The EU deepens its interference in Africa to block Africans arriving in Fortress Europe
EU military forces in Mali - reinforcing EU colonial control in Africa
Meeting in the Maltese capital of Valetta on 3 February, the EU heads of governments expressed their support for the EU’s policy of deepening its interference in North Africa and the Sahel region of West Africa. In its declaration at the end of the meeting, the EU declared its intention to “to take additional action to significantly reduce migratory flows along the Central Mediterranean route”. This stated policy is aimed at blocking the arrival in Europe of Africans fleeing the chaos caused by the economic and military intervention of the EU member states in various African countries. The declaration further stated the EU’s intention of ensuring the “mainstreaming of migration within its Official Development Assistance for Africa”. This policy which is elaborated in the EU document ‘Migration on the Central Mediterranean route: Managing flows, saving lives’ sets out the EU’s plans for achieving its goals with regard to “illegal” African migration into the territories of the EU member countries.
The premise of this document is that Africans “illegally” arriving in the EU is a problem which needs to be solved and that military measures and policing are the primary means for solving it. This is rather interesting since the defenders of this institution like to present it as one which is in favour of ‘freedom of movement’ of peoples. However, with regard to Africans, the EU spokespersons adopt a different and dehumanising language. They declare Africans to be “illegal immigrants”, “irregular migrants” or “economic migrants” who have no right to be in the EU and so must be prevented from reaching this destination or, when discovered within the EU, returned to their countries of origin.
The premise of this document is that Africans “illegally” arriving in the EU is a problem which needs to be solved and that military measures and policing are the primary means for solving it. This is rather interesting since the defenders of this institution like to present it as one which is in favour of ‘freedom of movement’ of peoples. However, with regard to Africans, the EU spokespersons adopt a different and dehumanising language. They declare Africans to be “illegal immigrants”, “irregular migrants” or “economic migrants” who have no right to be in the EU and so must be prevented from reaching this destination or, when discovered within the EU, returned to their countries of origin.
Ships of the EUNAVFORMED Operation Sophia
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Britain's HMS Echo - part of the EUNAVFORMED Operation Sophia
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According to the EU, some 4,500 people lost their lives in 2016 alone crossing the central Mediterranean and some 13,000 have died since 2010 while attempting this journey. Of the around 180,000 people who made the central Mediterranean crossing in 2016, some 21% were Nigerian and 11% Eritrean with Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Sudan being other points of origin. Of these 180,000 people, some 13% were women and 14% were unaccompanied minors. The EU report states that Libya is now the departure point for some 90% of people who attempt this crossing and blames “people smugglers and traffickers” for increasing the vulnerability of migrants through their human rights violations. The EU, however, makes no mention of its own substantial role in the violent destruction of Libya in 2011 which has left what was Africa’s most prosperous country in a state of violent chaos, nor of its constant and destabilising interference in the countries of the Sahel region and West Africa in general. In response to the situation which its own previous interventions have caused, the EU now proposes intensifying this intervention in order to “save lives” which was, of course, also one of the justifications put forward in 2011 for the violent attack on Libya. In reality, the EU policy aims to intensify its intervention in Africa in order to achieve its racist aim of blocking Africans from reaching Fortress Europe. To achieve this goal, the EU has outlined a number of additional measures to complement those it already has in place.
Currently the EU operates a military operation in the central Mediterranean. This operation, named EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia, is intended in its own words, “to target the criminal networks exploiting vulnerable migrants” and to “disrupt the business model of the people smugglers”. In this way, the EU turns the crisis that its previous interventions in Africa have caused into a law and order issue whose solution needs the further use of military power. Operation Sophia which was set up in record time in June 2015 has at its disposal 6 naval ships and 6 aircraft from various EU member states. Its activities include, boarding, seizing and diverting vessels taking people from North Africa to Europe and it claims to have intercepted some 372 such vessels and to have arrested over 100 people so far. In addition, through its Operation Sophia, the EU is now involved in training the navy and coast guard of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) which is the faction it currently supports in that country. Operation Sophia also plays a role in enforcing the UN ban on arms sales to Libya.
Another aspect of the deepening EU intervention in North Africa is the EU Integrated Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM). This institution which was established under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy is currently located in Tunisia because of the lack of security in Libya. Among its main objectives is supporting the Libyan GNA, with whose security institutions it has strategic co-operation, with “border management” and countering “irregular migration and smuggling of migrants”. The EU has also announced that it intends to make operational in the Spring of 2017 its Seahorse Mediterranean Network satellite-supported communication infrastructure. This is intended to provide the EU naval force and those under its effective control with real time information in order to facilitate their policing of Africans crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.
