Europe's Plan To Stop Migrants From Using Libya Is Unravelling As Militias Battle Each Other To Claim The Money That Europe Wants To Give Them

The Italy-Libya channel is one of the most perilous migration routes [DZ Lupi/Reuters]

Defense News: Plan to halt migrant flow from Libya unravels amid militia fighting

ROME – An outbreak of fierce fighting in Libya between militias has revealed how Europe’s best efforts to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants sailing from Libya to Europe can unravel in the lawless country.

Recent clashes in Sabratha, a coastal town west of Tripoli, claimed 40 lives as rival militias — which all profess loyalty to Libya’s UN-backed government — fired rockets at each other in the town center, damaging hospitals and schools.

One likely reason behind the battle was resentment over money, following widespread reports that one of the militias had been paid millions of euros by Italy to stop its lucrative business of loading African migrants into dinghies and sending them to Italy — which lies north across the Mediterranean.

Read more ....

WNU Editor:  You just cannot make this up.