The Libyan Internal Security Agency (ISA) announced the arrest of “a number of collaborators with an Italian organisation seeking to settle immigrants in southern Libya.”
The agency said in a statement that “Ara Pacis” is “carrying out agricultural projects in the south, but it is secretly seeking to settle immigrants.”
The necessary legal measures were taken against the accused, who were referred to the Attorney General’s office.
“The Head of the NGO has strong ties within Libya, and she was given the green light to implement a foggy project to be the first line to prevent the flow of migrants to Europe,” the statement said.
Last week, The Head of Libya’s Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency, Colonel Mohamed Al-Khawja confirmed that the possibility of settling illegal immigrants in Libya is “categorically rejected.”
Al-Khawja held a meeting with officials from African countries, to reach solutions on the issue of migrants. He noted that this rejection is “primarily popular and from all Libyan components.”
He stressed that “Libya will not be the alternative homeland for the people of the region who suffer from a difficult economic situation, and that countries should find job solutions to stop the migration of their citizens. Libya has actually started the procedures for deporting immigrants who entered the country illegally… The Libyan labour market can no longer absorb this large number of immigrants.”
Notably, Libya’s former Representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Al-Dabbashi denounced what he called Italy’s attempts at settling immigrants in Libya.
Al-Dabbashi claimed that an Italian NGO is behind the settlement project. He stated that “it is an executive arm of the project funded by the Italian Immigration Fund through the Department of Italians Abroad and Immigration Policies of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Al-Dabbashi stressed that “this project is an Italian governmental project, and that the organisation has an executive role only. This framework cannot deviate from the responsibility of the Italian government, as well as the responsibility of the Libyan government.”
He added that the information published on the organisation’s website says that the agricultural project targets the regions of Sebha, Murzuq, and Ghat, and will be supervised by a re-established centre called the Peace Centre in Sebha.
The two-year project will cost around €5 million euros. According to Al-Dabbashi its “hidden main goal is to integrate immigrants into the indigenous people in Libya.”