European Union member states have no contact whatsoever with the Libyan authorities in charge of coastguard operations or internal security because the administration in Tripoli is not recognised internationally as the country’s legitimate government.

The result is that neither the EU nor individual European governments – Italy, the UK or any other – are allowed to cooperate or liaise with the bodies that are notionally dealing with the influx of migrants transiting Libya on their way to Europe, or with the people traffickers held responsible for so many deaths.



The EU, US and others recognise only the Libyan government, which is based in the eastern cities of Tobruk and al-Bayda. But most people-smuggling and coastguard patrols take place in the west of the country, towards the Tunisian border in areas controlled by the Islamist-dominated Libya Dawn coalition.



“We have nothing to do with the government in Tripoli, and the government in al-Bayda can do nothing about this issue,” one senior western diplomat told the Guardian. “Even if you said there was a phone number of someone I could ring in Tripoli to sort things out we wouldn’t do it because we don’t recognise them. We certainly wouldn’t offer help. No one is dealing with the government in Tripoli, even behind the scenes.”

Nearly all foreign embassies withdrew their staff from Tripoli last summer when the capital was taken over by the Libya Dawn coalition. Most are now based temporarily in Tunis or Malta. The recognised government, part of the so-called Dignity camp, insists that the takeover of Tripoli was an illegal coup d’etat.

In the past, EU bodies worked with local authorities in Misrata, Zawiya and Zuwara and other areas on or near the coast, but now have no presence on the ground. Between 2011 and 2014 €42.7m (£30.8m) was committed for assistance to people in need of international protection/stranded migrants, countering illegal/irregular migration and migration management.

The Libyan authorities decided in April 2014 to establish a migration committee, which could serve as the interlocutor for dialogue with the international community, but all possibilities for that disappeared with the outbreak of violence the following June.

“As there is no control over Libya’s borders, nor a functioning police force, it should be assumed that migration flows will only increase,” a report by the European Union external action service predicted last October.

The EU and US both support UN-led efforts to broker a ceasefire and create a broad national unity government. But consensus and compromise have been in short supply in a country where tribes and local interests matter hugely and national institutions are weak or non-existent – the legacy of 42 years of personalised dictatorship under Muammar Gaddafi. Talks in Morocco are “very close to a final agreement”, the UN envoy, Bernardino Leon said on Sunday.

The same barriers to cooperation over migrants and people-trafficking exist over the issue of terrorism in a country that is ruled by armed militias and where the jihadis of Islamic State are now playing an increasingly high-profile role.

“We’ve got to sort out the politics,” the diplomat said. “We are not going to be able to tackle drugs or migration or weapons smuggling until there is a Libyan government that we can at least work with.

“It is taking a long time. Everyone is frustrated and success is not guaranteed. When [a new government] comes to power it won’t be able to turn the migrants’ tap off. But you could at least start joint projects like working with the coastguard.”