The governments of Europe have been overwhelmed by the refugee crisis and the public has lost patience with its leaders. If urgent action is not taken, the very existence of the EU in is danger. Based on many years’ experience in military and civilian business, I have a solution that will restore stability to Libya and mitigate the crisis.
More than 100,000 people attempted to travel through Libya and into Europe from January to August of last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Since Muammer Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011, Libya has not regained the security of its borders. Migrants can travel unchecked to one of the most northerly points of Africa and take a short, if dangerous, boat trip to the perceived security of the EU.
The EU operates a combined border security force in European waters, aimed at saving lives at sea, as well as an EU-funded training programme for the Libyan coast guard and navy with the aim of creating a self-sufficient national force. These efforts and processing the refugees are costing the EU an estimated €35m a month.
These programmes fail to secure Europe’s borders and successful rescues at sea are creating a self-perpetuating cycle. More and more people think the journey is viable and are willing to take the risk. To stop the flow, we need to provide the government of Libya with the capacity to secure land borders and so prevent migrants from reaching the Mediterranean.
The terrain provides significant challenges with long, remote land borders (those with Algeria and Chad, to name two, are each about 1,000km) as well as mountain and desert terrains that are hard to access and provide concealment for anyone wishing to enter the country.
I believe, however, that by using five patrol bases that cover existing smuggling routes, security personnel could quickly establish base camps, alongside a new border force, and secure Libya’s borders. The border police would consist of mentors with a European law enforcement background, supported by locals trained in key basic skills during a 10-week course. Afterwards, mentors would be the skeleton structure of the unit providing key leadership, intelligence co-ordination, communications, medical and logistics expertise.
Libyans would be the body of the unit. All personnel would be armed and have agreed-upon rules of engagement and migrant detention and repatriation policy. Each base would have airborne surveillance and search and rescue as well as armed vehicle quick reaction forces. Air operations would be provided by third-party professional providers, as would medical evacuation services.
There would be nowhere for migrant smugglers to hide: they can be detected, detained and handled using a mixture of air and ground operations.
This type of security operation could be established quickly and efficiently, for less than the cost of the EU’s current operations, through a public-private partnership. This plan would also have a crippling effect on weapon and drug smuggling throughout the region.
The EU and its member states have to balance the scale of the tragedy of those trying to make their way to Europe by sea with the need for greater migration control. If governments also address the humanitarian side of the crisis with a comprehensive aid and development plan for Libya and the surrounding region, they could achieve real stability.
This approach requires a new way of thinking but it has a proven record. The border police I established in Afghanistan used a similar private-public partnership.
Border security, coupled with a wide-ranging redevelopment plan, is the only solution for Libya.
The writer, a former US Navy SEAL, is executive chairman of Frontier Services Group
