Ministers in Italy have accused the EU of turning its back on them as the migrant crisis threatens to unravel “the social and democratic fabric” of the country — and Libyan leaders are warning of terrorists amongst those making the journey.
Asked if he felt Brussels had abandoned Italy to the crisis — triggered by the military intervention in Libya led by former U.S. President Barack Obama and former UK prime minister David Cameron, and exacerbated by Germany’s Angela Merkel extending an open invitation to Europe unilaterally — Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano said his answer was: “A very clear yes.”
Interior Minister Marco Minniti added that, “Ungoverned migrant flows are threatening the social and democratic fabric of Italy,” according to The Times.
More worryingly, the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli has warned that the migrants crossing Libya’s porous southern borders en route to Europe are largely unvetted and pose a security threat.
“When migrants reach Europe, they will move freely. If, God forbid, there are terrorist elements among the migrants, a result of any incident will affect all of the EU,” said Prime Minister Faiez Serraj.
Libya has already been linked to at least one of the year’s major terrorist attacks. Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena suicide bomber, was the son of Islamist refugee Ramadan Abedi, and flew out to join his father in his native country shortly before carrying out his attack.
Unlike the Donald Trump administration in the U.S., the Tory government in London will not consider banning travel to and from countries like Libya, which are unstable countries and known to be jihadist hotbeds.
British intelligence conceded that, “[The] Islamic State is skilfully exploiting the migrant crisis to smuggle terror cells from Syria into major European countries such as the UK” over a year and a half ago.
“Jihadists travel to Raqqa to meet up with [Islamic State] commanders, where they receive training and new passports. They then make their way back to Europe posing as migrants with new identities, making it virtually impossible for security officials to detect potential terrorists among those fleeing persecution.”
One of the loudest voices warning of the threat nearer the time was Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage, then advised by Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam.
Kassam reacted to Wednesday’s revelations with some personal recollections on his Facebook page of their joint efforts to raise the alarm, recalling how they “took a tiny little plane from Biggin Hill airport and flew to Strasbourg for the day … to give a speech warning about the impending migrant crisis and how it came about through neoconservative policies in Libya” during the General Election campaign in 2015.
“Still, no one listened, millions entered, and now the political establishment and their complicit friends in the press have blood on their hands,” Kassam reflected sombrely.
“I’m so sorry, to all those who have suffered and those who will suffer in the future. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. We tried so hard to warn everyone. I’m sorry we didn’t do a better job.”
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