EU Plans to Reach Deal With New Libyan Gov’t to Intercept Migrant Smugglers

The European Union plans to close a deal with the fledgling UN-backed government in Libya to disrupt migrant smuggling networks on the territory of the North African state, German media reported Friday, citing confidential draft documents.

BERLIN (Sputnik) – Experts fear a surge in new arrivals from conflict-torn North African and Middle Eastern countries into the frontier EU member states this summer to repeat last year's refugee crisis, the biggest since World War II. Operation Sophia, an EU anti-smuggling mission in the Mediterranean, is mandated to eliminate refugee smuggling routes in international waters only.

The 17-page draft, obtained by Spiegel Online and naming EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, states that the Libyan government in cooperation with the European Union could operate "detention centers for migrants and refugees… One has to also consider detention facilities."

The new Libyan government took up its duties under Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj on March 31.

Mogherini said last week that Operation Sophia saved 13,000 lives, neutralized 104 vessels and arrested 68 suspected smugglers in the past 6 months.

Last year saw more than 3,770 deaths among people attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration, as 1.8 million people have been detected illegally crossing the European Union borders.

Following years of instability since the overthrow of its longtime leader in 2011, security in Libya descended into chaos amid clashes between rival factions and the emergence of the Islamic State jihadist group, banned in Russia among other countries.