NGO ship stranded as Italy urges African migrant centers

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Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called for migrant processing centers to be established on Libya's southern border on Monday as he paid a surprise visit to Tripoli.

Salvini, also leader of the far-right League party, spoke as migrant boat Lifeline remained stranded off Malta in an ongoing crisis that has exposed fractures in the 28-member EU bloc.

Splits over migration policy are expected to top the agenda at this week's EU Council meeting, while internal divisions within the German governing coalition are yet to be resolved.

Not 'one more' refugee

Salvini called for the establishment of processing centers on Libya's southern border to deal with potential migrants in a move "to help Libya as well as Italy block migration."

Libya has been the main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea since routes from Turkey were closed after a deal with the EU in 2016.

The Italian interior minister has insisted his country will not take in "one more" refugee, vowing to close its ports to foreign-flagged rescue ships and demanding that Europe shoulder the burden.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (L) and Libya's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq, speak during a joint news conference in Tripoli, June 25, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

"We will jointly support, with Libyan authorities, the setting up of reception and identification centers south of Libya, on the external border of Libya, to help Libya as well as Italy block migration," Salvini told a news conference in Tripoli.

However, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeg, part of an internationally recognized government that has struggled to impose its authority on Libya from Tripoli, said that while it was ready to tackle migration, "we completely reject any migrant camps in Libya."

It was unclear how viable it could be to set up migrant reception centers in the area of Africa mentioned by Salvini, given lawlessness in the Sahel desert region and its poorly demarcated borders.

Salvini also dismissed calls by France and Spain for asylum seekers to be kept in closed centers until their claims are processed, a proposal Rome says would turn Italy into "a refugee camp for all of Europe."

Lifeline stranded

The migrant crisis came to a head earlier this month when Italy's new populist government turned away a rescue boat carrying 630 people, which was also rejected by Malta, forcing the vessel to remain at sea until Spain offered them safe haven.

Italy and Malta refused a second vessel carrying 234 migrants who were rescued on Thursday, leaving German-operated rescue boat Lifeline stranded in international waters.

Migrants sitting on board the Lifeline ship, off the coast of Malta, June 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Let's see if Europe remembers that it actually exists because there is still a boat loaded with migrants in Maltese waters waiting for a port to welcome it and we can tell you again, it won't be in an Italian port," Salvini said on Monday.

The Italian interior minister earlier warned foreign charities to stop rescuing migrants off Libya, accusing them of "causing trouble" and saying Italian ports "are and will be closed to those who aid human traffickers."

Just over 11,000 migrants have arrived in Italy from Libya so far in 2018, according to the Italian interior ministry, down more than 80 percent on the same periods in 2016 and 2017.

Merkel crisis talks

The split in migration within the EU continues to bedevil German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking a bloc-wide policy to placate her coalition partners the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Merkel indicated at the weekend that an EU policy on migration would not be proposed at this week's EU summit, leaving open the possibility that her interior minister, CSU chairman Horst Seehofer, will instruct police to stop asylum seekers at Germany's borders on July 2. The CSU has set Merkel a deadline of July 1 to find a solution.

Further complicating Merkel's position, the third partner in Germany's governing coalition, the Social Democrats, warned on Monday that it would not support concessions to the CSU.

High-level talks between Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, the CSU and the CDU are expected to take place on Tuesday.