25 Integrated Border Management Assistance
Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya)
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| Draft Council Decision on the European Union Integrated Border Management Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya)
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| Legal base | Articles 28, 42(4) and 43(2) TEU; unanimity
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| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 13 May 2013
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 83-i (2013-14), chapter 10 (8 May 2013)
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| Discussion in Council | 21 May 2013
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
25.1 This draft Council decision will establish an EU civilian
CSDP Mission for Libya. The budget for the first year
of the mission is €30,300,000. The mission's mandate will
be for 24 months and will consist of up to 165 people (at full
operational capability). The Mission personnel will consist of:
Head of Mission 1
Seconded staff 83
International staff 27
Locally-recruited staff 54
25.2 The aim is to support the Libyan authorities to develop
capacity for enhancing the security of their borders in the short
term and a broader Integrated Border Management (IBM) strategy
in the longer term. The mission will: support Libyan authorities,
through training and mentoring, in strengthening the border services
in accordance with international standards and best practices;
advise the Libyan authorities on the development of a Libyan national
IBM strategy; and support the Libyan authorities in strengthening
their institutional operational capabilities.
25.3 The full details are set out in our previous
Report, on the basis of a full and helpful EM and a letter from
the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington) that, as he notes,
was the latest in a series in which he kept us up to date with
the planning of this mission. The Minister explained the rationale
and timing persuasively, and clarified why it was now to be substantially
larger than the mission of 70 that he envisaged earlier this year.
British officials have "been interrogating this number and
have insisted on line-by-line examination of the budget proposed":
he was now satisfied that the mission's strength was justified
— much of the increase resulting from the fact that reliable
security cannot be obtained locally in Libya.
Our assessment
25.4 We
noted that, though the new Libyan government was now said to be
committed to this mission at the highest level, there were still
doubts about what the Minister termed "Libyan operational
buy-in"; that he had secured a commitment for a report on
this matter before the launch of the mission, which we understood
would be produced by the prospective head of the mission and his
core team, who were in Libya for this purpose; and that it would
be presented before 1 June (the planned deployment date).
25.5 This was to be a major mission, which will
cost €30 million in the first year alone. It had plainly
been very difficult to reach this point, with serious concerns
over top-level commitment, security and capacity to work with
the local UN mission. We did not doubt the Minister's judgement
thus far. But we felt that we could not clear this Council Decision
while there was still a major uncertainty about the local administration's
capacity to provide the raw material for the mission — especially
as such local difficulties had hampered the EU CSDP mission in
the Sahel. We wondered if such doubts arose now because "the
right individuals" were not likely to be tempted to abandon
their present successful but potentially illegal career in border
management; or because the right individuals might well be reluctant
to engage with EU training for fear that those who were currently
controlling the borders would not tolerate their being trained
to put them out of business? If neither of these, then what
was the basis of the doubts at this juncture that required a further
report?
25.6 We asked the Minister to write to us before
15 May with his comments and with further information about the
head of mission, what his emerging findings were by then and what
he is likely to recommend.
25.7 In the meantime, we retained the Council
Decision under scrutiny.[94]
The Minister's letter of 13 May 2013
25.8 The Minister begins his extensive response
by repeating his confidence in the Libyan government's strong
commitment to the mission at a political level.
25.9 He then says that the assessment among international
experts working on border security in Libya is that many local
people would be willing and able to undergo training. The semi-defunct
border services had large numbers of staff. As a recently passed
law may lead to the purging of some senior and experienced leadership
from the Armed Forces and Government, EUBAM intends to concentrate
on training the middle management level staff who are likely to
remain in place, which will give continuity and self-sustainability.
An assessment process by the local authorities, under the supervision
of the Libyan Prime Minister's Office and with whom EUBAM are
co-ordinating closely, should establish who the reliable staff
are and guide the training process.
25.10 Against this background, the Minister says,
EUBAM is taking a step by step approach, whereby staff will only
be deployed under the right circumstances, when their work can
be useful and effective: continual analysis of the absorption
capacity of the local authorities will enable the mission to adapt
accordingly. As soon as conditions permit, there will be field
visits to the south and south-west to assess the situation on
the ground. Proper security measures will be employed. There
will also be close cooperation with the UN Support Mission
to Libya (UNSMIL) to work with the local communities living near
the border.
