The Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Communication Walid al-Lafi wrote two opinion pieces about tackling migration in western media outlets this week, stressing the need for Europeans to work with the GNU.
In a letter to The Guardian on 24 July, al-Lafi commented on German ambitions to join the recent UK-France migrant returns agreement, saying ‘any proposal that fails to support the GNU in tackling the criminal networks that drive people- smuggling into Europe through Libya – including the Anglo-French “one in, one out” scheme, and German participation – is missing a chance to deliver significant change.’
In a longer piece for EuroNews, al-Lafi stressed that ‘Irregular migration is a symptom — not the disease.’ Al-Lafi argues that, ‘The deeper problem lies a fragmented European foreign policy, the erosion of state sovereignty in transit countries, and the pervasive influence of malign non-state actors in eastern Libya, led by the renegade General Haftar and his international backers — foremost among them Russia — who malevolently weaponise irregular migration to strong-arm European decision-makers on a range of critical issues, including the recognition of Haftar’s secessionist regime based in Benghazi.’ He warned that in Libya, ‘irregular migration has not only become a source of illicit income for criminal networks — but it is also a strategic tool used by the authorities in the Haftar-controlled east to exert influence, extract concessions, or disrupt the European agenda.’