The EU’s plans for ending the movement of Africans into Europe which it deems “illegal” are not only focused on Libya’s northern borders. Through a range of military arrangements with countries of the Sahel region, the EU is also focusing on policing Libya’s southern borders. These missions include EUCAP Sahel Mali which is an EU mission based in Bamako with a mandate to ‘train’ the Malian police, gendarmerie and national guard , the EU Training Mission to Mali (EUTM) which is meant to ‘train’ the Malian army and the EUCAP Sahel Niger which has a mandate similar to its counterpart in Mali. The new policies agreed in Valetta will mean that the police and military services of both Mali and Niger will now be pressed into the task of policing Libya’s southern borders on behalf of the EU. In addition, it clearly sets out the aim of drawing the countries of Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad into this task.
A further development in the EU policy on this issue is the intention to stop landing on EU territory those intercepted at sea. The German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière speaking in Valetta stated that the EU’s intention is “…..to send them to a safe place, without bringing them into Europe”. In an informal meeting of the EU interior ministers which preceded the Valetta heads of government meeting, the idea was agreed to establish camps in Libya or other North African states where those attempting to cross the Mediterranean would be held until the EU processed them. Those who are declared not eligible to enter the EU would be returned to their country of origin. The plan is that such camps would be run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or the International Organisation of Migrants (IOM).
The EU’s approach to Africans who are fleeing the chaos caused in their home countries by endless economic plunder and military attacks from the very member states of that organisation demonstrates with total clarity the utterly racist character of that organisation. At the same time, the EU is using the so-called “crisis of illegal migration” from Africa as a means of deepening its colonialist control of African countries. The EU must end its racist migration policy and its interference in Africa.
Currently the EU operates a military operation in the central Mediterranean. This operation, named EUNAVFOR Med Operation Sophia, is intended in its own words, “to target the criminal networks exploiting vulnerable migrants” and to “disrupt the business model of the people smugglers”. In this way, the EU turns the crisis that its previous interventions in Africa have caused into a law and order issue whose solution needs the further use of military power. Operation Sophia which was set up in record time in June 2015 has at its disposal 6 naval ships and 6 aircraft from various EU member states. Its activities include, boarding, seizing and diverting vessels taking people from North Africa to Europe and it claims to have intercepted some 372 such vessels and to have arrested over 100 people so far. In addition, through its Operation Sophia, the EU is now involved in training the navy and coast guard of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) which is the faction it currently supports in that country. Operation Sophia also plays a role in enforcing the UN ban on arms sales to Libya.
Another aspect of the deepening EU intervention in North Africa is the EU Integrated Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM). This institution which was established under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy is currently located in Tunisia because of the lack of security in Libya. Among its main objectives is supporting the Libyan GNA, with whose security institutions it has strategic co-operation, with “border management” and countering “irregular migration and smuggling of migrants”. The EU has also announced that it intends to make operational in the Spring of 2017 its Seahorse Mediterranean Network satellite-supported communication infrastructure. This is intended to provide the EU naval force and those under its effective control with real time information in order to facilitate their policing of Africans crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.
The EU’s plans for ending the movement of Africans into Europe which it deems “illegal” are not only focused on Libya’s northern borders. Through a range of military arrangements with countries of the Sahel region, the EU is also focusing on policing Libya’s southern borders. These missions include EUCAP Sahel Mali which is an EU mission based in Bamako with a mandate to ‘train’ the Malian police, gendarmerie and national guard , the EU Training Mission to Mali (EUTM) which is meant to ‘train’ the Malian army and the EUCAP Sahel Niger which has a mandate similar to its counterpart in Mali. The new policies agreed in Valetta will mean that the police and military services of both Mali and Niger will now be pressed into the task of policing Libya’s southern borders on behalf of the EU. In addition, it clearly sets out the aim of drawing the countries of Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad into this task.
A further development in the EU policy on this issue is the intention to stop landing on EU territory those intercepted at sea. The German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière speaking in Valetta stated that the EU’s intention is “…..to send them to a safe place, without bringing them into Europe”. In an informal meeting of the EU interior ministers which preceded the Valetta heads of government meeting, the idea was agreed to establish camps in Libya or other North African states where those attempting to cross the Mediterranean would be held until the EU processed them. Those who are declared not eligible to enter the EU would be returned to their country of origin. The plan is that such camps would be run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or the International Organisation of Migrants (IOM).
The EU’s approach to Africans who are fleeing the chaos caused in their home countries by endless economic plunder and military attacks from the very member states of that organisation demonstrates with total clarity the utterly racist character of that organisation. At the same time, the EU is using the so-called “crisis of illegal migration” from Africa as a means of deepening its colonialist control of African countries. The EU must end its racist migration policy and its interference in Africa.
