirmed.
► Read about the third week’s diary about Ocean Viking
► Read the magazine for the second week about Ocean Viking
► Read the first week’s diary about Ocean Viking
.
