(ANSAmed) - PARIS, OCTOBER 6 - Libyan Premier Fayez
al-Sarraj, on Friday told Le Monde there was no ''secret deal''
between Italy and human traffickers to stop migrants leaving
Libya. Answering a question on a purported pact with a
trafficking militia group in Sabratha, Sarraj said: ''There is
an accord with Italy to help Libyan municipalities in the north
and south develop the economy and create jobs. But there is no
accord of the type you are talking about, that is to say
supporting an armed group''.
Le Monde on September 14 published a front-page article
claiming that Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti negotiated
with Libyan human traffickers to halt migrant flows.
In the interview published on Friday, Sarraj also expressed
the hope that an embargo on weapons in Libya issued by the UN
Security Council in 2011 will be lifted. ''We have already
started at the UN a process to request a partial lifting of the
embargo'', he said, stressing that, among other things, ''we
cannot fight such a phenomenon without equipment and weapons for
our coast guard and control our southern borders. We have
therefore asked Europeans for surveillance material, in
particular in the south''.
Sarraj also said: ''Our coast guard cannot fight with
Zodiacs, highly armed and equipped smugglers' vessels. At the
same time, we cannot protect our borders in the south only with
unequipped off-road vehicles''.
In the interview, he stressed that ''ISIS continues to pose a
threat in Libya, as in other countries'' and noted that ''our
objective is to guarantee that the army responds to the
executive power, or civil authority''.
The stabilization in Libya, he concluded, is ''key to fight
illegal emigration. If we will not succeed, then this flow of
migrants will affect Libya and Europe together with terror
organizations trying to infiltrate it''. (ANSAmed).
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