Libya, North African neighbors reject EU’s ‘disembarkation platforms’

Libya and its North African neighbors are opposed to the EU’s plan for “regional disembarkation platforms” to stem the flow of migrants entering the bloc, Tripoli’s Foreign Minister Mohammad al-Taher Siala said on Friday. “All North African countries reject this proposal – Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Libya, as well,” Siala told Austria’s Die Presse newspaper. “So with which countries does the EU want to agree these disembarkation platforms?” he asked. EU member states approved in June the idea of creating centers outside Europe to assess migrants trying to reach the bloc and decide which refugees are in need of protection and which are economic migrants who should be returned to their home countries. Siala estimated that around 30,000 illegal migrants were currently held in detention centers in Libya “and around 750,000 outside.” Libya was working with the EU to send the migrants to their home countries, he said, adding that some West African countries “refuse to take them back.”