Ban Ki-moon attacks EU plans for strikes on Libyan fishing boats

Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, is opposed to plans by the EU to mount military strikes against boats used by human traffickers in Libya - rebuffing a key plank of Brussels' new strategy to tackle the migration crisis.

"Destroying the boats is not the appropriate way, it's not the good way," Mr Ban told reporters in the Vatican after meeting Pope Francis.

Mr Ban, who spent part of Monday in the Mediterranean Sea on an Italian navy ship that has participated in migrant rescue operations, said there were smugglers who "of course" used the boats for "criminal activity". But he said targeting them could unintentionally harm Libyan fishermen in a country whose economy is already severely damaged.

"Fishing may be a very important source of earnings . . . if you destroy all these boats that could be used to transport migrants then you may end up affecting the general economic capacity of those people," Mr Ban added.

Mr Ban's criticism comes just as Federica Mogherini, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, heads to New York in the hope of gathering support for a UN mandate on which to build a new mission to attack the empty boats used by smugglers to carry migrants to Europe.

Though Mr Ban does not have the power to prevent the UN Security Council from approving such strikes, his opposition could complicate Ms Mogherini's effort by making it easier for members of the 15-country panel, especially permanent ones such as China and Russia, to put up resistance.

Proposals for a military operation in the Mediterranean were leapt on last week by European governments attempting to assuage criticism of their handling of the refugee crisis, which has caused as many as 1,600 deaths at sea this year as more than 20,000 people made the dangerous crossing. EU governments also agreed to triple the budget of Triton and Poseidon, its border control missions operating off the coasts of Italy, Greece and Malta.

The EU proposals to strike traffickers' vessels in Libya are based on Operation Atalanta, an EU-backed anti-piracy effort off the coast of Somalia.

But European diplomats have urged caution, arguing that a similar operation for Libya would be more difficult, both technically and diplomatically. They also warned that Operation Atalanta took years to become fully operational.

Mr Ban lauded the EU effort in Somalia, saying "I think it really helped" in reducing piracy. However, he added: "Military means may be effective in some cases but there is no alternative to a political solution."

If the EU cannot secure a UN mandate for its effort to strike migrants' boats, possibly using unmanned drones, it could turn to Libya itself for approval of such a mission to make it consistent with international law. But the North African country is in the midst of a civil war between an internationally recognised secular government in the eastern city of Tobruq and Islamist forces in the western region of Tripoli, where many of the migrants' boats are departing.

While the Tobruq-based government may give its consent, the Tripoli forces have already expressed their disapproval of any strike. So if the EU were to pursue that route it would amount to taking sides in the civil war, which could jeopardise UN-mediated peace talks between Tobruq and Tripoli that have been moving along - albeit slowly - in recent months.

Meanwhile, Italy has been mounting its own diplomatic push to secure international support for strikes on migrants boats. Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister who accompanied Mr Ban on the Navy ship on Monday along with Ms Mogherini, spoke by telephone with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, on Tuesday about the crisis in the Mediterranean and Libya.

The Italian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Mr Ban's remarks.

Though migration was high on the agenda of Mr Ban's visit to Italy - including his talks with Pope Francis - the UN chief was in the Vatican for a summit on climate change ahead of the release, as early as next month, of a much-awaited papal encyclical on the environment. The document is expected to call for aggressive action to combat climate change around the world.

"We have a profound responsibility to protect the fragile web of life on this earth," Mr Ban said. "That is why it is so important that the world's faith groups are clear on this issue - and in harmony with science."

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