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DEVELOPING STORY: Council of the European Union: Press Release: Council establishes EU naval operation to disrupt human smugglers in the Mediterranean
18 May 2015
See the full text:
Council establishes EU naval operation to disrupt human smugglers in the Mediterranean (pdf) See:
Mediterranean migrants crisis: Is military force the solution? (BBC News, link) and:
EU to launch Mediterranean naval mission to tackle migrant crisis (Guardian, link):
"The mission’s rules of engagement have still to be thrashed out and one diplomat described the deployment of such forces as “the next step in terms of operational details”. The level of collateral damage considered acceptable would also be discussed after the mission was up and running, he said." [emphasis added]
EU RESPONSE TO MED CRISIS: BOARDING AND DESTROYING BOATS-"BOOTS ON THE GROUND"- "COLLATERAL" EFFECTS? Today EU Defence and Foreign Affairs Council is meeting in Brussels - on Tuesday there will be a meeting of EU Defence Chiefs (with NATO in attendance). The EU is still waiting for UN approval of its Libya plan, which being drafted by the UK to legitimate EU military operations in Libyan waters and coast. See:
Remarks by HR/Vice-President at the start of the meeting (Council press release, pdf)
UK to offer drones to help combat people-smugglers in Libya - Britain set to take leading role in Mediterranean military operation by supplying intelligence in response to migrant boat crisis (Guardian, link),
Nato 'ready to help' EU anti-migrant smuggler operation (euobserver, link) and
EU: boat-sinking Yes, migrant quotas No (euobserver, link)
Among the responses will be the report to
the Political and Security Committee of the Council last Tuesday (12 May 2015) which includes:
"Non-compliant boarding operations against smugglers in the presence of migrants has a high risk of collateral damage including the loss of life [page 8] ...Collateral effects of EU kinetic actions will need to be avoided but the risk remains. Any casualties as a result of EU action could trigger a negative response from the local population and the wider region, jeopardising support and follow-up." [page 16]
"The operation would require a broad range of air, maritime and land capabilities. These could include:
- Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance;
- Boarding teams;
- Patrol units (air and maritime);
- Amphibious assets;
- Destruction air, land and sea, including Special Forces units" [p18, emphasis added]