25.11 The Minister then illustrates why he is
confident that Libyan support for the mission at the operational
level — "that is take-up for the services that the
mission is designed to provide" — will be good. Their
enthusiastic engagement is, the Minister says, an encouraging
sign that the training services offered by EUBAM will be in high
demand. A recent Border Security and Management workshop (co-organised
by UNSMIL with the Libyan Ministries of Defence and the Interior
attended by a wide range of Libyan border security and management
staff, including Libyan Border Guard colonels from the South where
Libya's borders are most vulnerable, EUBAM's future Head of Mission
and representatives from foreign embassies) agreed that what needed
to be addressed urgently was education for and training of the
different organisations that guard Libya's borders, and that this
needed to take place alongside projects that offer economic development
to the communities on Libya's borders, particularly in the southern
region, reducing the "need" to smuggle to survive.
EUBAM will take over coordination of international support for
the comprehensive action plan formulated following the workshop
as well as contribute to the training programme foreseen within
it — thus highlighting that EUBAM will fit well into the
existing structures for supporting work in this area, including
the local UN mission. Relations and co-ordination between EUBAM
and the UN have been very good since the Core Team arrived: respective
roles have been agreed and joint meetings between UNSMIL, the
EUBAM Core Team and the local Libyan authorities are taking place.
The Minister's assessment is that coordination and the sharing
of information and expertise is working well.
25.12 The mission itself, the Minister says,
will include advisers who will focus specifically on building
capacity at operational level including, assisting the Libyan
Ministry of Defence to assess their training requirements and
coordinating contributions from international partners on the
ground to help address these training needs. EUBAM Mission advisers,
once deployed, will also take forward the work of UNSMIL as well
as that of the UK Border Security Adviser based at the British
Embassy Tripoli, who is currently assisting the Border Guards
in developing a new pilot battalion organisation. The model they
develop will then be rolled out across the force and form the
basis for EUBAM training programmes.
25.13 In addition, discussion is already underway
between the EUBAM Core Team, the EU in Brussels and Libya's international
partners (including the UN and US) on plans, and funding, for
development work to provide alternative income sources for those
individuals and communities that have traditionally relied upon
the revenue from smuggling routes. This will need to be co-ordinated
carefully. The immediate priority is to identify these communities
and their needs. Another, additional option is to recruit local
people into border management organisations. There will need
to be complementary information campaigns and enforcement action
to counteract smuggling activities, with advice provided to those
who might be affected by threats from smugglers.
25.14 In the immediate future, the Minister says
that the report from the Core Team to the EU's Political and Security
Committee will provide an updated assessment, prior to mission
launch, on the current security situation and support for the
mission from the Libyan authorities at the operational level.
The Minister wants this report to show that the Core Team currently
in Tripoli are treating support at the operational level as a
priority, that they are addressing this in their planning and
that when the mission is rolled-out, it will be done so in tandem
with support from the relevant Libyan authorities: "The reports
from our officials in Tripoli show that progress is already being
made."
25.15 Finally, the Minister explains that Mr
Antti Hartikainen, who will be the Head of Mission for EUBAM Libya
when deployed, was previously Director General of the Customs
Service in Finland, and is an expert on international border security
: previously a Colonel in the Finnish Border Guard and holder
of a number of EU roles — including Integrated Border management
Advisor to Armenia and Deputy Head of Mission for EUBAM Moldova
— and with extensive experience of international border
security cooperation, civilian crisis management and customs operations.
Having operated in senior roles in challenging environments,
where a wide range of international actors have been present,
the Minister says that Mr Hartikainen has the right skills and
experience to successfully lead EUBAM Libya to deliver real benefit
to the Libyan Government and people, as well as ensuring that
the EU's work complements that of the UN and other international
partners.
Conclusion
25.16 We are grateful to the Minister for
his comprehensive response, which answers all our questions.
In a year's time, when the next budget is put forward, we trust
that the Minister will look back at the points that he has highlighted,
and report on how matters have worked out in practice.
25.17 In the meantime, we now clear the Council
Decision.
94 See headnote: HC 83-i (2013-14), chapter 10 (8
May 2013). Back
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