Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, a national conservative party, announced support for the policy of far right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, calling for a maritime blockade on Libya, Italian newspaper Askanews reported Sunday.
Meloni said the Italian government must tighten the laws dealing with migratory flows, adding that the only way to resolve this crisis is coordination with European countries to activate a naval blockade off the coast of Libya.
“The important point is to prevent the boats of migrants from moving and not to rescue and bring them to the ports of Italy or Europe,” she said.
Previously, Salveni declared that his country’s ports will remain closed to immigrants because of the situation in Libya.
On Saturday, Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Mohamed el-Taher Siala called on the African Union to support Libya in “solving the problem of African migrants by agreeing on mechanisms to achieve this goal, including convincing their countries to re-accept their nationals.”
The crisis of migrants continues to be one of the biggest obstacles faced by the Libyan authorities, with the number of migrants on their territory doubling and the number that reaches the European territory fewer than the actual migrants who left Libya.
This process threatens the safety of migrants and exacerbates the crisis in the country, which has been weakened by its political, military and economic crises.
Two airstrikes hit the Tajoura detention centre on the eastern outskirts of Tripoli on July 2, with at least 53 refugees, migrants killed, and 130 injured. Credible reports indicated that six children were amongst those killed, and GNA guards shot at the migrants following the air strike.
