Smuggling of Migrants: a Military Problem

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
27/08/20

The Ordinance issued in recent days by the Sicily Region, regarding the evacuation of the island's hotspots, once again raises the problem of migrant smuggling among public opinion.

The issue of illegal migration is seen as a non-problem by certain political groups, so the military response would not be applicable at all; while other sides see it as one of the main problems of the country but, apart from hypothetical closures of ports and naval blockades, the modality of which is never specified, there is no idea how to deal with the emergency in an appropriate way.

As already expressed in other articles, according to the point of view of Online Defense, the issue of migrant smuggling should be addressed in military terms.

This does not mean that it would be sufficient to deploy the Navy at the limits of national waters and reject any small boats, loaded with migrants, coming from Tripolitania and heading towards our coasts. Any military intervention should be much more articulated and complex, including a naval interdiction strategy, using aerial patrol boats and drones as well as submarines.

A fundamental part of such an operation would be constituted by theground intervention, in Libyan territory (and thus clash with the Turks), special forces, for the purpose of eliminate the gangs that deal with the smuggling of migrants. This type of land intervention was part of the 4 phase of Operation EUNAVFOR (also called Operation SOPHIA), which was aborted this year and then replaced with Operation IRINI.

However, this part of the operation would concern only the northern front, it would also be necessary to deal with the southern area of ​​Libya, i.e. the Fezzan region which borders on Niger, forming a sort of bottleneck.

For years now, through that passage, the traffickers' columns have transported migrants from the sub-Saharan regions to the coast. An Italian contingent is already present in Niger but used for logistical and training tasks of local forces. Instead we need a device with aircraft departments able to intervene quickly to hit the traffickers' columns.

Obviously such an operation, in order to be launched, should receive the support of the majority of political forces and public opinion, as well as make use of the collaboration of the European Union. In the current political situation, such support, unfortunately it is absolutely not conceivable.

Photo: US Air Force