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Libyan navy: some organizations thrawt coast guard's work

Xinhua, May 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Libyan Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces, the Coast Guard and the Port Security Authority held a press conference on Thursday at the headquarters of the Protocol Directorate at the Tripoli Maritime Base of Abu Sitta.

The conference was attended by the head of the Libyan-Italian Joint Committee for the fight against illegal immigration, Ali Al-Toumi, the head of the legal office of the Coast Guard, Abdul-Razaq Habarat, the second formation commander, Abu-Ajila Abdel-Bari, and the legal consultant of the coast guards, Mohamed Zariba.

"The objective of this conference is to clarify the role of the Libyan navy and the Coast Guard in fighting illegal immigration and to respond to some accusations by some European organizations to the Libyan Coast Guard in their reports," said Libyan navy and coast guards spokesman, Ayob Qassem.

"This conference also aims to respond to what the European media is discussing and to some diplomatic statements of some politicians, which make Libya a gathering area for immigrants in order to put pressure on it," said the spokesman.

"The most recent incident occurred with one of the organizations, Sea Watch, which tried to exploit it in a negative way, while it broke the Libyan sovereignty and did not respect the treatment of Libyan Coast Guard," Qassem added.

"These organizations are trying to thwart even the Coast Guard exercises on the grounds that they will obstruct their work. This is a clear indication that they do not really want to help the migrants," Ayoub said, noting that Libyan naval forces and coast guards, despite their limited capabilities, "will not give up Libyan sovereignty." Endit