Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/517560
4 MATTHEW VELLA THE European Union's military plan for attacks on people smug- glers' boats in the Mediterranean may involve a presence inside Libya that also includes attacks on Islamic State units. Wikileaks on Monday released two classified EU documents, outlining the planned military intervention against boats travel- ling from Libya to Italy. The more significant of the two documents was written by the combined military defence chiefs of the EU member states. The plan was formally approved by representatives from all 28 coun- tries on 18 May, 2015. One of the most glaring revela- tions is that one of the documents acknowledges that "the political End State [of the military inter- vention] is not clearly defined" and recommends that the Euro- pean Commission issue further guidance. The Maltese government did not reply to MaltaToday's questions on the confidential documents by the time of going to print. The plan reveals that Maltese and Italian personnel are cred- ited, together with the EU's anti- piracy mission off Somalia, with having provided support for plan- ning the complex operation. The EU military command says in its plan that there was no clearly defined 'end state', and that more political guidance was required. However, it said there were guidelines that would allow the command of the military action to develop the "military objec- tives and the military end state". The military command said that the indicative military end state was the significant reduction of "the f low of migrants and smug- glers' activities". "The End State for Phase One should be a sufficient under- standing of the migrants' smug- gling and trafficking business models, financing, routes, places of embarkation, capabilities and identities, such that interdiction operations can commence with the maximum probability of suc- cess and the minimum risk." The documents lay out a mili- tary operation against cross- Mediterranean refugee transport networks and infrastructure. It details plans to conduct mili- tary operations to destroy boats used for transporting migrants and refugees in Libyan territory, preventing them from reaching Europe. The EU member states' military chiefs' advice was that there is a need to "[draw] on the full range of surveillance, intelligence and information capabilities avail- able to MS [member states] and Partners, and supported by Brus- sels." maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2015 News Leaked EU military plan suggests Libyan business given red MIRIAM DALLI HUMAN rights NGO aditus has expressed frustration at a po- litical decision that, it said, "una- shamedly ridicules the desperate plight of refugees losing their lives at sea". The NGO was reacting to news that the government has agreed to a Chamber of Commerce pro- posal enabling Libyan business- men to come to Malta thanks to a 90-day visa. The visa would be just for Malta and will not cover Schengen countries. 'Malta's migration politics has reached a new level of irony that unashamedly ridicules the des- perate plight of refugees losing their lives at sea," aditus said. "The recent news that Libyan business representatives will be granted temporary visas to come to Malta to conduct business flies in the face of EU-wide calls for safe and legal access to protec- tion for refugees." Aditus said that, together with Malta's Individual Investor Pro- gramme, this was yet another message that Malta was choos- ing to send to the world: "If you are a rich migrant, the red carpet will be rolled out, whilst if you're a refugee it's either Italy or deten- tion." Aditus said that in principle it didn't have any objections to this scheme because of its clear eco- nomic advantages for the Maltese