The EU’s border agency has a duty to inform Libya’s coast guard about migrant boats, official says

BRUSSELS (AP) — Frontex chief Hans Leijtens says the European Union’s border and coast agency has a duty to inform the Libyan authorities about migrant boats in trouble the country’s waters and will continue to do so. Over the weekend, a German charity accused Libya’s coast guard of threatening its crew, including by firing live bullets, during a rescue. Frontex uses aircraft, drones and other equipment to monitor the EU’s outside borders. The agency provides the Libyan coast guard with the location of boats that it believes are in danger. Leijtens told AP Tuesday that Frontex is obliged by law to report such incidents, including to the Libyans. Not to do so, he says, would be “a gamble I will never take.”