Solsticewitch13's BOS: Libya's rulers ‘weaponise’ migrants threatening to flood Europe with MILLIONS of Muslims

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Libya's rulers ‘weaponise’ migrants threatening to flood Europe with MILLIONS of Muslims

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/616657/European-migrant-crisis-refugees-Libya-government-war

LIBYA has threatened to open the floodgates for MILLIONS of migrants to stream into Europe if the world does not recognise its self-declared Islamist government.

By Nick Gutteridge

PUBLISHED: 13:14, Tue, Nov 3, 2015 | UPDATED: 14:02, Tue, Nov 3, 2015

Migrants on board a smugglers' vessel off Libya

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Libya has threatened to open the floodgates to migrants heading for Europe

In a crude attempt to blackmail European leaders officials in the war-torn country said they could lay on charter boats to ship economic migrants from all over Africa across the Mediterranean.

And they hinted they could abandon all border controls and police operations which are currently catching hundreds of migrants trying to make the perilous crossing every day.

One of Libya's most senior politicians said his country was fed up with "protecting the gates of Europe" when the continent does not recognise the legitimacy of his government.

Europe has already been totally overwhelmed by the numbers of migrants arriving in Greece and Italy, and any move by Libya to relax border controls would prove devastating.

Jamal Zubia, a spokesman for Libya's General National Congress party which seized the capital Tripoli last year, said his country may also start refusing to repatriate migrants who have already made it across the Mediterranean.

Migrants aboard a smugglers' vessel off the coast of Libya

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Libya's Islamist government wants international recognition

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Europe is being overwhelmed by the current migrant crisis

Why should we stop the migrants here?

Libyan government spokesman Jamal Zubia

He said: "We are protecting the gates of Europe, yet Europe does not recognise us and does not want to recognise us. So why should we stop the migrants here?"

Libya says it stops hundreds of Europe-bound migrants every day with its 8,000-strong Department for Combatting ILlegal Immigration.

It also deploys coastguard boats to carry out patrols and plug the huge gaps left by the EU's patchy response to the crisis.

But Mr Zubia said his country severely lacks the resources to continue such operations, saying the cost tens of millions of pounds at a time when Libya is wracked by civil war.

A bomb blast in a Libyan city stops cars

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Libya has been gripped by a brutal civil war

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The Islamist government seized control of the country last year

He told the Daily Telegraph: "If we were not a responsible state, we would hire boats and send the migrants to Europe.

"Every day we catch hundreds of them, even though we do not have the necessary resources.
"It is a strategic threat, yes, but I would not rule out us doing it one day."

Europe has been plunged into chaos by one of the biggest migration crises in history, with the number of refugees entering the continent by sea last month roughly topping the entire amount for 2014.

Libya's sitting regime, which ousted the internationally recognised government in a military coup last August, is not officially recognised on the world stage.

The country has no standing army, and is descending into a civil war waged by several Islamist factions including Islamic State.