The people smuggling capital of the world cries out for Europe’s help | World | News

Tobruk has become the main route for immigrants who want to cross from Africa to Europe. The port city on Libya’s Mediterranean coast is packed with young men from North Africa seeking to escape war-torn countries and crippling poverty.

Many barely survive on the streets of the city, waiting for a call from smugglers to board small boats heading towards the Mediterranean. The refugees include people from Sudan, a country in the grip of a brutal civil war in which thousands have been massacred by angry militias. Immigrants far outnumber the local population of this coastal city, creating serious problems for the authorities.

“They all want to cross the sea to Europe,” said Abdul Salam Buker, Commander of the Anti-Illegal Immigration Unit. Sky News.

The commander said he sympathized with the refugees, saying Libyans had their own terrible experience of civil war.

“I have great sympathy for those trying to escape the war,” he said. “We Libyans have experienced war. We know what it is like. But they do not want to stay in Libya. They want to go to Europe.”

His heavily armed men sit patiently in pickup trucks to extract information from informants before taking action.

Migrants often have only a few minutes to avoid boarding rubber boats and sailing to Europe.

Smugglers have been known to lock their passengers in empty farm buildings until a safe window for passage can be opened.

Officials in eastern Libya say the EU should help fund its forces to protect the coastline and stem the tide of refugees.

This should include agreements, financial and technical assistance, and formal political recognition, just like that provided to its rivals in the west of the country.

General Salah al Khifify, head of the Eastern Libya Department to Combat Illegal Immigration, told Sky News: “This is Europe’s problem, but we are the ones who have to deal with it. We can’t do it all on our own.”