Italy’s Interior Minister calls for migrant centers south of Libya

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, during a visit to Tripoli on Monday, called for processing centers to be set up south of Libya’s borders. The centers would serve as a way to block attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean, according to the minister. “On Thursday in Brussels, 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 said, referring to an EU summit this week. The Italian minister, speaking alongside Ahmed Maiteeq, deputy premier of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), did not specify which African countries should host the centers. Maiteeq said Libya “categorically refuses” to set up such camps on its own territory, AFP reports.