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28 March 2012
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Libya/Italy 
Machine
gun attack on Italian fishing boat by Libyan coast guards: what
happens during patrols against "illegal" immigration?
In the evening
of 12 September 2010, an Italian fishing boat with ten crew members
on board was fired at repeatedly with a machine gun during a
lengthy chase after it failed to stop when called upon to do
so by Libyan coast guards in international waters in the Gulf
of Sirte (off the Libyan coast). The Libyans were on board of
one of the six patrol boats that Italy gave the north African
country in application of the friendship, association and cooperation
agreement signed on 30 August 2008, to help it to fight "illegal"
migration towards Italy in the Mediterranean. The Italian government's
embarrassment over the incident was compounded by the fact that
six Italian Guardia di Finanza (GdF, the customs an excise police,
which has military status) officers were on board, as envisaged
by the treaty, carrying out observation and technical assistance
functions.
The captain's reconstruction
Gaspare Mutolo, the captain of the Ariete, a boat that is part
of the fishing fleet of Mazara del Vallo, in Sicily, claimed
that they were not fishing and were told to stop by the Libyan
coastguards but failed to do so because they were aware that
Italian fishing boats have been held captive in the past months
by Libyans seeking to enforce a unilateral expansion of their
territorial waters. Three boats from Mazara del Vallo were held
by the Libyans for three days before they were released following
the Italian government's intervention on 10 June 2010. The Ariete
has rescued immigrants who were in difficulty in the high seas
in the past, for example the 54 migrants that it saved in November
2007, earning its crew a UNHCR award. Mutolo explained that:
"They asked us to stop… but, knowing what awaited
us, I preferred to continue and pushed the engines to full power.
At this point, they opened fire, continuing to shoot with intervals
of a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes [for around three hours].
They followed us nearly into our territorial waters. It was only
at dawn, when we saw Lampedusa, that we felt safe".
The bullet holes in the command cabin, "50 between the two
bulkheads", are evidence that the shots were fired at human
height, and crew members noted that "they fired wildly.
It was just by chance that they didn't cause some gas canisters
that we had on deck to explode", and that "the Libyans
are reckless, because shooting at the height of the command cabin
indicates a willingness to kill". Mutolo, claimed that they
"had no right to stop us" as they were merely navigating
through the area. He felt that, as was later confirmed, there
were Italians on board because the man who asked them to stop
spoke in impeccable Italian and said "Stop, or they'll shoot
at you. Why would he say 'they'?" Marrone later noted that
the boat could not have been mistaken for a boat used to carry
migrants, because he had spoken to the Libyan captain by radio
informing him that they were Italians who were working, and the
Ariete is a boat that is 36-metres-long and has modern fishing
equipment on board.
Responses by the government and judiciary, findings and inconsistencies
Through the foreign affairs and interior ministers, respectively
Franco Frattini and Roberto Maroni, the Italian government attempted
to minimise what happened, by talking of "an accident",
stressing that Libya had "apologised" and adding that
"nothing has changed in relations between Italy and Libya",
although they recognised it was a "serious" incident
and that the rules for the use of the patrol boats may have to
be re-defined.
Maroni went further, by claiming that they may have mistaken
the boat for a vessel that was carrying migrants, while Frattini
appeared to justify the Libyans by claiming that the captain
of the Italian boat "knew that he was fishing illegally",
something that Gaspare Marrone denies, arguing that they were
not fishing, were subjected to an attack and are lucky that nobody
was injured. The basis for Frattini's claim may have been that
the agriculture, fishery and forestry ministry issued a circular
on 26 January 2009 in response to Libyan complaints, inviting
Italian fishing boats not to venture into Libyan fishing areas.
Frattini also stated that the Libyan captain "ordered to
fire warning shots in the air, but the vessel was hit".
Apart from the official apology, the version offered by the Libyan
authorities spoke of the need for checks against "illegal
fishing" and noted that they had launched an investigation
and the patrol boat's captain was suspended.
The Italian ministers stressed that giving Libya patrol boats
was already envisaged in agreements stipulated by the Prodi government
in 2007, which were developed and enacted by the friendship treaty
in 2008. However, the interior ministry stressed that the patrol
boats were provided to be used exclusively "for a specific
task: to counter illegal immigration", and Frattini explained
that "shooting is not part of the rules of engagement, neither
for fishermen nor for illegals".
The Agrigento prosecutor's office is investigating the case which
may involve charges of "aggravated attempted murder"
against unknown people and of "damaging a vessel" under
maritime law. The investigation included controls by the carabinieri
RIS (scientific investigations unit) on the bullet holes, the
vessel's "blue box" [the equivalent of the "black
box" used on aircraft] that includes a GPS tracking device
which reportedly confirmed that Ariete was 30 miles away from
the Libyan coast. It was also confirmed that six GdF officers
posted to Libya to assist the Libyan authorities in joint patrols
were on board, and that they were made to go below deck once
the shooting started. An interior ministry inquiry found that
they had acted in accordance with the Italy-Libya protocols,
as they are outside of Italy and do not have any operative powers,
as their function is observation and training. 22 GdF officers
and one official from the force are deployed in Libya, and bilateral
agreements detail that when they are on board they are in plainclothes
and cannot give any orders. There is a significant difference
between the account given by Marrone and the GdF report as to
the duration and intensity of the incident, as the former said
that both the chase and the period during which they were fired
at lasted for several hours.
