EU Delegation Declared ‘Unwelcome’ in Benghazi Amid Migration Surge

A European delegation headed by the EU Commissioner for internal affairs and migration and a handful of member-states’ relevant ministers, including Greece’s Thanos Plevris, got a highly undiplomatic “cold shoulder” on Tuesday in east Libya, as the de facto leader of more than half the massive North African country, Gen. Khalifa Haftar, declined to meet with them in Benghazi.

Gen. Khalifa Haftar

Earlier, the EU delegation had visited a rival – but internationally recognized – government in the country’s west, based in the capital of Tripoli. The situation in Benghazi, however, was hostile to the delegation’s presence.

According to the outlet Libya Update, the “… delegation was told at Benghazi Benina Airport to leave immediately and was declared unwelcome.”

Plevris accompanied EU Commission Magnus Brunner on the ill-fated visit, along with his counterparts from Italy and Malta, and amid what’s emerging as yet another illegal migration crisis in the Mediterranean, as dozens of migrant boats and craft disembarking from east Libya have carried thousands of third country nationals towards Greek territory, i.e. the small island of Gavdos and much larger Crete. According to eyewitness accounts by those individuals who landed on Crete, tens of thousands of other people – mostly military age men – are awaiting a chance to sail towards Crete.

Local media reports said the third country nationals included mostly Egyptians, Sudanese, Somalians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, among others, and based on their declarations to Greek authorities.

(EUROKINISSI)

Oftentimes, smugglers and those aboard contact coast guard and Frontex authorities while en route to request assistance, resulting in nearby commercial vessels, coast guard patrol boats and even navy warships rushing to the scene and essentially transporting the third country nationals to their intended destination, i.e. any EU territory.