Libya militias take EU funds for migrants

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — When the European Union started funnelling millions of euros into Libya to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the money came with EU promises to improve detention centres notorious for abuse and fight human trafficking.

That hasn’t happened. Instead, the misery of migrants in Libya has spawned a thriving and highly lucrative web of businesses funded in part by the EU and enabled by the United Nations, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The EU has sent more than 327.9 million euros to Libya, with an additional 41 million approved in early December, largely channelled through U.N. agencies.

The AP found that in a country without a functioning government, huge sums of European money have been diverted to intertwined networks of militiamen, traffickers and coast guard members who exploit migrants.

In some cases, UN officials knew militia networks were getting the money, according to internal emails.

The militias torture, extort and otherwise abuse migrants for ransoms in detention centres under the nose of the UN, often in compounds that receive millions in European money, the AP investigation showed.

Many migrants also simply disappear from detention centres, sold to traffickers or to other centres.

The same militias conspire with some members of Libyan coast guard units.

The coast guard gets training and equipment from Europe to keep migrants away from its shores.

But coast guard members return some migrants to the detention centres under deals with militias, the AP found, and receive bribes to let others pass en route to Europe.

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