German minister calls for 'rescue mission' for migrant camps in Libya

A German government minister has called for an “international rescue mission” for migrants trapped in detention camps in Libya following an air strike which killed at least 53.

“The people in these wretched camps have the prospect of dying there from violence or hunger, trying to get home and dying of thirst in the desert, or drowning in the Mediterranean,” Gerd Müller, the German development minister, said.

“We need a joint humanitarian initiative by Europe and the United Nations to rescue migrants on Libyan soil,” he told Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. “The new EU Commission must act immediately. We can not wait a day longer.”

At least 53 people were killed and 130 injured in an air strike on a migrant detention camp in the Libyan capital Tripoli last week. Most of the victims were believed to be sub-Saharan Africans trying to reach Europe.

The attack, condemned as a possible war crime by the UN, is widely thought to have been carried out by rebel forces led by Gen Khalifa Haftar, though the Libyan government has accused the United Arab Emirates of responsibility.

Mr Müller offered no details of what an international  rescue mission would entail.  He warned that climate change was exacerbating the migrant crisis and could lead to millions more Africans seeking to reach Europe.

“Millions of people in the region are threatened because droughts are increasing,” he said. “If global warming continues unchecked, many millions of people worldwide could lose their homes by 2050.”

His remarks come against a backdrop of tensions between Germany and Italy over the fate of migrants rescued from drowning while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

Italy has refused to allow rescue ships to dock even after other EU countries said they would take the migrants on board.

“Do we want to look the other way and let the Mediterranean to become the sea of death?” Mr Müller said.

Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister, called for the ban to be lifted in a personal letter to his Italian counterpart last week.

But Matteo Salvini, the Italian interior minister, has refused to budge. “We demand that Merkel's government revoke the German flag from ships that help people traffickers and smugglers, and repatriate its citizens who disobey Italian law,” he responded on Twitter.

An Italian-flagged rescue ship became the second vessel to defy the ban and land without permission on the Italian island of Lampedusa at the weekend. The NGO operating the ship said the lives of those on board were in danger.

Carola Rackete, the German captain of another vessel, is already facing prosecution and possible deportation from Italy for ignoring the ban.