Brussels - EU leaders meet Thursday to discuss possible military action against human traffickers in Libya in a desperate effort to halt the tidal wave of refugees trying to reach Europe by sea.
As Malta honoured the estimated 800 people who died in the Mediterranean's worst migrant disaster with a poignant inter-faith funeral service for 24 of them, a draft statement for the summit seen by AFP committed leaders to "undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers".
The wooden coffins of the 24 victims -- 20 men and four male teenagers -- were laid out on a red carpet in a tent outside the morgue at the Mater Dei hospital in Valletta and then carried away by Maltese soldiers for private burials.
Survivors, meanwhile, laid bare the full horror of last weekend's catastrophic shipwreck near Libya.
In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was, according to the draft statement, "invited to immediately begin preparations for a possible security and defence policy operation to this effect, in accordance with international law".
But even before the summit opened, the proposals drew criticism.
A "woefully inadequate and shameful response to the crisis", said Amnesty International while the UN rights and refugees high commissioners described them as a "minimalist" response.
European leaders have been accused of callous disregard for the lives of migrants after 800 were feared dead in Sunday's boat sinking, the worst disaster of its kind in the Mediterranean.
As preparations for the summit gathered pace, dozens of migrants in Brussels staged a protest near the venue, attaching pieces of paper with the names of people who had died onto barbed wire put up as a security measure.
"Esther Down, 9 months old, Nigeria, drowned," read one of the signs.
AFP
