Operation Irini, the European Union (EU) Mediterranean Sea task force keeping a weather eye – and more – on breaches of the United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya, has had its mandate extended to 31 March 2027.
Irini, Greek for peace, marked its fourth year of operations last November racking up an impressive achievements list starting with 650 plus “friendly approaches”, 30 boardings to inspect documents and cargo of suspicious ships as well as over 16 500 hailings of merchant vessels – just on three a day.
The extension decision announced on 11 March by the EU Council was taken on the strength of a positive outcome of a European External Action Service (EEAS) and a Political and Security Committee (PSC) strategic review. EU NavFor MED Irini, as the operation is also known, is a military maritime security operation deployed under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as a part of the EU integrated approach to crisis management.
“The core task of the Operation remains implementation of the arms embargo imposed on Libya by UN Security Council though resolutions 1970 (2011), 2292 (2016) and subsequent ones,” a statement reads adding “Irini will continue to support the peace process in Libya”.
This does and will take the form of what is termed CIAT (counter illegal arms trafficking), conducted by inspection of suspicious vessels, monitoring of illegal behaviour and collection and exploitation of information, all while maintaining what is called “a significant deterrent effect in the area of operation”.
Secondary tasks include monitoring and gathering information on oil smuggling (GIOS), contributing to disruption of the human smuggling business model (HSBM) and providing capacity building and training (CBT) initiatives to relevant Libyan institutions responsible for law enforcement and for search and rescue (SAR) at sea.
The Irini extension comes with an additional task – improving maritime security awareness in the southern Mediterranean. Execution will be by way of counteracting potentially illegal activities and gathering information useful for protecting critical maritime infrastructure as well as contingency planning. The new task, in line with the EU Strategic Compass, aims to enhance Operation Irini capacity to collect and share information, foster co-operation and contribute to safeguarding EU interests in the Mediterranean.
