Zuwarah, Libya--In their struggle to cope with the surge in illegal migrants bound for Europe, the coastguard in the Libyan port of Zuwarah have just one boat, and even that often breaks down.
Situated 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the Tunisian border, Zuwarah also is the Libyan port nearest to European soil -- the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa.
"We have only one boat left over from the old regime, which often breaks down, to monitor the entire coastline of Zuwarah," said Anwar al-Atushi, who heads the area's coastguard.
"Only 15 coastguards work, with their own means, to rescue migrants at sea and bring them to port before handing them over to the security services," the official added.
The coastguards' boat, which can only carry 10 people, is moored in the harbour next to fishing trawlers.
"When the number of migrants is high, we ask permission from the owners of the fishing boats to use them."
As elsewhere along Libya's 1,770-kilometre coastline, the flow of illegal migrants from Zuwarah has skyrocketed amid the turmoil in Libya as two rival governments and a mishmash of militias vie for power.
These shores are less than 300 kilometres from Lampedusa, which now shelters thousands of migrants who have fled conflicts in Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to reach Europe.
The government in Tripoli, which is not recognised by the international community, has launched a public relations campaign to show it needs outside help to handle the influx of would-be migrants.
It has taken journalists on tours of detention centres that it says house 7,000 people stopped as they prepared to set sail across the Mediterranean.
AFP
