Libya militias rake in millions in European migration funds: AP

When the European Union started funnelling millions of euros into Libya to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the money came with EU promises to improve detention centres notorious for abuse and fight human trafficking. “Libyan authorities have to provide the detained refugees and migrants with adequate and quality food while ensuring that conditions in detention centres uphold international agreed standards,” the statement said. Skimming profits Beyond the direct abuse of migrants, the militia network also profits by siphoning money from EU funds sent for their food and security – even those earmarked for a UN-run migrant centre, according to more than a dozen officials and aid workers in Libya and Tunisia, as well as internal UN emails and meeting minutes seen by The Associated Press. Even as the contracts for the UN centre were negotiated, Libyan officials said, three Libyan government agencies, including the prosecutor’s office, were investigating al-Khoja in connection with the disappearance of $570 million from government spending allocated to feed migrants in detention centres in the west. At a detention centre in Sabaa where migrants are already going hungry, they were forced to build yet another wing funded by the Italian government, said Lamloum, the Libyan aid worker.