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             EU Launches Navy Operation Against Migrant Traffickers

   by Associated Press

   The European Union launched a naval operation Monday to try to stop
   human traffickers bringing migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe
   in unseaworthy boats.

   More than 100,000 migrants have entered Europe so far this year, with
   some 2,000 dead or missing during their perilous quest to reach the
   continent. Dozens of boats are launched from lawless Libya each week,
   with Italy and Greece bearing the brunt of the surge.

   The naval operation, which was officially launched by EU foreign
   ministers meeting in Luxembourg, will operate in international waters
   and airspace until the EU can secure a U.N. Security Council resolution
   endorsing its effort and permission from the Libyan authorities to
   enter their territory.

   "We will start implementing the first phase of the operation in the
   coming days. This covers information-gathering and patrolling on the
   high seas to support the detection and monitoring of smuggling
   networks,'' the EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, told
   reporters.

   "The targets are not the migrants. The targets are those that are
   making money on their lives and too often on their deaths," she said.

   The EU aims to "dismantle the business model" of the traffickers by
   destroying their boats. But the U.N. has been slow to endorse the
   operation amid criticism from refugee groups that the move will only
   deprive migrants fleeing poverty and conflict of a major way to escape,
   rather than address the roots of the problem.

   Libya's divided factions have also been reluctant to approve any
   operation in its waters or on land, which means that the transition to
   more robust phases of the naval mission could take months.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ap-eu-launches-navy-operation-against
   -migrant-traffickers/2832071.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ap-eu-launches-navy-operation-against-migrant-traffickers/2832071.html