ROME: An Italian prosecutor claims charity boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean are in direct contact with people traffickers in Libya, reigniting a bitter row over what the aid groups defend as vital, life-saving operations.
In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa, Sicily-based prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro made his most specific claims yet over NGO activities off Libya, which the EU border agency Frontex recently described as tantamout to providing a “taxi” service to Europe.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the rescue effort include long-established groups such as Doctors without Borders and Save the Children, and smaller, newer operations such as the Malta-based MOAS.
They have all dismissed suggestions of de facto collusion with traffickers as a baseless slur on volunteer crews whose only mission is to save lives in the absence of EU governments acting effectively to do so.
Over 1,000 migrants are feared to have died in waters between Libya and Italy so far this year, according to the UN refugee agency. Nearly 37,000 have been rescued and brought to Italy.
“We have evidence that there are direct contacts between certain NGOs and people traffickers in Libya,” Zuccaro was quoted as saying by La Stampa.
“We do not yet know if and how we could use this evidence in court, but we are quite certain about what we say; telephone calls from Libya to certain NGOs, lamps that illuminate the route to these organizations’ boats, boats that suddenly turn off their (locating) transponders, are ascertained facts.”
Zuccaro is the head of a five-strong pool of prosecutors in charge of investigating all the legal aspects of the migrant crisis, from trafficking to illegal exploitation of migrant labor on Italian farms and rackets in the provision of reception facilities.
La Stampa reported that prosecutors were looking into whether some of the newly-established NGOs involved in rescue operations may be financed by the traffickers themselves as a way of making it easier to guarantee their human cargoes would get to Italy.
The organizations involved have all dismissed the charges against them and expressed concern that they are being targeted by an orchestrated smear campaign.
One group, SOS Mediterranee, told AFP last week it had “never, not once” been put in touch with a migrant boat via smugglers.
Migrant rescue boats colluding with traffickers: Prosecutor
Migrant rescue boats colluding with traffickers: Prosecutor
Prabowo, Trump expected to sign Indonesia-US tariff deal in January 2026
- Deal will mean US tariffs on Indonesian products are cut from a threatened 32 percent to 19 percent
- Jakarta committed to scrap tariffs on more than 99 percent of US goods
JAKARTA: Indonesia expects to sign a tariff deal with the US in early 2026 after reaching an agreement on “all substantive issues,” Jakarta's chief negotiator said on Tuesday.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto met with US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Washington this week to finalize an Indonesia-US trade deal, following a series of discussions that took place after the two countries agreed on a framework for negotiations in July.
“All substantive issues laid out in the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade have been agreed upon by the two sides, including both the main and technical issues,” Hartarto said in an online briefing.
Officials from both countries are now working to set up a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump.
It will take place after Indonesian and US technical teams meet in the second week of January for a legal scrubbing, or a final clean-up of an agreement text.
“We are expecting that the upcoming technical process will wrap up in time as scheduled, so that at the end of January 2026 President Prabowo and President Trump can sign the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade,” Hartarto said.
Indonesian trade negotiators have been in “intensive” talks with their Washington counterparts since Trump threatened to levy a 32 percent duty on Indonesian exports.
Under the July framework, US tariffs on Indonesian imports were lowered to 19 percent, with Jakarta committing to measures to balance trade with Washington, including removing tariffs on more than 99 percent of American imports and scrapping all non-tariff barriers facing American companies.
Jakarta also pledged to import $15 billion worth of energy products and $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products such as soybeans, wheat and cotton, from the US.
“Indonesia will also get tariff exemptions on top Indonesian goods, such as palm oil, coffee, cocoa,” Hartarto said.
“This is certainly good news, especially for Indonesian industries directly impacted by the tariff policy, especially labor-intensive sectors that employ around 5 million workers.”
In the past decade, Indonesia has consistently posted trade surpluses with the US, its second-largest export market after China.
From January to October, data from the Indonesian trade ministry showed two-way trade valued at nearly $36.2 billion, with Jakarta posting a $14.9 billion surplus.
