EU addresses Libyan arms embargo

EU states have agreed to launch a new military mission off the Libyan coast to enforce a shaky UN arms embargo. The 27 governments still have to draft a legal text for the mission, after agreeing to it in principle in Brussels. ‘The main objective is the arms embargo,’ said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. BBC News reports that the UN-recognised government in Tripoli is under attack from the forces of General Khalifa Haftar, which control most of eastern and southern Libya. The EU's new naval and air mission is to operate in the eastern Mediterranean, away from the migrant-smuggling routes from Libya which have caused bitter divisions in the EU. Under international law, EU ships – whether military or civilian – are obliged to rescue people in distress at sea.