While people continue to die in Libya as part of the battle to oust Gaddafi, NATO continues to drop bombs on what are known as “strategic targets”. While their governments talk tough about liberating the people of Libya from tyranny, up in Europe, France and Italy are panicing about the increase in migrants arriving from Africa on their shores. Despite long being part of the Schengen treaty that ensures free travel between EU states, they have now openly taken action to check and limit such travelling. A decision that is causing alot of concern and frustration to those that believe in respecting agreements and free travel within the EU.
But in fact, long before the uprising in Libya or the adoption of the no-fly zone, a far greater crime was being committed on Libyan soil with the help of European Union money. For more than a decade, Italy has funded and equipped immigrant detention centers hosted and run by the Libyan government. Detention centers where migrants from all over Africa were held, extorted and tortured. While humanitarian and legal limits prevented Italy from running such centers on their own soil, nothing and no one prevented them from doing so.. including the EU which was completely aware of their existence.
After years of living under the most horrific circumstances, the Libyan state seems to be falling apart and migrants are making the dangerous journey towards Europe in search of work and a better life. EU states cry foul and claim they have no choice but to tighten border controls and turn migrants away. They act as victims after having long been engaged in the inhumane and torturous detention of migrants.