Harchaoui: Irini Was Not Set Up for Monitoring Alone — It Was Meant to Intercept Violating Ships and Seize Arms
LIBYA – Jalal Harchaoui, a researcher specialising in Libyan affairs, said Operation Irini was not created merely for monitoring and surveillance; under its mandate issued in March 2020, it was supposed to carry out actual interceptions of vessels suspected of violating the embargo and to announce the results of those operations to the public.
Citing the UN Panel of Experts Report
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Harchaoui based his remarks on the latest report by the United Nations Panel of Experts, which, in his assessment, criticised Irini for failing to intercept vessels violating the arms embargo and for failing to seize the weapons and military equipment found on board.
‘European Hesitation in Confronting the Main Factions’
Harchaoui said he believed this reflected “European hesitation in confronting the main Libyan factions, which now enjoy wide security and military influence”.
Questions Over the Nature of Shared Information
Harchaoui currently places the operation in a different framework, saying it “has come to operate as an EU-only operation”, despite affirming that it shares information with the United Nations and the Panel of Experts.
He noted that the content of that information, its accuracy and level of detail, and its ability to support specific sanctions remain, according to the researcher, “unclear”.
