West moves in Mideast, Africa behind migrant crisis: Czech pres.
Czech President Milos Zeman says the Western states’ military intervention in the Middle East and North Africa is responsible for the increasing influx of migrants into Europe.
“The current wave of migration [to Europe] is rooted in the crazy [US] idea to launch an intervention in Iraq, which allegedly had weapons of mass destruction, but nothing was found,” Zeman said in an exclusive interview with the Czech-language daily Blesk.
He argued that Washington’s desire to “restore order” in Libya and Syria only resulted in the escalation of conflicts in both Arab countries plus the rise of terrorist organizations, subsequently prompting people to flee the troubled areas.
Zeman also blamed the migrant crisis in Europe on US allies, stating that they helped to “coordinate operations in Libya.”
He stated that he would raise the idea of creating UN military units to destroy terrorist training camps during the forthcoming UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this year.
The remarks come as riot police in France used a chemical irritant to suppress an attempt by nearly 200 refugees to break down a security fence at the entrance of the Channel Tunnel, which connects Britain to France.
French officers sprayed the migrants with the chemical late on Saturday, forcing the group to retreat. The migrants chanted slogans such as “Open the border” and “We are not animals.”
Last month, authorities in Italy stopped a rescue boat carrying hundreds of migrants from landing in the island of Sicily, as the European country is grappling with a migrant crisis.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on July 17 that the boat with some 700 migrants on board was turned away despite long discussions with Italian authorities.
The officials cited a "lack of capacity in the Italian [migrant] reception system," as the reason behind not accepting the boat. The boat afterwards headed for the port of Reggio Calabria in the southern tip of Italy.
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