In an interview in Repubblica newspaper on 15 September, one
of the GdF officers posted to Libya said that their role is to
teach the Libyans to use the patrol boats and that "the
Libyans certainly do not behave well towards us". He noted
that "what happened the other day is really incredible,
but unfortunately we are ordered to… board those vessels".
Their role is technical and "We cannot interfere for any
reason", while they are treated with arrogance by their
counterparts. He expressed his frustration, "especially
when … we must helplessly witness an attempt to board a
ship using weapons, our weapons, against defenceless fellow nationals".
He also spoke out against the refoulements of migrants, "one
of the most cruel services we carry out", noting that they
sometimes try to avoid carrying them out, but they are under
orders and need a "plausible reason" to do so.
Vincenzo Asaro, the boat's owner, said he was "dismayed"
by Frattini's allegations against the captain, adding: "Obviously
our foreign affairs minister prefers to defend Khadafi rather
than our boats that are machine-gunned without any reason…
My vessel was not fishing and, moreover, as satellite records
have also shown, it was in international waters. The Italian
government must have recognised the Libyan government's claim
to unilaterally extend its territorial waters up to 72 miles
[from the coast]". The GPS system on the boat indicated
that the boat was 30 miles away from the Libyan coast, while
international maritime rules set the limit of countries' territorial
waters at 12 miles, although there are longstanding Libyan claims
to the entire Gulf of Sirte, and it has lawfully established
a fishing protection zone that spreads out beyond its territorial
waters. In reference to Maroni's claims, Asaro asked: "Is
shooting at immigrants allowed? Is there a licence to kill?",
an issue that Laurens Jolles, the UNHCR envoy to Italy, also
tackled by stating that "I strongly hope that this does
not mean that it is lawful to shoot at migrants and refugees".
Precedents
For some time, Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo of Palermo University
and a member of ASGI (Associazione di Studi Giuridici
sull'Immigrazione) has warned of the misuse of the patrol boats
that Italy gave Libya for immigration controls against fishing
boats from the Mazara del Vallo fleet. In fact, while the media
and political debate is treating this incident as an intolerable
exception, Paleologo has been warning about the use of the patrol
boats given to Libya by Italy against Sicilian fishermen for
some time. When, on 10 June 2010, three Italian fishing vessels
from the Mazara del Vallo fleet (the Alibut, Mariner 10 and
Vincenza Giacalone) were intercepted, confiscated and led to
Tripoli harbour along with their crews using the patrol boats
from Italy in the area of the Gulf of Sirte that Libya unilaterally
considers its own, Paleologo wrote:
"Only a few days ago, in the same area, the Maltese and
Italian authorities allowed the Libyans to carry out their umpteenth
'hunt' against boats laden with migrants, and a group of Eritrean
refugees, with women and children on board, that had asked Italy
for asylum and to be rescued, was reached and escorted back to
the port from which it left".
He noted that the Italian navy's deployment in the Channel of
Sicily had retreated as of May 2009, and Libya had been granted
greater control over an area that it considers its own, with
fishing boats no longer enjoying protection from being held captive
in international waters. The wide remit that Libya enjoys to
intercept migrants in that stretch of sea, alongside the retreat
of Italian navy vessels, has meant that migrants' chances of
being rescued en route to Lampedusa or Malta have vanished. Moreover:
"This redeployment
of Italian military vessels has exposed fishing boats operating
in the Channel of Sicily to violent attacks, sometimes including
the firing of rounds with machine guns, that the Libyan patrol
boats have repeatedly carried out against defenceless people
(Italians and immigrants alike) who were working to support their
families".
He also listed a number of precedents, such as the interception
and holding of the Monastir and Tulipano on 22 July 2009; of
the Chiaraluna, which was held for five days on 4 March 2009;
of the Valeria I and the Vito Mangiaracina, which were released
upon payment of a heavy fine, or of the Luna Rossa, which was
chased, rammed and had machine gun rounds fired at it while it
escaped capture, in 2008.
In response to the latest incident, Paleologo recalls that both
the protocol signed between the former Italian interior minister
Giuliano Amato and the Libyan authorities on 29 December 2007,
and the subsequent "friendship treaty" of August 2008
and further secret agreements in February 2009, envisage "joint
maritime patrols" along the routes used by "illegal"
migrants that may operate in international waters to "catch"
migrants who have left the Libyan coast and take them back. In
reference to the chase and the firing of live ammunition, he
wanders "How many times the same script has been acted out
against boats laden with migrants without anybody getting to
know about it".
Sources:
ANSA 13, 15-16.9.10; Corriere della Sera 13-15.9.10; La Nuova
Sardegna, 14-16.9.10; La Stampa, 13.9.10; Libera Informazione,
17.9.10; Repubblica 13-15.9.10; "Quattro mosse per un'intesa
con Gheddafi", Natalino Ronzitti, Rivista di Affari Internazionali,
27.9.10
"Italia
- Libia: ancora sequestri in acque internazionali",
Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, 13.6.10
"Peschereccio
mitragliato. Pattugliamento congiunto e tentato omicidio?",
Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, 14.9.10.
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