Khalifa Haftar has sensitized the European Union to "put an end to the racist policy of the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini": this is what we read in a statement released during the night from the LNA Air Operations Room. The news is reported by the Italian news agency Nova.
Haftar militias deny any responsibility for the air raid that struck the Tajoura migrant detention center on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, causing at least 44 deaths and injured 130. The data was provided by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (Unsmil). Haftar placed the blame, however, on the Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al Sarraj. Last July XNUMXst, the Italian Minister of the Interior met Sarraj in Milan for a private interview. This visit would have given Haftar the pretext of accusing Salvini: "the main reason for the accumulation of migrants in the western region of Libya is caused by the pushbacks in the Mediterranean Sea" they put these migrants back into the hands of the same traffickers from whom they fled "in what it is defined as "a blatant violation of the basic rules of human rights and human values".
Minister Salvini, yesterday, had openly accused General Haftar of the Tajoura massacre. "I hope the international community will wake up. The responsibility lies with Haftar, it is a criminal act. I hope that there is no one left, and I do not mention the French, who for economic and commercial interest support someone who bombs civilian targets. If the international community does not intervene now, in support of a government legitimately recognized by the UN, I wonder what else to wait".
The international community itself, according to the LNA, should instead take action to "rescue illegal migrants from the grip of criminal militias in western Libya", who use human trafficking "to make profits with countries interested in the immigration dossier" . The government of a national agreement supported by the United Nations, adds the note, "continues to receive external aid under the pretext of combating illegal migration and fills the pockets of thieves and human traffickers". The detention centers would be “the same traffickers and militia leaders who profit from human trafficking, by land and by sea, under the name of combating illegal migration; they are the same people who subject these migrants to slavery and forced labor, "the LNA note continues.
The responsibility for the Tajoura air raid "falls fully on the Presidential Council," the statement reads. "We extend our deep condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. The unconstitutional presidential council, which has concluded wrong deals on the immigration issue, is fully responsible for the tragedy of illegal migrants herded into unsuitable shelters for human beings and run by murderers, criminals and traffickers. The Tajoura detention center "was never on the LNA's target list" and "no weapon was ever used to hit the facility," the statement added. "The Air Force Operations Room has a highly sophisticated database with the coordinates and locations of all shelters, detention centers and prisons placed on the list of prohibited sites under any circumstances, even if used by the enemy as sites for hostile operations. This is based on our belief that migrants are only hostages in the hands of these gangs; they are victims of despicable policies, like the rest of our people ”, the statement continues.
Haftar's army then accused the warplanes that departed "from Misrata or Mitiga airport" of bombing the Tajoura detention center. "The timing of the incident coincides exactly with the sorties of hostile planes that took off both from the Mitiga air base and from the Misurata Academy. These warplanes carried out at least one raid around the same time in the city of Tajoura. We do not know where the other sorties were made. All the evidence suggests that a large amount of ammunition exploded at the nearby Al Daman militia site, 15 minutes before the bombing of the center, ”the note continues.
Haftar forces have accused the UN support mission (Unsmil) in Libya of "prejudice"
The reference is to the allegations of extrajudicial killings of Haftar's wounded by forces affiliated with the Presidential Council in the hospital of Gharian, a Libyan city located 80 kilometers south of Tripoli recently recaptured by the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA): " "We condemn the Unsmil double standards policy, led by Ghassan Salamé, and his allegations that the raid was deliberately carried out by our forces. The Unsmil position is fully consistent with that of the unconstitutional presidential council, while it turns a blind eye to the Gharian massacre that Salamé considers 'an important development' for the militias of Skhirat (a town in Morocco where the Presidential Council was born in December 2015) in a statement released the day after the massacre".