Can NATO open Misrata’s port?

A ship chartered by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) is apparently waiting off the coast of Libya, hoping to dock at Misrata to evacuate wounded. IOM has appealed to NATO to ensure that the ship can dock. This response from NATO is remarkably weak: Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri, commander of the naval element of ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

A ship chartered by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) is apparently waiting off the coast of Libya, hoping to dock at Misrata to evacuate wounded. IOM has appealed to NATO to ensure that the ship can dock. This response from NATO is remarkably weak:

A ship chartered by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) is apparently waiting off the coast of Libya, hoping to dock at Misrata to evacuate wounded. IOM has appealed to NATO to ensure that the ship can dock. This response from NATO is remarkably weak:

Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri, commander of the naval element of NATO’s Libya mission, said Misrata port was not closed, and it was "a (ship’s) master’s decision to decide whether he wants to enter or not."

He said NATO was still looking for the mine and working to establish "a cleared corridor into the port".

"My clear aim is to ensure that humanitarian aid can move safely to port … What we are doing is performing every effort to render that area as safe as possible." he told a news briefing.

NATO said it was up to the Misrata Port Authority to decide whether the port was open or not.

NATO controls the airspace and the coastal waters. Can’t it ensure that a humanitarian aid ship can dock?

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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