Federal Foreign Office

“Any further training of the so-called ‘coastguard’ in Libya does not address the actual problem and merely serves to establish these troops as the bouncers of the European Union. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the crews have had human rights and international law explained to them, along with maritime rescue and the use of maritime communication channels. This knowledge is not applied however, and the Libyan units continue to carry out unprofessional, brutal and often fatal missions. That is why cooperation with these troops must be put to a stop”, demanded European policy spokesman for The Left Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Andrej Hunko.

The Federal Government confirms that there are “difficulties in the availability electronically and by telephone” of the Libyan ‘coastguard’. The same was also said to apply “regarding language barriers”. The EUNAVFOR MED military mission has initiated a “monitoring mechanism” to tackle problems such as these, with the aim of evaluating maritime rescue missions.