- MADRID - The European Union yesterday launched its own
"navy" to patrol the southern shores of Europe and head off the
flotillas that ship illegal immigrants from North Africa.
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- The scheme, called Operation Ulysses, involves five
European nations, including Britain, which will contribute a customs cutter,
Seeke. The flotilla is viewed as the first step toward a common EU border
guard.
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- The quasi-military fleet is one of a host of measures
being sought by countries such as Spain and Italy, which have complained
of bearing the bulk of the costs of policing EU borders.
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- It is made up of naval vessels such as those belonging
to Spain's militarized Guardia Civil. Italy, France and Portugal have each
sent a vessel to join the fleet, each carrying about 30 sailors.
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- Altogether seven vessels will now be on patrol in
the Mediterranean with the aim of stopping the wave of mafia-operated boats
that ply the coasts.
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- The European Union says it is also seeking to reduce
the death toll of immigrants, up to 10,000 of whom have died making the
crossing in the past decade.
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- "We are surely seeing the birth of a common police
force for the European Union to protect our borders. If we have enough
success and co-ordination, this can be the base, the pillar of a future
border police," said Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes.
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- Operation Ulysses is based in Algeciras, on the
Strait of Gibraltar, just a few miles from the coast of Africa.
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- In two weeks, the vessels will also operate on the
Atlantic seaboard, as in recent years the main route for sub-Saharan Africans
wanting to enter Europe has shifted to Spain's Canary Islands, off the
northwest coast of the western Sahara.
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- The patrols will form a "rectangular filter"
of 6 nautical miles wide and up to 84 miles long depending on the number
of vessels involved at any one time. Any boat within that rectangle can
be detected.
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- The scheme will complement the EU-funded cordon
of security towers that are being erected along Spain's coast.
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- A spokesman for Britain's Customs and Excise Department
said the British cutter Seeke had a crew of 12 and would be based in Algeciras,
from where it will first set off on a return voyage to Palermo, skirting
the coast of Africa. The crew will be mainly involved in "observation
and reporting."
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- The Strait of Gibraltar will now be one of the world's
most closely watched stretches of water. In recent weeks, NATO countries
such as Britain and the United States have stepped up security measures
in response to a warning of an al Qaeda attack on shipping.
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- Six al Qaeda suspects are on trial in Morocco on
charges of planning to blow up U.S. and British shipping in the strait.
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- Britain has recently deployed two fast-patrol vessels
to Gibraltar, where it is stepping up preparations to supply and fuel naval
vessels heading to the Persian Gulf region.
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