Tripoli—Libya is calling on the European Union states to share the burden of dealing with 3 million migrants who are currently staying in the country, the Libyan Minister of Interior Imad Tarabulsi said in a press conference on Sunday evening.
Tarabulsi warned that Libya may resort to “forced deportation” of migrants if the international community fails to support it in their voluntary return. “The United States has begun the forced deportation of illegal migrants and any country has the right to preserve the safety of its territory, resources and independence,” he stressed.
“Libya cannot bear the costs of returning migrants and refugees to their countries, especially distant countries in Asia and Africa,” calling for affected countries in Europe to contribute to the “voluntary return” of migrants.
Announcing that 139 refugees from several countries would be flown to Italy on 11 February and they will be resettled there, Tarabulsi said “Libya is the most affected by the migration flows among all of the Mediterranean countries.” He added, such huge number of migrants has negatively affected the livelihood of the Libyan people. He also hoped that European countries follow Italy’s example regarding resettling migrants and refugees.
Mr. Tarabulsi underlined the fact that Libya faces a big difficulty in meeting the costs of deporting migrants to their countries of origin calling on the European Union to contribute to the process. “We need more support to enable migrants to voluntarily return to their countries,” he added while highlighting Germany, Italy, Spain and international organizations’ contributions.
Meanwhile, Tarabulsi on Sunday held a meeting with the Italian Ambassador to Libya Gianluca Alberini. Both men discussed the prospects of joint security cooperation between Libya and Italy, with a focus on the issue of illegal immigration and its repercussions on both countries.
“The two sides discussed ways to limit the flow of illegal immigrants and support the efforts of the Libyan Ministry of Interior in combating this phenomenon,” a ministry’s statement said.
He revealed that an international conference of to deal with voluntary return of migrants would be organized in Libya after the holy month of Ramadan. “In Libya, we are in a dangerous stage fighting multinational migration gangs actively working on human trafficking. They are present cross borders in Europe, Africa and Asia and many other regions.”